--- Peter H <voxsonorus@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 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
I was hoping to hear some response to this post about pitch. Perhaps
I'm alone in being curious about it, or perhaps my points were not
clear (it was quickly and thus perhaps not clearly written); in any
case I'll try again. As I said before, I've heard players advocate both
sides--that exact pitch isn't important, and that it's part and parcel
of playing the honkyoku correctly. I'd just like to hear others' points
of view on it.
My points about Hifumi Hachigaeshi and Akita Sugagki were that there
are phrases in both (in both cases near the end) where you play
tsu-meri, then have to play a "ru," which of course requires completely
lifting your finger off the hole in order to to hit it. Since it's
still a tsu-meri at that point, you have to play tsu-meri with an open
hole. Since, in the notation I use for those pieces (Jin Noydo's)
different meri for otsu-no-u are indicated, the lack of any such mark
here would indicate that the pitch doesn't change-anyway, it would
sound strange if it did. And in practice it's not that hard to play
tsu-meri that way.
As for Jimbo Sanya, the presence of a tsu-chu-meri indicates that
tsu-meris should be, on a hassun, E-flat, at least not as sharp as an
E. So pitch seems to matter at least within a half tone. I often hear
players playing tsu-meri as an E; so the question is, how close is
close enough? n other words, I'm not talking about microtonal changes
in pitch, as those are common and effective--tsu-meri slightly sharp
here, slightly flat there--but the greater differences that are quite
commonly heard.
I don't think this is a minor point, as in my mind it brings up (at
least) the following questions: Does playing shakuhachi as a spiritual
pursuit obviate the need to worry about such musical things? Is playing
honkyoku a type of meditation, or is it more like chanting, where, at
least in my experience, uniformity of pitch is maintained?
I certainly belong to the camp that believes in maintaining a standard
of pitch, but I'm not pretending to want to hear other points of view;
I really would like to hear another viewpoint. Anyone care to respond?
I've got some more flutes for sale, pics at www.shikan.org/voxsonorus
and at www.franklinshop.com/shakuhachiforsale. I'm trying to fill the
gap between the expensive, and no doubt very fine, instruments sold by
John Singer, made by famous makers, and the generally poor-quality old
flutes one finds on ebay etc, or cheap modern and cast-bore
flutes....in other words nice old flutes by (usually) unknown makers as
well as flutes with no stamp. Old flutes rarely have the volume or
balance of new flutes, but I find they have a quality to their sound
that is very hard to find in modern shakuahchi. Thanks for reading,
Peter
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