Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

dstone wrote:

On a clarinet (that's also open at only one end) for example, overblowing gets you 3 f, skipping the even harmonics.

Then why does overblowing a sax give an octave jump? That's a closed end too.

I tried with a 12 fluid once Saranac Orange Cream soda bottle, nice sound, I can circular breath. Now I'm wondering why I ever bothered spend so much on didjeridu. I think it's around a G. The overblown note is way up there, more than an octave, but I'm not sure where.

dstone wrote:

So "kan" might put you in very strange musical territory on bottles.

Yes, because as we all know, blowing into bottles is a well defined area of music. :-)

I still find it rather interesting that the sound you get is very easily *very* loud. I have no trouble whatsoever beating Ro on any shakuhachi I own with just about any bottle. You don't really even need to push it. It makes me rather curious as to whether the sound is affected mostly by the amount of empty space, the shape of the bottle or the fact that it's a closed container. I'm going to buy a bunch of huge bamboo staves soon enough for a small decoration project I'm working on. I think I'll first turn one into a holeless shakuhachi and see what that does to the sound when the amount of empty space inside grows greatly. And yeah, I tried to buy that monster flute that Mujitsu made off of him back when he posted some pictures. I wonder what happened to it. Would have loved to get my hands on that thing.

dstone wrote:

I guess you'll have to "explore" many more beverages to really know for sure.  In Canada, we could probably apply for a science grant for that, as long as it's beer and rye we're exploring...

You know, I'm betting that it would make a good story at pubs if you wrote your thesis on the musical uses of beer bottles. You could try to earn a drink or two by promising to drink enough from a 0.5L bottle to get a perfect A out.

Ah 'tis something I've played with a fair bit, but not since actually getting a shakuhachi - it was a always a game to play "until".
I used to be able to get a few diferent notes from a bottle, when I've time (on my own!) I'll have to have a go with a tuner, but I'm pretty sure that an octave (at least) is possible, but not with good tuning (at least with a wine bottle), try tipping the bottle so that you are blowing more down into the bottle than the traditional across, but I think the embrochure needed is not that similar to shakuhachi, I'm certainly not as annoying with a bottle as I used to be!
I've also tried cutting an utugushi style end on the shoulder of a pop bottle, reinforce with bluetac and there is some good fun to be had.
I think that the volume is a function of a closed volume though, putting holes in a bottle, ocarina style, never really worked to get more than one extra note, and really limits the volume.
Happy Blowing!
Ambi