Making music takes more than just an instrument. A players experience,
technique, style, and soul is what brings any musical instrument to
life. The discussion about duplicating a classic flute has been very
interesting. But it seems like what began as an exploration of sounds,
and ways to make or duplicate them, got confused with a discussion of
music. A good player can make a piece of garden hose sound great. A
beginner can make the best flute sound terrible. So just to make it
perfectly clear, the following questions have to do with making sounds,
not necessarily with making music.
This discussion made me curious about the relationship of the player
and the instrument. The shakuhachi itself has certain characteristics
that make it sound a certain way. But what happens to the flute when
someone plays it? At that point it's not just a bamboo, or PVC tube,
with 5 holes in it. Doesn't the player's body become part of the
equation? It's like the player and the flute combine to make the
instrument.
Somewhere I've read, or heard, the term "throat nozzle" with regard to
playing the shakuhachi. It's a funny sounding term, but it helped me
shift my focus from my lips to my throat and diaphragm while playing,
and my sound improved.
Every teacher that I've taken a lesson from encourages their students
to open their throats. Why?
Does the players throat and mouth cavity become part of the bore of the
flute, so to speak?
What influence does the player's embouchure, mouth cavity, and throat
have on the sound of the flute?
If 3 different Masters played the same flute (long tones only, to
eliminate style from the mix), would you be able to tell the difference
between the three? Or will the unique physical characteristics of each
player make the same flute sound different?
Curiously,
Al Skaar
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