Hello all! I’m new to the forum, new to the shinobue, new to flutes and new to music in general. Well not that new, I’ve been trying to learn the shinobue by myself for a while now, but without any teachers in my area I’ve only had a middling degree of success.
Recently I got the booklet guide from Yamada Kaishi and Fukuhara Kan, and it casually mentions a nuance I found little discussion on youtube tutorials or elsewhere, so I thought I’d highlight it here to give it more exposure. The cross-fingering “0” (●○●●●●●), which is treated as basically an equivalent of a half-holed “7” (◐○○○○○○) to be used for easier transitions, is not actually at the exact same pitch; and in fact the half-fingerings for 3 and 7 are often played lower than a nominal chromatic flat note. That is, on a standard size 8 (8-hon chōshi) shinobue, fingering 7 is B, but 7× (half-shaded 7) will often be performed B♭♭ rather than B♭, an effect to be used deliberately for emotional expression. The authors say that 0 is sharper and stable, while the extra low 7× and 3× can create a “tense, beautifully delicate nuance of expression [不安定な美しい繊細な表現]”.
And I just love the example they give: Playing “Sakura, Sakura” with a higher 7× will give you Somei-Yoshino (a delicate, elegant cultivar of cherry blossoms), while doing the spicy extra-flat note is akin to wild mountain cherries.
Then there are even more alternative fingerings for “between 6 and 7”. Treat this tentatively since it’s subjected to my amateur technique as well as varying with the instrument (I’m told). But on my Rakusui sudake 8-hon I’m getting, in the low register:
●○●●●●●: Bb -40c
○●●●●○○: Bb +25c
○●●●●●●: maybe B-10c; subtle enough that it gets confused with natural breath angle variations from tapping the fingers.
Top one is the widespread “0” fingering. Second one is given as an alternative fingering (替え指) for 0 by Tomomi Yoshino, who gives the caveat that it doesn’t work well on every instrument. The third is noted as ⑦ (or really as circled-七) in this chart by Sugiura Neo. I got the results in cents in the low register (ryō), by finding an angle and air speed that plays a 6/7 in tune with equal-temperament A/B, then doing my best to change the fingerings without altering the position or angle or breath speed or anything.
Since 0 is supposed to be sharper than 7× I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong; I can bring 0 up to a reference Bb easily enough by blowing a bit higher, but I definitely need a higher angle to do that than 6 or 7 playing A and B in tune. 7× can be made anything you want by varying how much of the hole you cover.