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#1 2006-09-28 09:54:40

Kamesan
Member
Registered: 2006-09-28
Posts: 14

Meri

I'm a beginner shakuhachi player, but not a stranger to Japanese music or language.  I was looking for some insite on how to play more effective meris.  A teacher I had in the past used to tilt his head way over to the side.  It never seemed to work for me.  I've found that if I push the flute a little closer up to my lips and tilt my head just a little bit to the side, I can get the flattened pitch, but it sounds really weak. 

I know it takes a really long time to devolop the embouchre on this instrument and I'd like to avoid any "zen" talk, or answers in haiku form.   This was my problem with my last teacher.  Everything was "wax-on,"  "wax-off"  and meditation, and no musical terms or physics.
Playing the music of Chopin is just as meditative for me.  You can't possibly conceive your ego when playing the last two pages of his ballade in Fm! 

Nihongo no dekiru hito ga imasu ka?  Nihongo de hanasu chansu ga amari nakute wasuretakunai!

arigato
Kame-san

Last edited by Kamesan (2006-09-28 09:55:04)

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#2 2006-09-28 10:25:40

edosan
Edomologist
From: Salt Lake City
Registered: 2005-10-09
Posts: 2185

Re: Meri

Kamesan wrote:

I was looking for some insite on how to play more effective meris.  A teacher I had in the past used to tilt his head way over to the side.  It never seemed to work for me.  I've found that if I push the flute a little closer up to my lips and tilt my head just a little bit to the side, I can get the flattened pitch, but it sounds really weak.

Perhaps this will help (from 'Shakuhachi Tips', by Kakizakai Kaoru, many more of which can be found here)

January, 2004

Better Meris [there are several more entries on meris, but this one seemed most germaine ~eB]

For the first month of the new year, I would like to introduce a grand new hypothesis. Of course, it has to do with meri, which is nothing new at all...

I have stated before many times that when performing meris you lower the pitch by decreasing the surface area of the top of the flute which is uncovered. In other words, if you cover more of the mouthpiece with your lips, the tone will drop. As you open the mouthpiece up more, the tone will rise. It is not actually the angle of the flute that causes the pitch to change, although it is easy to think so. It is because we usually cover or open the mouthpiece by changing the angle that people become fixated on the angle, but it doesn't necessarily have to be so.

Recently I have begun to realize that the more you drop the angle of the flute to meri, the more you tend to distort your mouth shape. This is because changing the angle of the flute to meri causes your lower lip to become pushed slightly upward by the flute. This does lower the pitch - the desired effect - but it also narrows the breath stream, so you will only be able to play weak, faint meris.

This problem would be solved if we could think of a way to cover more of the opening without sacrificing good mouth shape. Of course, one way to do it would be to take the flute away from where it rests on your chin and put it back again a few millimeters lower. This would definitely decrease the surface area of the mouthpiece open. It is, of course, an untenable strategy. How about sliding the flute a few millimeters down your skin? Closer, but again impossible during playing.

I think the best way to accomplish our goal is to press down on the flute (with your finger covering the fourth hole) so that the piece of skin it's resting on slides slightly down your chin. If you put your finger on the place on your chin where the shakuhachi usually goes, you will find that you can move the skin around on top of the bone fairly freely. This is the principle we want to use.

If you push the flute down so that it doesn't change angles relative to you, but the piece of skin it's sitting on slides slightly down your chin (the shakuhachi doesn't slide down the skin; the skin slides down the bone), you will find that you can meri without changing angle and therefore mouth shape.

Use this movement in conjunction with a slight change of angle diagonally downwards and you will find that meris come much easier.

Looks like another meri-filled year!


Zen is not easy.
It takes effort to attain nothingness.
And then what do you have?
Bupkes.

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#3 2006-09-28 11:44:44

Kamesan
Member
Registered: 2006-09-28
Posts: 14

Re: Meri

Thanks.   This is how I've been going about it.  It seems that sometimes I get a great meri and sometimes I get a little squeek.  I'll just keep on it!

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#4 2006-09-28 12:40:04

edosan
Edomologist
From: Salt Lake City
Registered: 2005-10-09
Posts: 2185

Re: Meri

A few other points:

Consistency is pretty important: Same head motion, same hole shading every time--this seems obvious, but it takes a heap of practice and paying attention to what's happening to get such consistency.

Especially with Tsu no meri, the amount of pressure you apply to the fingertip as you shade the first hole seems to be important. I find (and see in others' playing) that the size of the meri'd hole opening can be controlled by applying a fair amount of pressure at the fingertip. This tightens up the skin of the fingertip pad and allows for a consistent sizing of the hole.

Blowing long tones of a meri note is very useful, even though it can be deucedly frustrating for a while (both Otsu and Kan).

One thousand repetitions can also be helpful, and don't spare the wax!   smile

eB


Zen is not easy.
It takes effort to attain nothingness.
And then what do you have?
Bupkes.

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