recently I’ve build a Bamboo Shakuhachi (using PVC and Bamboo tutorial over the net) and I’m really happy with its sound and tuning, but now I have to use and so build Japanese traverse flute (fue/ shinobue). I’ve found some tutorials over the web:
but 3 different sites tell me that shinobue in key of C is tuned in different note! 3 different notes in the tsutsune position (all holes covered). One tells me that this should be A4, the other one Bb3 and the other one Bb2 and Bb3 at the same time!. I didn’t know any flute that skip so much octaves like this on the first note!
So, this is the first question, which of the following fingering charts should I follow?
then, I couldn’t understand really well the drawings of asahi.net tutorial, cause it’s a drawing with the length of 430mm an 19mm of eternal diameter and 17mm for internal diameter and right after this another measurements with the length of 427mm and 18mm for eternal diameter and 11mm for internal diameter! Is that an extra part that i supposed to go inside the bamboo with a smaller diameter?
Then, is shinobue is supposed to use an extra cork together with the bamboo on the mouthpiece node or just a cork well fit inside? What’s that bondo (bondo in Japanese) they are telling me about, is that the node?
Also I think that anyone that owns a Shinobue could answer me most of those questions.
Sorry for my bad English as always, and thanks in advance.
I believe that the first caption is just stating that the bamboo should be around 17 to 19mm wide while the inside of the flute should be 11 mm. In the construction picture it is just using the middle value of 18mm. The 3 mm at the end really shouldn’t matter either as long as it is on the cork end.
sure, that makes sense. Still need someone to answer me about the other question, and yet, a flute seems to be more resistible if worked out between two nodes. One closed when close to the mouthpiece and one opened at the end of the flute am I right?
Bamboo nodes can be called bonds? Or are so called in this text? If not, what are those bonds? (that’s not the big deal since I can make it on both way, but in order to keep a 11mm internal diameter I think I must rip the nodes apart since they tend to be slightly smaller, , what really amuses me now are those crazy fingering charts).
Ignoring the last hole, the charts seem similar to that of a fife. The first two octaves are the same with the difference being the embouchure, and the third has all the different cross fingering.
The instructions on making one that you have posted here
The node does not seem to be used in the construction. The bond is just referring to gluing in the cork, they even mention superglue. Then they glue in an end cap and shape it with sand paper. “Bond” seems to just be glue or adhesive of some sort.
Ok, but it is supposed to thickens little by little till the end of the flute.
The asahi.net has a Japanese text also, and I’ve figured it from there. Also, by looking to the PDF in English it seems bigger on the mouthpiece.
As for the lowest note I’ve just figured it out now! I’ve found another fingering chart that is from an actual resin flute made by Aulos, and the lower note is A. Looking out in other pages I’ve concluded that some flute may use A, Bb or even G# as low note when tuned to C, and another notes if tuned to a lower tuning. The fact is that the draws show directly the higher Bb3 on 0 position (tsutsune for the Japanese) and then back to low tones on 1 position=C3, 2=D3 as you start uncovering the holes. I will make one in A, theoretically it’s a rare note to use on shinobue, but I will use it on western music so it may come in hand.
Thanks!
Tomorrow it will be first thing on the morning (since it will ad a lot for a band rehearsal on the evening! I will keep you up to date if that works well!)
so, if the flute is basically tuned on 8 that means, C it will go C,D,E,F… an so on as I open the holes just transposing the notes on the fingering chart? The first opened hole would be an D?
It looks like the size of the flute states that the second note must be C (1st opened hole) even if it has the low note as B, Bb or A
It looks to me that that if you have an 8-hon choshi flute, then playing XXXXXX0 will give you a C and will play in that scale as you lift your fingers.
C XXXXXXO
D XXXXXOO
E XXXXOOO
F XXXOOOO or XXXOXOO
G XXOOOOO
A XOOOOOO
B OOOOOOO
On a 6 hon choshi flute playing XXXXXX0 will give you a Bb and will play in that scale
BbXXXXXXO
C XXXXXOO
D XXXXOOO
EbXXXOOOO or XXXOXOO
F XXOOOOO
G XOOOOOO
A OOOOOOO
I really don’t understand the purpose of the seventh hole. Maybe it would make more sense if I understood Japanese music better, but it seems redundant and doesn’t seem like it brings much to the instrument. It does not seem like it serves the same purpose as the key on a baroque flute.
If it was a classical flute it would be like adding the C key to the foot without a D# key. It is actually used, and not just ignored like the extra holes in a keyless flute, but unless one is playing in a different mode, I don’t understand the point of it.
Not very helpful, but it seems to confirm that the XXXXXXX position is Bb (or A#) on a C (#8) flute.
Just for fun, the two Japanese tunes I know.
X: 1
T: Sakura
M: C
L: 1/4
K: Em
[| e e f2 | e e f2 | e f g f | e (f/e/)c2 |
| B G B c | B (B/G/) F2 | e f g f | e (f/e/) c2 |
| B G B c | B (B/G/) F2 | e e f2 | e e f2 |
| B c (f/e/)c | B2 z2 |]
X:1
T:Kojo no Tsuki
M:C
L:1/4
K:D
F F B c | d c B2 | G G F E | F3 z | F F B c |
d c B2 | G E F>F | B,3 z | D D C B, | G>G F2 | E F G>G |
F3 z | F F B c | d c B2 | G E F>F | B,3 z |]
but the fingering chart I’ve mentioned and is on the bottom of the first post of the intercollegiatetaiko forum surely helps. (here a link for them I’ve sent to imageshack)
The fact is I don’t know if that shall be called a #8#7 or number #6 in size but it surely uses the first hole for a lot of notes and does make sense at least, looks like #5 tough.
(and is enough to me to build one tuned on A, just don’t know what would be the sequel on Bb or B or C. The question is would they just transpose notes? Or The only thing that really changes on size is the air you need and this extra note?)
would it be XXXXXX0 a C and XXXXXXX a C also? Probably it changes XXXXXX0 to D, while the lowest note is C and so the other fingering changes as well.
ya don’t seem to care about what the hole is for…ya want to know why you’d want to close it…then ya tell us that it makes a tone 2 1/2 steps down from open
Also, among the shinobue used in the hayashi ensemble for Kagura, there are some that only have six finger holes. It is thought that this flute was adapted from Meiseigaku.
I bought a 5-hon shinobue made by Ranjou at the mejiro-store in Tokyo about 3 years ago. It is an “uta”-shinobue (uta means song or ballad) which means that it is properly tuned. They are used to play with other melody instruments or to accompany songs.
The “hayashi”-shinobue is used for festival music along with drums and the fingerholes are drilled with the same diameter and distance from another.
I got some tune books in western notation which I bought together with the shinobue.
Some tunes use the lowest note you get when covering the seventh hole (on my 5-hon in A it is F-sharp). The fingering is almost similar to tin whistle or simple system flute. Western music sounds very well on this flute but the minor seventh works only with half-covering or this fingering (oxxxxxo).
And yes, bondo means glue in japanese.
Been acquainting myself with the topic of kagura lately, and in the course of YouTubery noticed to my surprise that shinobue withfipples are apparently an accepted option, at least in Iwami Kagura performance (which rocks, by the way). Here’s a pic:
In this design option you just blow directly into the side hole at top, and the fipple takes care of the rest. Normally I would have thought that such a beast would just be a tourist item or a toy, but these babies are lacquered inside and on the ramp, which tells you they’re for serious use. I’ve always gathered that fipple flutes never had a place in traditional Japanese instrumentation - I’ve never seen them listed - so I was surprised to see these being played. It’s a total first for me. I expect it’s a recent adaptation so as to dispense with having to develop an embouchure, but unfortunately I can’t track down any info in English on the subject yet, so it’s only a guess. Another guess is that they’re only used in Iwami Kagura. Where’s a kagura flutist when you need one?
Below is a link to an 11+ minute Japanese documentary on Iwami-style Kagura (noted for its high theatricality, tight choreography, outrageously embroidered costumes, kickass drumming and, IMO, the best masks). It clearly shows some fippled kagurabue at the beginning, both played and at rest. You can hear that it doesn’t sound like a transverse flute; it’s essentially a transverse whistle. If it’s of interest, there are other troupes with headier drumming, but these guys make up for it on their own terms. You get a taste of the more exciting stuff toward the end during a battle with some very nasty-looking demons; rather than doing it symbolically as is more usual, here the good guys actually shoot the representational arrows at them. Here 'tis:
