Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Yu-Jin wrote:

1. I am getting a bit off pitch when I am playing with other players. I can hear myself playing off when I am listening to the recording, but not always when I am playing.

Duet or ensemble playing requires a different kind of listening than solo playing. You have to be able to open up your hearing to hear all the sounds at once. While playing with others, practice going back and forth between concentrating on your own playing and settling back into a consciousness of all the sounds at once -- learn how to feel the difference. Also, listen carefully for what it sounds like, in real time, to be slightly out of tune with somebody. Actively listen for the nodal beating of the sound waves as you play.

Yu-Jin wrote:

2. I can hear well when 2 or more shakuhachi are not playing chord in tune, but can't figure out right away what to do to bring it to harmony if I am playing it myself.

Listening to two or more shakuhachi playing western harmony can get very confusing. It's a matter of getting used to the sound of the intervals. Record a long tone on shakuhachi that doesn't waver in pitch, loop it so it's a drone, then play intervals over it, checking with your tuner and listening very carefully to what each interval sounds like. Adjust up and down a little to hear what the intervals sound like when they're NOT in tune, too. Start with an octave, then a fifth, then a fourth. When you try the third, it will sound out of tune if you go by your tuner -- adjust it down a little bit and it will be a good third. When you get those pretty good, try minor third and sixth.

Yu-Jin wrote:

Besides playing more, are there any special exercises anybody can recommend? Is there any good software for ear training?

If you go to my web site (nyokai.com) and click PLAYING TIPS, there are four or five tips about pitch and tuning that might be helpful to you.

The problem with much inexpensive ear training software is that it uses sine wave type sounds as a reference. This is very different from the real world scenario of having to hear pitch THROUGH the complex timbres of the instruments. If you want to get into some really serious ear training, which to my mind means learning to hear the mix of component overtones of a sound, check out David Moulton's "Golden Ears" CDs that I used to assign to new interns at my recording studio. While it is not directly about pitch as related to creative music making (more about EQing etc.), it will definitely take your pitch discrimination to a new level. Alas, it's really expensive -- and perhaps overkill for what you need.

More realistically, I highly recommend playing along with good sankyoku recordings. It's fairly easy to hear accurately the pitch of the koto and shamisen and to notice when you're out of tune with them.

Thanks a lot!
E