Riley, I'm intrigued by what you said about ji-nashi flutes. About a
year ago I had the oportunity to play two flutes made by Araki Chikuo,
which were ji nashi--they were made mid-19th century. I couldn't get a
good sound out of them until I was told to trap more air in my belly (a
la singers) and blow much harder than I'm used to, with an intense
focus of breath and intention. Then an incredible sound came out; not
loud, but with an subtle but noticeably unique, profound tone color.
So, I can well understand a certain, different type of blowing being
necessary for produing a good sound, but I can't imagine how that could
affect pitch. Of course the basic things like volume, blowing angle,
and so on wouldn't be factors in this case. My 1.8 is very old, and out
of tune, but I play it in tune by altering the blowing angle as I go up
or down the scale; I don't think this is what's being discussed
however. Any more details, then, on what Shimura-san wrote?
Having studied for three years with Kurahashi-sensei, and now about
three with dokyoku teachers, I've heard both sides, so to speak, of the
debate on pitch. Dokyoku players seem, to me, to be much more strict
about correct pitch. Mr. Kurahashi told me that the koten pieces were
played without half-holing, and it occured to me that by only opening
or closing holes one is in a way doing mudras on the flute as one
plays, which in and of itself is interesting. But of course we have no
way of knowing how people who never heard the western diatonic scale
felt about pitch. As an aside, the very sharp chi on most old flutes
makes the ro-chi interval close to the ratio expressed by the golden
mean (1.614035...), so perhaps there's a connection there.
Nevertheless, playing meri notes without half-holing doesn't mean they
can't be "in pitch," i.e a half-tone above the note below, as in Akita
Sugagaki, or Hifumi Hachigaeshi. Also, Jimbo Sanya has that phrase
where a tsu-meri is followed by a tsu-chu-meri, which is very nice, but
only works if those two notes are clearly differentiated in pitch. If
the tsu-meri is too sharp, I feel the effect is lost. Jimbo Sanya, I
was told, dates from the 19th century, in it's present form anyway, but
I wonder how far back that tsu-chu-meri was part of the piece. It's not
in Sanan--don't know about other related pieces--but if that note was
in there long ago wouldn't that be strong evidence that pitch was
important to players that long ago?
Peter H
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