Happy New Year!

In 3,5 hours it is time: a new year has arrived! I wish you all the readers and visitors of my blog a very good 2010 and if it less then that I wish you all the best dealing with that. Happy new year and hopefully it will bring a lot of new shakuhachi experiences!

Funagawa Toshio Memorial Concert Recordings

Check out the

Shakuhachi Stuff Writing Ten Minutes a Day

 and some nifty recording of a concert: free music!

see the blog and the music here 

 original Japanese source here

Full tone

I have been intruiged with sound and full tone of instruments; what to do to play its best to my ears. With a recorder, the instrument I started on, there was little to no room for changing or influencing the tone itself. Then I played saxophone: a whole lot more room for change! Soft, loud, roaring, sharp, fat etcetera. It was not really hard to make the sound, sound good and fat: relax your jaw and blow with a concentration\ steady pressure. On the shakuhachi is is harder to grasp. There is just as much room to change the tone, maybe even to a larger degree than the sax. But making a flute 'sing' is another thing. I sometimes have that sensation. Mostly after playing a more difficult part when I played more tensed then usual. After that I relax and doodle around on the flute, it sounds very nice! Then it really sing, it feels as a focused relaxed way of playing, which 'unlocks' this sound. I can't do it on demand -yet- though, which will come perhaps. When it comes now it feels as a little gift and gives a glimps of the most beautifull aspect of the shakuhachi: its complex sound.

shakuhachi Void

Momentarilly I feel I am in a shakuhachi- void. I keep on practising, playing and that is it! Hah. In the beginning I experiences much more: more progression, more oohs and aaahs, I had more questions about flutes, about playing and learning with the flute in the beginning. Now I just play...Maybe I am not in a void after all but just something of a phase in my learning.

The picture above is of my 3 1.8's: a Kitahara, the Yuu (tainted) and my fav: Gyokusui. This pic is to see the difference in backhole position. I am thinking of letting the hole of the Kitahara (top) getting replaced for better tuning. In that flute, the hi and go no hi were pretty high compared to the rest of the flute. so hope that helps. For the repair the flute is in good hands (Perry Yung).