I have to ask, would you have any tips for playing a shakuhachi flute with 7 holes? Would you maybe recommend some books? Your videos inspired me to buy one.
Oh, sorry, I've actually never properly played a 7-hole shakuhachi. From what I hear they are really only (mainly) used by some Jazz-musicians. (Not that there is anything wrong with a 7-hole, but it's not needed for the music I like to play.) As for books, if you search the websites of Mejiro in Tokyo or shakuhachi.com (in the US), you will find a number of tried and tested books.
Markus, maybe talk a little about why ro is so difficult to play? I've been playing several months and can hit the note ok, but it constantly wants to pop up an octave particularly if I play it louder. What's going to fix this? Thanks for your videos!!!
Oooh, that's a difficult question! 😆 Without seeing you play, I can only speculate, of course, but a typical problem is that the embouchure is too small and too tense and that you're blowing too hard. Maybe a bit more context: A typical beginners' strategy to get the first tones is to blow very hard with a small embouchure and tense lips. That way you can 'force' a tone out of the instrument. However, the real problem is that you need to figure out where to aim the airstream and how to play in a relaxed way. The best way to do this is to not blow hard, not have a small embouchure, not have tense lips. 😀 It's more complicated that that, but that would need to be discussed in person ...
@@MarkusGuhe Actually, I spoke too soon. The jumping up a register continued on until I read somewhere that the tongue should lay flat in the mouth cavity with the tip of the tongue touching the gum line. That has pretty much fixed the popping up a register problem. The low D still pops up when I play it loudly, I don't know if that's a limitation of my shak, it's a plastic Bell Shakuhachi, or something that will come along in time.
@@blablabla6-k2d Haha, sure there always comes a point when the instrument will hold you back, but I’ll go out on a limb here and say that’s not the case here. 😉 The Bell is a good instrument for the basics. The most likely cause for dropping down from kan is ... too much tension. 🙂 (Again, without seeing you play, I can only speak generally.)
You’re welcome! 🙂 Yes, here you play kan no ro. Ro or tsu after ri are played in kan without that kan is explicitly indicated. (This is the ‘ri-ro-rule’, see the video on notation: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hAghk71_Ws8.html.)
@@MarkusGuhe ... Sensei, arigatōgozaimashita. I am a beginner who is still climbing the mountain called kan. The very existence of the "ri-ro rule" is oddly reassuring... even motivating...
@@MarkusGuhe thank you! Unfortunately I got the corona virus and that’s when my flute arrived, so I’ll probably never get a first sound out of it in this state haha! Once I’m healed and try again I’ll let you know!
@@MarkusGuhe I felt a little better today (and I also just couldn’t resist touching my new instrument) and I tried again at producing a tone. It took me probably 20 minutes but once I found the correct placement for my lips I got my first notes!!! ロ is such a difficult tone to produce, but I can get the other otsu tones, especially ツ, a little easier! My eyes got so wide when I got my first note because I was shocked and happy haha!
@@dannyallen2894 Haha, that’s great to hear! ✌ For playing ro, perhaps try to blow less hard and make the embouchure a bit wider. It may feel like the tone starts ‘further back in your mouth’ if that makes sense to you.
