I’m a beginner shakuhachi player (as well as long time whistle, flute, piano, tabla, and guitar player) and am curious if anyone here has ever played the magnificant 5-hole, end blown, Japanese flute.
Hello Kame,
Yes, there are some here who play shakuhachi. I’ve been playing only a little while, but like it very much.
Here’s a better place to find out about them on this forum:
hi,
I do not yet know how to play the shakuhachi but I have a great deal of interest in it. thanks for posting the Shakuhachi Forum link.
if you are like me and have a dogged determination to learn to play this incredible instrument but you just about pass out when you try to make a sound, you may want to think about trying a quenahachi flute. This plays like a quena (kena, qena) flute but the tuning is similar to a shakuhachi.
Quenahachi can be found at the Jacksonville Center in Floyd, Virginia - visitors in Floyd are encouraged to visit the center to try one out. These are made by Billy Miller (www.windwoodflutes.com). When visiting the Jacksonville Center, please ask for Sarah McCarthy.
Also, the National Folk Festival will be in Richmond this year on October 13, 14 & 15. If you go, please come visit the Crooked Road/Bull Mountain/Jacksonville Center/Round the Mountain entourage…Billy & I will be there as demonstrating artists and there will be plenty of quenahachi & transverse folk flutes there for visitors to play. Billy will also be demonstrating bamboo flute making techniques.
The National Folk Festival website is at www.nationalfolkfestival.com.
bye, have a wonderful day.
-Suzy Nees (AKA Nantoka)
- –…–
I love the shakuhachi. I have a 1.8 and a 2.4 (which I might sell, because my fingers hurt after playing it) from Monty Levenson. I have no problem getting a rich, strong tone. I haven’t learned to read Japanese sheet music, nor have I learned the chromatic scale. I play the minor pentatonic scale and improvise, as if playing a 2-or-more-octave Native American flute.
I love shakuhachi too !
I’ve been studing shakuhachi for few years ,mainly the ishakuhasun 1.8 wich is , let’s say , the standard lenght , in D (low D like the irish flute , wich I’m trying to study as well).
Recently I also start to play one of the longest shakuhachi , wich is 3.1 , about 96 cm , wich is not easy , specially for the hand’s stretching !!!
Well , I’m studing it my self , with the help of some books bought from www.shakuhachi.com )so I don’t know if I can be of much help for you . As some people already mentioned before , I guess , the owner of shakuhachi.com is a very kind person to deal with , so I would suggest to contact him for any questions or for books or instruments needs .
There is also another guy , wich is a very good shakuhaci player , that selling second hand shakuhachi , mainly 1.8 D, you can check at this address
reibo.org/ shakuhachi4sale.html
Then if you looking for a teacher , there are some of them spreaded around USA , you can check at shakuhachi forum
www.shakuhachiforum.com
there you can find some contact under ‘’ Teachers and Dojos’’ !
Anyway , I can tell you that shakuhachi is not an easy instrument to play , as probably are all the other instruments in the world !
But sure is a wonderfull instrument that , after getting a decent sound and a basic technique , can give you a lot of fun and it possible to play any kind of music with it , in fact it has only five holes (based on a pentatonic scale ) but you can get chromatic with half holing , meri & kari ( by changing the angle on the embouchure , by lowering the instrument or raising it ) , and all the other techniques .
But I think for the begining is good for your to learn some simple japanese folk tune , like Sakura , then after mastering some basic technique , especially the half holing and meri , kari , you can start with the honkyoku music , the oldest pieces , wonderful kind of meditative music , but very hard to learn it , especilally if you’re like me , with no chance to find a teacher !
Basically , right now in Japan and abroad , there are two main schools :
Kinko Ryu ( honkyoku is supposed to be part of that school) the oldest school , and Tozan Ryu wich is the new school started around 19th century .
Anyway , I just trying to give you a short idea about shakuhachi , in fact there are many other school , or let’s say branches of the other schools , so if you want to get better informations you better visit some of the website address mentioned before , also from some other people .
About the history of shakuhachi , teacher lineage , etc. you may visit also www.komuso.com (well I hope the address is correct ) !
All the best for your shakuhachi adventure
Manuel
Hey guys,
I’ve been playing the shakuhachi for a while now, (but still call myself a beginner because i don’t have absolute control over it all the time) and I can read Japanese music and am actually fluent in the japanese language.
The music consists of 5 basic symbols which are “katakana.” Katakana are symbols used to represent the sylables from foreign words. There are Ro, Tsu, Re, Chi, Ri, U, and a few other variations depending on if you go sharp or flat.
I’ve read all through the doyoo (children’s songs) the minyoo (folk songs) and am venturing into Honkyoku (zen meditation pieces)
I have wonderful flute made my Monty Levensen, a master flute maker and really cool guy from California. one day though, I’d like to get a root-end flute. (besides my shakuhachi yuu–yuck!)
it’s not an enigma like many make it out to be. It’s just a flute that requires a technique that must be learned. I can say that if you’re not in shape, be prepared for some passing out!
Don’t worry. If you’re playing Japanese music, there is never a need to play up or down a chromatic scale. For your own technical development, it’s something to look into.
I start my practice out by blowing Ro (the bell tone) for a while, until I get relaxed and can hold the tone out for about 8-10 seconds. Then I ascend the pentatonic scale, holding out each note as long as possible. Some call this “bamboo leaf” blowing because you start very strong and gradually get softer without changing pitch.
I also like to practice tsu-meri down to ro (half step) In my opinion, the lower tsu-meri is the hardest note to get strong.
I’m a relative beginner at shakuhachi also. (despite my avatar) Started in March of this year, studying with David Wheeler in Boulder Colorado. It’s been a lot of fun so far, certainly helped by my 6+ years on the flute before this. I’m continuing silver flute lessons also. Sometimes it’s feeling a bit excessive, but I’m having fun.
I probably came to flute from an interest in Japanese music. I’ve studied Japanese (language) for many years, but have never spent enough time there to be called fluent, just mostly competent. I’ve known about my teacher for several years, but finally this year I took the plunge.
Konnichiwa! Colorado no David Wheeler ga watashi no tami ni PVC de Shakuhachi o tsukurimashta. Watashi wa ni-nen gurai shakuhachi o futte imasu. Monty Levenson no Tsukutta shakuhachi o motte imasu.
Nihongo o renshu shitakattara, watashi ni PM suru. Itsu de mo ii.
(the program that powers this forum makes it look like I’m swearing, but some Japanese verbs, when written in English, look like “naughty words!”
Lee