Hi! This is so wonderful. I love your presentation and have just brought home my first Shakuhachi Yuu. Hit all the notes in 5 minutes but so much more to learn. Thank you again for the wonderful videos.
Cool video! Thank you for uploading it, it's so inspiring. His name came up when I was looking into masters, but I was already subscribed to your channel. Perhaps one day you'll teach me a few tricks. :)
I always thought taiko were the big drums only, I didn't know it was an ensemble, and not just a drum. As a drummer used to western notation, I would be curious to see the Japanese taiko notation.
Yes, 'taiko' literally translated just means 'fat drum' in Japanese, and it's used for any kind of drums, including for example drum kit drums. The kumi daiko (group taiko) style is relatively recent (from the 1950s). There is no real notation system for taiko; traditionally you'll use 'kuchi shoga' (singing the rhythms) to memorise and then play. It's almost impossible to read anything when playing taiko anyway because of the big movements ... These days, some people like to simply use Western notation.
Thanks for this posting. The sound is amazing. I can hear what he is doing and I can only hope to be inspired and practice more. This is a mountain peak and I am struggling in the dense valley hoping to glimpse the mountain top.
Thanks! 🙏 The sound in the room is amazing for shakuhachi, that helped a lot, but I completely agree with your assessment of his playing. More practice! 😉
Looking forward to watch this. There is definitely a strong link between the shakuhachi and synthesis/electronics, that I feel on an intuitive level and I look forward to hear you guys talk about this.
Hallo Markus, habe dieses Video mal mit der Davinci Resolve Audiogruppe verlinkt. Thema ist Sound Presets für ein neues Plugin von Brian Clevinger, dem Programmierer von Absynth und Plasmonic zu bauen für die Factory Presets. Ich denke Deine Ideen für Taiko und dein Instrumentarium wären interessant… Brian ist Mitglied der Gruppe. Das FX Plugin kann modulieren mit einem unglaublichen Resonator. Gib mal wenn Zeit Aus Sicht von jemandem, der die Instrumente Nativ spielt eine Meinung ab, was man da beachten sollte… Danke… ich hatte um ein paar Taiko Wavefiles gebeten von Dir um auf dieser Basis selbst etwas zu entwickeln. Sollte halt von einem qualitätsüberprüft sein, der die Instrument selbst spielt.
OK, danke. Ich habe so leider keine Audiofiles, die für diesen Zweck taugen würden, und Taiko vernünftig aufzunehmen ist leider sehr arbeitsintensiv und auch sonst aufwendig ...
I meant to start lessons. However, my divorce took precedence. Now, I can begin lessons. Whenever you post a new video, I take time out of my day to watch with undivided attention. Cheers!
Enjoyed playing along with ‘secret’ practice. Still v hard to get up to pitch after 15 months. For the exercises would you recommend relaxing to A 435 for a time or just plug on? I also notice at end of your long note your head goes down a bit not up, or is it sideways letting a bit of a gap to the side?
You should aim for the pitch that the flute is made for, mostly this would be 440 or 442 in modern flutes. If you use a lower pitch that's no problem for the base notes, but it makes using meri much more difficult, because you only have a limited way to go down. Yes, when my head seems to go down, I'm opening the top hole on the side or the back; it's just a bit easier to control this way.
Hi! I was given a shakuhachi and am working my way through a shakuhachi book (M. Koga's) but there are some things I don't understand and your videos are helping. (I'm a musician trained in Western notation, as you are, so I appreciate your comments regarding the differences between the systems.) The latest issue is "no chumeri" and "no meri". I've watched your notation videos and know the difference between "chumeri" and "meri" but don't know why the word "no" is in front of these words sometimes in the book. Does it mean using partially covered holes to achieve a change in pitch rather than changing the angle and breath? The fingering chart seems to indicate this. Thanks for your help!
Hello! Thanks; it good to hear the videos are useful! 🙏 The 'no' is just the Japanese possessive marker; you could roughly translate 'tsu-no-meri' as 'tsu's meri' (like in 'Mary's lamb'). You often simply would say 'tsu meri'; both mean the same thing.
If you search for Auld Lang Syne you will find many versions of the score online, probably mostly in Western notation. This version starts with RE kan-no-TSU. (Eventually I hope to get round to transcribing all of these and add them to my playing guide on Patreon, but it won't happen soon.)
I am from Russia and I have never seen similar educational and understandable videos on Russian RU-vid. Thank you so much!!! Yes, my level of language is poor, but I understood everything. Thank you so much, master!!!!!
Thank you, Marcus. I was producing Kan notes more effectively while practicing watching this video. I found the frowning really helped me get it quickly; am working on my chin movements!
Thank you for making this very informative video. I’ve always loved the serenity that the instrument brings to me. Learning to play this seems like a real option. Thanks again.
I started working on a research project in one of my college Music History classes over the Shakuhachi. This video was really informative when I didn't know where to start on my research. Thank you!
Oh great; I'm glad this was useful for you! 🙏 If you're doing research on shakuhachi you could look up: Riley Lee, Gunnar Linder, Kiku Day, Michael Coxall. They've done extensive research on it. 🙂
Thank you! 🙏 Sounds like a little instruction might help at this point. 😉 If you're enquiring about lessons from me, there's some info on my website, markusguhe.net/teaching/. Just send me an email to arrange something. If it's a general question, you can find a quite comprehensive list of teachers on the website of the European Shakuhachi Society (shakuhachisociety.eu -> People).
May I say lovely work, excellent practical advice given clearly and with no pretention. Such an excellent point when you say at the end to find your own voice on the Shakuhatchi... this is truly inspiring. I have had my beautiful instrument all of two weeks, and find her fresh/dark/passionate and singing tones a real pandoras box of magic. I feel at the bottom of a mountain, but what a beautiful mountain to climb.
Thank you very much! 🙏 I'm glad you find the shakuhachi (and the video) inspiring. I completely agree that it is a huge mountain, and I can honestly say that even after a few years of climbing it I'm still looking with wonder and determination at the peak . (Knowing that I'll never get there. 😂)
To thank you for this series of videos about the shinobue and your time spent to answer our questions. It should be more than 5 euros (would pay just a kebab or a beer you like) ... The shinobue community is small, so it's good to share these precious infos. What about a discord channel for fans (shakuhachi and shinobue) someday ?
Thank you very much; this is much appreciated! 🙏 Yes, the communities are both small; the idea of doing something on discord is currently floating around. I hope I have some time soon to look into this a bit. (I'm not really using that service much so far ...)
Hello sensei, for these people using ohayashi flutes, and knowing that the pitches depends either on the craftman or the place it was made in Japan, do you know the notation they use ?? Because if the pitches are not about a scale , I would think it's not possible to play from music sheet with japanese notation (kanji and arabic numbers) because the intervals won't be the same ... Not sure my question is clear ^^
Hello, I think it's maybe helpful to look at it the other way round: Because Western notation denotes pitches, it's a bit more tricky to find a good notion for hayashi flutes. (It's still possible if you just write an approximation of pitches, I think.) The Japanese system just denotes the fingerings, not pitches, so it actually works perfectly for hayashi flutes. There is the problem that it's not really possible to play multiple hayashi flutes together (and play in tune), but that's independent of the notation system.
