>From: "weaton15" <weaton15@cox.net>
>
>Can someone help me out with exercises that will allow me to get
>a clear and clean kan on a 2.8? I continue to work and work and
>work the embrouchure but, alas, cannot sustain it or keep anything
>clean and clear.
But you *can* get notes in Kan? Just getting a note is 90% of
the work (sustaining a clean, clear note being the other 90%).
In a hundred-mile march,
ninety miles is about halfway."
- Chinese proverb.
Once you can get a note in Kan, any note, start working with that
one note in long tone practice. As time goes by, and that note
begins to be something you can find reliably (maybe not hold
reliably, but find and hit for a moment) then you can work one note
up and one note down. It takes a while, a long while.
And unlike Otsu, where you can just open your mouth a little and
blow, Kan requires a more focussed embrouchure. One way to cheat a
bit is to close down the inside of your mouth a bit when going up to
Kan. Not an effective strategy for the long term - you'll find you
can't move your mouth around fast enough for playing rapidly between
octaves - it will help you develop the lip strategy for proper
playing.
For me, this is the real zen work of the shakuhachi. I *want* a
professional sounding sound. I *have* something less. Patience and
persistence have taught me that I will never attain my goal. But I
can learn to accept and enjoy what I have.
Difficulties along the way are opportunities
in disguise; they reflect your expectations.
Facing them with surrender helps you follow
a more peaceful and perceptive life.
- Carl Abbott
bj
-
_____________________________________________
List subscription information is at:
http://communication.ucsd.edu/shaku/listsub.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jan 06 2004 - 14:09:36 PST