Effects of sideway blowing
Effects of sideway blowing
Greetings from the City which ever sleeps.
Here is a observation I made: I watched 2 professional shakuhachi-players performing
and both of them were holding the flute not straight but a few degrees to the right.
It must be the apes in my genetic pool but I had to try that.
Effect: The notes in the kan-register are easierer to play.
Am I imagining something ?
Thank you in advance
Here is a observation I made: I watched 2 professional shakuhachi-players performing
and both of them were holding the flute not straight but a few degrees to the right.
It must be the apes in my genetic pool but I had to try that.
Effect: The notes in the kan-register are easierer to play.
Am I imagining something ?
Thank you in advance
There are as many ways of holding the shakuhachi as there re people playing. All bodies are different. Some people have the hole in the lips at very different points so the holding it to the side really depends on your body.
However.... was it when they were holding a long note and doing diminuendo (fading out)? Then there is a point in moving the head towards one side in order to keep the pitch right. I wonder if that is what you mean, or it was just the way people hold the shakuhachi to the lips... because that just varies - as already mentioned - from person to person.
However.... was it when they were holding a long note and doing diminuendo (fading out)? Then there is a point in moving the head towards one side in order to keep the pitch right. I wonder if that is what you mean, or it was just the way people hold the shakuhachi to the lips... because that just varies - as already mentioned - from person to person.
Doesn't some of this depend on playing jinashi or jiari flutes?
Jinashi tend to play best (not always) with a more open embouchure directed from the back or middle of the mouth. So straight direction playing is less of an issue.
But the tighter and highly focused embouchure (KSK or Yokoyama playing being the extreme) might require a more individualized approach, possibly effected by the shape of the player's lips. No?
I couldn't imagine a komuso or Myoan (Meian) player playing from the side of his mouth.
Jinashi tend to play best (not always) with a more open embouchure directed from the back or middle of the mouth. So straight direction playing is less of an issue.
But the tighter and highly focused embouchure (KSK or Yokoyama playing being the extreme) might require a more individualized approach, possibly effected by the shape of the player's lips. No?
I couldn't imagine a komuso or Myoan (Meian) player playing from the side of his mouth.
The person who formulates this technique most efficient - according to what I have heard so far - is exactly the KSK guys whether it is Furuya or Matama in Japanese or Kakizakai in English (Kakizakai talked about this in Barcelona). So apparently it also works for jinuri! 
I'm not sure about differences between jinashi vs. jiari, but I was taught (by M. Gould) to move the flute toward the kan side of the utaguchi (which for me is the right hand side), this usually involves also moving the flute. I do this, as Kiku suggested, to keep the pitch stable as a note falls into a long decay. It's not just for pitch though. Moving that tube around also helps if you are trying to go for stark contrast between notes. Just to make things even more muddled, there is also the direction of the air stream to take into account. When the shakuhachi is in the standard straight position and you are blowing roughly in the centre of the utaguchi you can slide the air along the belly of the bamboo (as opposed to the roof where the windows... i mean holes, are). I find the belly sliding (please forgive terminology) makes things much louder and stronger, but of course you don't always want loud and strong necessarily. So, moving the flute around, and also moving where the air is striking the utaguchi can arm you with some fun ways of doing things.
Just to veer off topic for a moment, it is kind of fun to try moving lips, chin, and air stream rather than the flute. It's more of an experiment really. When I think of someone like Goro, who sits there like a statute and hardly moves, there is something very calming about it. Sure, he does economical little movements, but a lot of the time, he is very still, and I find that stillness deeply appealing. To give a simple example of what I'm on about, you could try and do a nyashi without moving the flute at all, just dip and raise the air stream instead. You can do this for simple meri notes as well. Playing this way on occasion helps to make you mindful of the air column within the shakuhachi as a tangible thing with a shape and directionality. At least it does that for me. Anyway, sorry for straying off topic, but it seemed at least tangentially connected.
If you want to do the opposite of what I mentioned, and go for very pronounced, dramatic movements then a good example would be Alcvin Ramos. If he reads this I'm sure he would have some interesting comments to add about movement of the shakuhachi for added effect.
Just to veer off topic for a moment, it is kind of fun to try moving lips, chin, and air stream rather than the flute. It's more of an experiment really. When I think of someone like Goro, who sits there like a statute and hardly moves, there is something very calming about it. Sure, he does economical little movements, but a lot of the time, he is very still, and I find that stillness deeply appealing. To give a simple example of what I'm on about, you could try and do a nyashi without moving the flute at all, just dip and raise the air stream instead. You can do this for simple meri notes as well. Playing this way on occasion helps to make you mindful of the air column within the shakuhachi as a tangible thing with a shape and directionality. At least it does that for me. Anyway, sorry for straying off topic, but it seemed at least tangentially connected.
If you want to do the opposite of what I mentioned, and go for very pronounced, dramatic movements then a good example would be Alcvin Ramos. If he reads this I'm sure he would have some interesting comments to add about movement of the shakuhachi for added effect.
Belly sliding.
Forgive me Lorka, but I am going to need more detail before I fully understand your gritty terminology! Belly sliding?
Alcvin is playing the way he learned and Yamaguchi Goro plays the way he learned. The Yamaguchi and other Kinko players of that generation had understatement as one of their goals and the desire to be invisible. I can't do it that way but it is admirable. 
I move utaguchi a bit to my right. I can't play properly with stamina in center.
This clip actually help me to understand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzApkJ-HeXw
But in chinese, he got english version but......
This clip actually help me to understand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzApkJ-HeXw
But in chinese, he got english version but......
Sorry, it's been awhile since I was around. That is an interesting consideration Brian; mainly that Goro was going for, I suppose, something along the lines of a particular sense of decorum, rather than doing it for any sort of economy of movement. When you are playing with witnesses around, I guess you become conscious of your style of presentation. Others who actually do performances would be in a better place to comment on that. For me, I just look at someone like Goro playing and it has this calming effect to watch the guy play. Understatement is understating it.
At the Shak fest in Barcelona, Sensei Kakizakai taught us very specifically to shift the flute to the side, with exercises. At the time I didn't 'get it,' but the last while am practising, and it makes sense. Basically, you are moving the air stream away from the Utaguchi, easily and with a small movement, making the change from Meri to Kari really easy, and sounding nice. As he (K) said, almost no masters play with the flute straight ahead. (i checked on youtube, pretty accurate) Also, when I started -not long ago- my lip had a 'cute' little bump, right in the middle, so hard to make perfect embouschere; a little to the right and all is good...
Cheers.
Cheers.
If you watch Yamaguchi's videos, he also uses a sideways movement for playing orikeshi, but his base position is basically in the centre. Shifting to the side to change pitch is one thing, but having a side blowing position as a base might not be the best position. Granted that everyone's faces and mouths are assymetrical, but there isn't really a reason to conclude that blowing to the side is better just because some players do it. Shifting to the side and finding it easier to play in kan might just be momentarily increasing your awareness of what is happening with your lips and you might get a different sound, but it could just be moving sideways rather than moving forwards (pun intended).
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