To Be (fixed) or not to Be

The shakuhachi like other traditional hand crafted instruments has its quirks. Or maybe one should say each culture has its uniqueness, and it appears the older forms of shakuhachi music preferred some notes to be more flat or sharp. This defies the current Western convention of equal temperament which society has accepted as the norm.

The design of this instrument allows great freedom due to its openness in the blowing edge with multiple degrees of freedom (up/down, left/right, yawing, pitching, rolling), providing fine control at microtonal level to the player. This is what makes it a difficult instrument to master as it means self mastery of the breath, embouchure, body and flute positioning, in addition to other aspects of music training.

I found Jon Kypros’ description about these pitch idiosyncrasies clear and helpful:
http://flutedojo.com/shakuhachi-guides/pitches-on-shakuhachi

For now my “antique” 玉井 竹仙 instrument will need a bit of DIY fix up (blue tac works wonders) advised by my teacher to bring it up to contemporary times. The higher pitched third hole (チ) note is lowered near to A4 frequency so that it is closer to equal temperament. I don't blame the seller for passing this flute to me, the "imperfection" created opportunity for me to learn more than I would have on a perfect instrument (is there such a thing anyway).

The First Sound

I advocate learning the shakuhachi at the onset with a teacher in person as it can greatly prevent unnecessary mistakes that if left unchecked becomes a deep rooted habit that impinges growth and development.

Learning the shakuhachi one can encounter a major paradox: it is both easy and difficult to produce a good sound.

It can be described as playing with ease because a relaxed mind-body produces clear, resonant notes. But the challenge is in the player because such relaxation is counter intuitive especially for a beginner.

In the beginner's mind it often becomes a struggle between the self and the instrument. There can be much striving to master the instrument via controlling the body. There is also the lack of patience especially in the current technogical age where the idea of instant gratification is lavished on us.

Bodily awareness requires mindfulness -- being mindful of sensations, movements, positions, and understanding how these are linked to sound production. Both interoception and proprioception are needed. Proprioception would include learning to be aware of lip tension, mouth cavity volume, finger contact position, and even vibrations of the flute. Interoception would include learning to be aware of abdominal breath activation, volume of breath, and internal rhythm. 

Awareness leads to fine adjustments that unlock the rich sounds of the shakuhachi. Such awareness does not come naturally, thus the need for hours of practice to build it up gradually, and for retention in body memory to take place.

This also means there can be no single standard set of steps to ensure one gets a first sound on the shakuhachi because each learner has unique anatomy, degrees of awareness, and ability to relax.

Initial guidance fortunately can still help the self-learner. They are like markers left by preceding travellers on their own learning path. We just need to try and use what works for us.

Here are some resources to get started. But the rest of the journey we have to figure it out on our own.


In English:
Jon Kypros
https://youtu.be/vsLZmSCr7r4

Shawn Renzoh Head
https://youtu.be/mQChlXy7kDM

Alcvin Ryūzen Ramos
https://youtu.be/HC_Yij3Nl0I

Perry Yung
https://youtu.be/in-Ifh-s7R8


In Mandarin:
Flying NaN
https://youtu.be/86j60SmSs8E

周文壕
https://youtu.be/Z9cLU6vST50
https://youtu.be/cW8a9rrqkUU

In Japanese:
Keisuke Zenyoji
https://youtu.be/LGhhQEWzzuI

三塚幸彦
https://youtu.be/Xp7nnaKQiqE

Intermediate/advanced (in Mandarin):
Winson Liao 廖錦棟
https://youtu.be/bzApkJ-HeXw
https://youtu.be/jTmtGUTYz7Y

Bamboo Grows in Marble

Shakuhachi flutes have a certain appeal as they are specially made with root ends from mature bamboo. The beauty of the smooth stem contrasts with the gnarly roots, reminding us that life manifests in similar fashion: happiness and suffering are not separate.

Bamboo's appearance is deceptive, looking like a tree but is actually a grass. In fact it is often viewed as an unwelcome weed because it is difficult to eliminate once it populates an area.

Harvesting it is a tedious manual task in the first stage of flute making. It would seem the plant lost its life, but at the hands of a craftsman it takes on a new life, transformed from a weed into a lively instrument. In the Edo period of ancient Japan it was regarded as a dharma instrument (法器, hoki) that helped monastics in their meditation practice. The humble bamboo continues beautifully in a new form, the shakuhachi (尺八) -- "death" does not bring an end. 

Beauty in Imperfections

The Shakuhachi (尺八) is elegant through its simplicity - 5 finger holes being sufficient to bring out the chromatic scale reaching up to 3 octaves.

It is interesting how the Japanese innovated on this by looking outside of the box. A typical wind instrument has precise finger holes to determine the pitch. To illustrate, a hole can be in two states, either opened or closed, and each state produces its own pitch so there are two notes available.

For the Shakuhachi, each finger hole has a wider diameter than say a Xiao or recorder. This means each hole can be partially covered or shaded to access the finer pitches in-between two discrete notes. This in itself is not unique as there are other flutes like the North American Flute (NAF) that have half-hole techniques.

For greater versatility, the Shakuhachi can be blown with variation in the angle between the blowing edge and the lips (embouchure). And this gives the performer another means to control pitch. Such pitch variations through head tilting plus instrument shifting is also used for vibrato effects.

For example, the note D is played by covering all holes (on a 1.8 Shakuhachi) while lifting finger off the first (lowest) hole plays F. The notes E and Eb (E flat) are "hidden" between D and F. Magically through partial fingering and angle adjustment, these notes shyly manifest.

These "half" sounds are usually softer in volume and differ in timbre from a fully opened/closed finger hole note. Such imperfections contribute to the distinct sound signagure of a Shakuhachi, enriching the palette available to an expert player to convey different moods and imagery.

There is an inherent "uncertainty" or variability to each note produced, therefore the same song can sound anew when repeated even by the same performer.