Hi Tots,
For what it's worth, here's my, not very exciting, long tone
routine (cribbed from various teachers over the years). First I just do a
bunch of otsu rho's for a while (and I usually do a bunch of silly
meditation things while I'm playing rho, like on the in breath imagining
that I'm breathing in black smoke (suffering) then on the rho imagining
that I'm blowing out clear light (wisdom and compassion) - cribbed from
Tibetan Buddhists - this stuff helps me last longer on the rho's). Then
sometimes I'll first just go up from low rho, all two octaves, (rho, tsu,
re, chi, ri,...) and down again holding the note as long as I can, with no
vibrato, but with a crescendo at the beggining and diminuendo at the end.
In that case I'd repeat that again using vibrato. In other cases (to try
and keep things interesting) I'll alternate straight tones with vibrato
tones as I go up and down. Sometimes I try to play the notes as soft as I
can, which resmbles one of Riley Lee's breathing exercises because by the
end of the note your body is screaming for a breath. There's obviously a
million variations you can try; for me that's part of the fun of
practicing (shoot you've got time, as Zen master Seung Sahn says just
practice for 10,000 years).
Re. Monty's student flutes my impression (admitedly based on a
small sample) is that there the best student flutes around and they're
also a great deal. The precision cast bore technique allows for really
consistent quality.
Happy shakufying, all best
-- KY
Karl Young
University of California, SF Phone: (415) 750-2158 lab
VA Medical Center, MRS Unit (114M) (415) 750-9463 home
4150 Clement Street FAX: (415) 668-2864
San Francisco, CA 94121 Email: kyoung@itsa.ucsf.edu
On Sat, 22 Jul 2000, Tots Tolentino wrote:
> Hi all,
> Just wondering if anyone could share exercises in long tones. Still
> saving up for an instructional book or video and just need some stuff
> to get me going for the meantime. And has anyone had experience with
> the Student Ta Hei shakuhachi? Real curious about the precision bore
> and want to upgrade my wood shak to a bamboo one. Thanks all!
>
> Tots Tolentino
> tots@quickweb.com.ph
> www.geocities.com/totst
>
>
>
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