Good Looking On-line Metronome

I’ve been trying to build my tempo/rhythm skills. So I thought about going old school and getting a metronome. Then I came across this on line one that looks and works just like a real one.

I’ve tried digital ones but it helps me to have the visual of the the swinging arm.

This site has a few other links and things but big and in the center of the screen is a real looking metronome. There’s buttons down the right side to let you choose speeds from 40 BPM to 200!


If you’d like to try them out here’s their link: http://simple.bestmetronome.com/

Also don’t forget to check out our Shakuhachi group web site at http://phoenixazshakuhachi.com/

Shakuhachi glossary 101

Here’s some basic 101 shakuhachi glossary terms. More to come!

• Atari To strike a finger hole
• Furi A rapid meri/kari head dip.
• Kan Upper register
• Kari Blow by putting the chin up, to raise the tone
• Komi Buki Big breath, the pulsing characteristic of playing.
• Meri Blow by putting the chin down, to lower the pitch.
• Muraiki Blowing so as to create a windy, roaring, effect
• Nayashi To begin pitch meri and rise to standard pitch
• Otsu Low register
  Suri Glissando
• Suri age A slide upwards
• Tsuyutoshi Cloth for wiping the bore
• Utaguchi The sharp blowing edge of the shakuhahi
• Yuri Vibrato

New Shakuhachi (Japanese Bamboo Flute) Hobby Web Site

Charles Koeppen who setup the Facebook group called Shakuhachi (Japanese Bamboo Flute) Hobby Group now has a new web site called Shakuhachi (Japanese Bamboo Flute) Hobby Pages. The link to his new site is http://shakuhachi.atspace.cc/
His site is well organized and has a lot of good information. It’s worth checking out.

Traditional Meanings of the Shakuhachi Holes

I came across this on a wonderful blog called Myoan Shakuhachi.

http://myoanshakuhachi.blogspot.com/2011/06/traditional-meanings-of-shakuhachi.html

Moving From Flat to Correct Pitch

Most new shakuhachi players play flat so learning how to get the correct pitch is really important.
So here’s some ways that might help you to move from too flat to correct pitch. As a new player you want to correct your pitch as soon as possible. It’s very bad to get in the habit of playing flat, much harder to correct when you’ve been doing it for a long time.
To start with you need to know what pitch is correct or you’ll never know when you get there. Get a recording of someone playing individual notes at the correct pitch or use a tuner. They both serve a different role. The recording lets your hear what the correct sound is external to you and the tuner will let you know when your sound is correct.
Try doing exercises to learn how to increase your ability to bend the pitch up and down. the initial way is with a head tilt that should change the angle of your flute in relationship to your mouth/lips. Be careful tilt your head only, don’t move the root end uf the flute up and down.
Them try changing the pressure of the flute against your lips. If you’re jamming the flute against your lips this can cause your flute to be flat.
The next reason and this is a big one, there’s a chance that you are not blowing hard enough and with insufficient diaphragm control. When beginners are flat it's often because they are not blowing correctly. Your breath should be from deep in your chest and stomach. This goes hand in hand with having a good embrasure.
Speaking of embrasure, simply by tightening and loosening lips, no head movements you can change the pitch. Try playing a note for example on ro:and then by tightening and loosening lips, (again no head movements) change the pitch. This is not easy but it will help you develop a lot of control.

Video of WATAZUMIDO DOSO ROSHI (1910-1992)

 

"So in that sound you have to put in your guts, your strength and your own specialness. And what you are putting in then is your own Life and your own Life Force. When you hear some music or hear some sound, if for some reason you like it very well; the reason is that sound is in balance or in harmony with your pulse. And so making a sound, you try to make various different sounds that imitate various different sounds of the universe, but what you are finally making is your own sound, the sound of yourself."

- Watazumi Doso Roshi

Play Meris Lower… Lower…

Most new players don’t get meri note low enough. So this 101 tip is to take time in your practice and work on bending you note lower and lower.

If you’ve got a tuner, great use that to see where you  are, how low you’ve gotten. You need to get to the point where you can move to a meri note and feel it naturally. Most meri notes will not be as full sounding as a natural note but during your practice concentrate not just on pitch but keep in mind the note’s quality. Play them until you get the most beautiful note you can get, low, a bit breathy and even by its self, a beautiful sound.

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Shakuhachi Flute Lessons for Beginners : How to Play the Shakuhachi Flute

As I find Shakuhachi videos I’ll start adding them here and here’s our first.

Shakuhachi glossary, Meri & Kari

Kari, in shakuhachi music, is both a property of a note and a technique. To play a note kari means to play it with raised pitch, relative to playing the note meri. In addition to sharpening the pitch, playing a note kari also modifies the tone color or timbre of a note.
The usual technique to play a note kari is to raise the chin, increasing the angle and distance between the embouchure and utaguchi (blowing edge).
The opposite of Kari is Meri where the chin is lowered to and the pitch becomes lower.

Shakuhachi 101, Embouchure

The very first thing to learn about the shakuhachi is embouchure. I believe this because if you can’t even make a bad sound you get discouraged pretty fast.
The general method of making sounds with the shakuhachi is sorta like making sounds with a beer bottle. With a shakuhachi and a beer bottle you’re blowing a stream of air across the far edge of the opening. Many beginners get light headed from blowing the shakuhachi. This tends to happen because the embouchure is too big and inefficient. It takes a lot less air to play than you’d think at first.
Your embouchure should be somewhat like a smile but obviously without completely closing your lips.  The edge you’re blowing across is called the Uta-guchi and the opening in your smile should typically be a little smaller than the cut curved edge.
Also the horizontal slit in your smile should be small vertically, you’re trying to be precise about the air your blowing. If you’re not quite getting it, try watching how you look like in a mirror as you play,
One last tip, most new players, play flat, sometimes to the point that they think the flute is out of tune. Most times it’s not the flute, really! Keep trying to push the tone up or even get a cheap electronic tuner to see where your at.