--Apple-Mail-2--664345482
charset=US-ASCII;
format=flowed
Hello Shakuhachi Group.
This is a belated response to a recent discussion about circular
breathing.
In my opinion, circular breathing is a valuable and rewarding technique
when used with certain instruments (eg. didgeridu) and in certain
contexts. From my experience however, this technique is unsuitable for
traditional Japanese music in general and traditional shakuhachi music
in particular.
When performing contemporary shakuhachi music, eg., one's own
compositions, anything goes I suppose, but even then I would hesitate
to use circular breathing, though I've known how to do it since the
early 1980s. With shakuhachi performances/recordings, I find that
listening to where and how the inhalations are done can be as telling
as listening to the sounds made during the exhalations.
Circular breathing is particularly incompatible with playing honkyoku,
especially if used in order to sustain notes or phrases. The manner,
length and timing of each breath is central to honkyoku playing. This
means much more than just where to inhale or how long to sustain a note
or phrase. It means:
How and when to end the exhalation;
How long to pause before beginning the inhalation;
How much and how long to inhale;
How to end the inhalation; and
How long to pause before beginning the next exhalation.
And that's all in addition to how the exhalation is done (the 'music').
Playing honkyoku means being aware of of all of these things.
The manner, length and timing of all four elements of the breath -
inhalation & exhalation and the two parts in between - vary with each
phrase of each piece, with each performance and with each performer.
This means that they are always different with every performance, even
in the same place in the same piece by the same performer.
Employing circular breathing in honkyoku, especially in the way
described in a previous message to the group, is contrary to the
fundamental essence of honkyoku. It's not necessary and it tends to
discourage mindfulness of all the bits of the breath other than the
exhalation.
Leave out all of those other bits besides the sound produced on the
exhalation and you're 'just' left with music. Mightly fine music though
it might be, it is not honkyoku in the sense that I'm using here.
To play honkyoku as I believe they are meant to be played implies an
awareness of one's self, the present situation and the piece. Ideally,
with this awareness, one always and intuitively knows when, where, and
how to breathe.
There is no single 'right' way or set of places to breathe in honkyoku.
It depends upon the situation. This is one reason why honkyoku are so
wonderful. You're a beginner and can't sustain the sound very long? No
problem, you can breathe more often (but only in the right spots).
You're getting old or loosing your breath capacity because of smoking
or other health factors? Never had any breath capacity in the first
place, and probably never will? Well, at least you can still play
honkyoku, and play it well.
RE: where to breathe in a honkyoku, there are places where it's okay to
breathe and where it's not so okay. Here's a good analogy for those of
us addicted to the automobile. Playing honkyoku is like driving a car
around in the city. Taking breaths is like stopping for petrol. In most
places, especially in the USA, there are far more petrol stations than
one needs; you don't have to and certainly wouldn't want to stop at all
of them. But you could stop at any of them. If your car uses a lot of
petrol (think beginners or smokers, in 'breath' terms), then you'll
have to stop more often than others whose cars are more fuel efficient
(players with more efficient embouchures).
How long you stop (how you inhale) depends upon a number of factors.
Need to get something to eat because it's lunchtime (before a long or
climatic phrase)? Then stop a long time (take a long, deep breath).
Maybe you'll want to skip one station and go on to the next, or stop
before you really need to because of the view, or the clean toilets, or
the price. Likewise, maybe you want to breathe before you really need
to or after you usually do because of the nature of the phrasing, or
because that's how your teacher did it, or because you need to swallow,
or because you're playing louder than usual due to the acoustics of the
venue, or because you have a cold, or conversely because you're really
in good shape and seem to be able to sustain sounds better today. Where
and how you stop (inhale) tends to be different with each journey, with
each playing.
Breathing while playing honkyoku is even easier than keeping a car full
of petrol. With honkyoku, not only can you choose your 'breath stops',
but you can change where they are too. For example, if you are short of
wind or out of shape, instead of taking more breaths in a long phrase,
you can also just shorten the phrase by X number of seconds, in other
words, you can play the phrase 'faster'. It's like being able to move
the location of petrol stations at will by shortening the distance
between them!
It's okay to stop at any petrol station; it's best to stop only at the
ones that are most suited to your car, your particular route, the
particular day and your schedule. What you can't do is run out of
petrol when there is no station. But because there are always, ALWAYS
more petrol stations than you need, no matter how inefficient your car
is, the only reasons you might run of of petrol where there isn't a
station is because you are not paying attention or because you don't
know where the stations are located.
Likewise, the only reasons you might run out of breath in the wrong
spot when playing honkyoku is because you are not paying attention or
you don't know the piece yet. If you really know the piece and are
paying attention, you know where the 'breath stops' are. You know how
and where to take the breaths you need, even when you need more than
usual. You know the locations of more ''breath stations' than you will
ever need and you even know how to move those locations closer to each
other by changing tempo or phrase lengths.
If you know your honkyoku, you know how to take any number of breaths
over varying durations and still not stop the flow of your piece.
Taking those breaths are part of flow.
Those of us who saw, for example, Yokoyama-sensei (who was chain
smoking at the time, less than a year before his debilitating strokes)
perform in the main Denver concert during the Shakuhachi Festival in
1998 in Boulder, saw this in action. Lots and lots of breaths, but all
in the right spots. The flow of his honkyoku was fine, even if
Yokoyama's health was not.
How do you know where all of these breath locations are in a honkyoku?
By studying with a teacher, or maybe listening to performances and
recordings, but mostly by playing the piece many times, and by
practicing many hours.
When shakuhachi circular breathing is done 'well', the inhalation and
the transitions are inaudible. The irony with using 'good' circular
breathing in honkyoku is that both player and audience are supposed to
be listening to those very inhalations and transitions, how AND where
they occur. We are supposed to be concentrating on those very things.
In my opinion, using circular breathing in honkyoku is hiding something
that's meant to be public. It's like cheating on a self administered,
open book exam. The honkyoku will never be your own if you do that.
Finally, honkyoku is an oral tradition. Playing a honkyoku "as it is
written" is impossible, because they aren't written down. (A good place
to segue into a discussion about notation?)
Happy holidays,
Riley Lee
Sound of Bamboo
PO Box 939, Manly NSW 1655, Australia
tel. +612 9976 6904
fax +612 9976 6905
mobile +612 414 626 453
www.rileylee.net
On 01/12/2003, at 7:17 PM, shakuhachi wrote:
> shakuhachi Mon, 1 Dec 2003 Volume 1 :
> Number 466
> In this issue:
>
> Re: shakuhachi V1 #464
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2003 10:36:04 +0900
> From: "jeff cairns" <shaku8@iris.dti.ne.jp>
>
> Theo,
> I regularily use circular breathing in both sankyoku and honkyoku
> pieces as
> well as modern pieces of my own construct. In the prior two forms,
> it's
> never used to impress, but rather to play extended note durations that
> I
> might find myself short of wind on. The fact is, I shouldn't and
> don't
> always need to do that, but there are times when in the heat of the
> moment I
> find myself faced with a decision and these days I usually lean
> towards at
> least playing the piece as it is written rather than implanting an
> unnatural
> breath stopping the flow of the piece . In the latter form (my own
> music),
> I may use circular breathing as an intended technique rather than to
> smooth
> over any shortage of breath. You can hear an example of this on my cd
> Shirakawa in the piece Fuyu no kumo where I use circular breathing to
> play a
> very elongated tone over which acoustic guitar plays. Nothing
> elaborate,
> but effective. That example was done 6 years ago and my technique has
> improved since then such that I can produce relative consistancy in
> tone
> over the transition between mouth and diaphram pressure which to this
> player
> is the biggest hurdle to overcome in this technique. The rest is
> concentration.
> jeff cairns
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of shakuhachi V1 #466
> *************************
> _____________________________________________
>
> List subscription information is at:
> http://communication.ucsd.edu/shaku/listsub.html
>
--Apple-Mail-2--664345482
charset=US-ASCII
Hello Shakuhachi Group.
This is a belated response to a recent discussion about circular
breathing.
In my opinion, circular breathing is a valuable and rewarding
technique when used with certain instruments (eg. didgeridu) and in
certain contexts. From my experience however, this technique is
unsuitable for traditional Japanese music in general and traditional
shakuhachi music in particular.
When performing contemporary shakuhachi music, eg., one's own
compositions, anything goes I suppose, but even then I would hesitate
to use circular breathing, though I've known how to do it since the
early 1980s. With shakuhachi performances/recordings, I find that
listening to where and how the inhalations are done can be as telling
as listening to the sounds made during the exhalations.
Circular breathing is particularly incompatible with playing honkyoku,
especially if used in order to sustain notes or phrases. The manner,
length and timing of each breath is central to honkyoku playing. This
means much more than just where to inhale or how long to sustain a
note or phrase. It means:
How and when to end the exhalation;
How long to pause before beginning the inhalation;
How much and how long to inhale;
How to end the inhalation; and
How long to pause before beginning the next exhalation.
And that's all in addition to how the exhalation is done (the
'music'). Playing honkyoku means being aware of of all of these things.
The manner, length and timing of all four elements of the breath -
inhalation & exhalation and the two parts in between - vary with each
phrase of each piece, with each performance and with each performer.
This means that they are always different with every performance, even
in the same place in the same piece by the same performer.
Employing circular breathing in honkyoku, especially in the way
described in a previous message to the group, is contrary to the
fundamental essence of honkyoku. It's not necessary and it tends to
discourage mindfulness of all the bits of the breath other than the
exhalation.
Leave out all of those other bits besides the sound produced on the
exhalation and you're 'just' left with music. Mightly fine music
though it might be, it is not honkyoku in the sense that I'm using
here.
To play honkyoku as I believe they are meant to be played implies an
awareness of one's self, the present situation and the piece. Ideally,
with this awareness, one always and intuitively knows when, where, and
how to breathe.
There is no single 'right' way or set of places to breathe in
honkyoku. It depends upon the situation. This is one reason why
honkyoku are so wonderful. You're a beginner and can't sustain the
sound very long? No problem, you can breathe more often (but only in
the right spots). You're getting old or loosing your breath capacity
because of smoking or other health factors? Never had any breath
capacity in the first place, and probably never will? Well, at least
you can still play honkyoku, and play it well.
RE: where to breathe in a honkyoku, there are places where it's okay
to breathe and where it's not so okay. Here's a good analogy for those
of us addicted to the automobile. Playing honkyoku is like driving a
car around in the city. Taking breaths is like stopping for petrol. In
most places, especially in the USA, there are far more petrol stations
than one needs; you don't have to and certainly wouldn't want to stop
at all of them. But you could stop at any of them. If your car uses a
lot of petrol (think beginners or smokers, in 'breath' terms), then
you'll have to stop more often than others whose cars are more fuel
efficient (players with more efficient embouchures).
How long you stop (how you inhale) depends upon a number of factors.
Need to get something to eat because it's lunchtime (before a long or
climatic phrase)? Then stop a long time (take a long, deep breath).
Maybe you'll want to skip one station and go on to the next, or stop
before you really need to because of the view, or the clean toilets,
or the price. Likewise, maybe you want to breathe before you really
need to or after you usually do because of the nature of the phrasing,
or because that's how your teacher did it, or because you need to
swallow, or because you're playing louder than usual due to the
acoustics of the venue, or because you have a cold, or conversely
because you're really in good shape and seem to be able to sustain
sounds better today. Where and how you stop (inhale) tends to be
different with each journey, with each playing.
Breathing while playing honkyoku is even easier than keeping a car
full of petrol. With honkyoku, not only can you choose your 'breath
stops', but you can change where they are too. For example, if you are
short of wind or out of shape, instead of taking more breaths in a
long phrase, you can also just shorten the phrase by X number of
seconds, in other words, you can play the phrase 'faster'. It's like
being able to move the location of petrol stations at will by
shortening the distance between them!
It's okay to stop at any petrol station; it's best to stop only at the
ones that are most suited to your car, your particular route, the
particular day and your schedule. What you can't do is run out of
petrol when there is no station. But because there are always, ALWAYS
more petrol stations than you need, no matter how inefficient your car
is, the only reasons you might run of of petrol where there isn't a
station is because you are not paying attention or because you don't
know where the stations are located.
Likewise, the only reasons you might run out of breath in the wrong
spot when playing honkyoku is because you are not paying attention or
you don't know the piece yet. If you really know the piece and are
paying attention, you know where the 'breath stops' are. You know how
and where to take the breaths you need, even when you need more than
usual. You know the locations of more ''breath stations' than you will
ever need and you even know how to move those locations closer to each
other by changing tempo or phrase lengths.
If you know your honkyoku, you know how to take any number of breaths
over varying durations and still not stop the flow of your piece.
Taking those breaths are part of flow.
Those of us who saw, for example, Yokoyama-sensei (who was chain
smoking at the time, less than a year before his debilitating strokes)
perform in the main Denver concert during the Shakuhachi Festival in
1998 in Boulder, saw this in action. Lots and lots of breaths, but all
in the right spots. The flow of his honkyoku was fine, even if
Yokoyama's health was not.
How do you know where all of these breath locations are in a honkyoku?
By studying with a teacher, or maybe listening to performances and
recordings, but mostly by playing the piece many times, and by
practicing many hours.
When shakuhachi circular breathing is done 'well', the inhalation and
the transitions are inaudible. The irony with using 'good' circular
breathing in honkyoku is that both player and audience are supposed to
be listening to those very inhalations and transitions, how AND where
they occur. We are supposed to be concentrating on those very things.
In my opinion, using circular breathing in honkyoku is hiding
something that's meant to be public. It's like cheating on a self
administered, open book exam. The honkyoku will never be your own if
you do that.
Finally, honkyoku is an oral tradition. Playing a honkyoku "as it is
written" is impossible, because they aren't written down. (A good
place to segue into a discussion about notation?)
Happy holidays,
Riley Lee
<bold><smaller><smaller>
Sound of Bamboo
PO Box 939, Manly NSW 1655, Australia
tel. +612 9976 6904
fax +612 9976 6905
mobile +612 414 626 453
www.rileylee.net
</smaller></smaller></bold>
On 01/12/2003, at 7:17 PM, shakuhachi wrote:
<excerpt>shakuhachi Mon, 1 Dec 2003
Volume 1 : Number 466
In this issue:
Re: shakuhachi V1 #464
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2003 10:36:04 +0900
From: "jeff cairns" <<shaku8@iris.dti.ne.jp>
Theo,
I regularily use circular breathing in both sankyoku and honkyoku
pieces as
well as modern pieces of my own construct. In the prior two forms,
it's
never used to impress, but rather to play extended note durations that I
might find myself short of wind on. The fact is, I shouldn't and
don't
always need to do that, but there are times when in the heat of the
moment I
find myself faced with a decision and these days I usually lean
towards at
least playing the piece as it is written rather than implanting an
unnatural
breath stopping the flow of the piece . In the latter form (my own
music),
I may use circular breathing as an intended technique rather than to
smooth
over any shortage of breath. You can hear an example of this on my cd
Shirakawa in the piece Fuyu no kumo where I use circular breathing to
play a
very elongated tone over which acoustic guitar plays. Nothing
elaborate,
but effective. That example was done 6 years ago and my technique has
improved since then such that I can produce relative consistancy in
tone
over the transition between mouth and diaphram pressure which to this
player
is the biggest hurdle to overcome in this technique. The rest is
concentration.
jeff cairns
------------------------------
End of shakuhachi V1 #466
*************************
_____________________________________________
List subscription information is at:
http://communication.ucsd.edu/shaku/listsub.html
</excerpt>
--Apple-Mail-2--664345482--
_____________________________________________
List subscription information is at:
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