I agree with Kiku that shakuhachi is not a chromatic instrument, but a
pentatonic instrument with complete pitch flexibility allowing it to be
used for ANY kind of scale... with varying degrees of difficulty, of
course.
As for the practical matter of playing Euro-style tonal music
(classical, folk, rock, some jazz), I think the easiest key to start
practicing on a 1.8 flute is C. The C major scale is simple to finger:
ri, ro, tsu-chu-meri, tsu, re, chi, hi-meri, hi. This means that the
relative minor (A minor) is also very easy, as is typical modal music
based around A or D. F major and G major are easy scales to play as
well. Some of the others are initially more difficult. If you have a
1.8 and a 1.9 flute, you've got all your tonal bases covered, but even
with just a 1.8 it's not all that hard to play along with simple
non-modulating music in any key or common mode. I am fortunate to live
with somebody who enjoys a very wide variety of recorded music, and I
almost always try to play along. If it doesn't get you kicked out of
your house, it's a practice I recommend.
_____________________________________________
List un/subscription information is at:
http://communication.ucsd.edu/shaku/listsub.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jan 06 2006 - 10:00:46 PST