[Shaku] Re: Concert quality?

Got an off the list query that I thought worth bringing to the list.
I've anonymized it because I didn't seek the originator's permission.
I think the topic is interesting and actually welcome whatever can 'o
worms it might open (as long as the discussion remains civil :-)

>From user@somedomain.com Sun Nov 11 21:50:02 2007
>
>Can't help but ask about your phrase: 'These are both concert quality
>instruments from the late 19th - early 20th C'
>
>At the risk of opening a can of worms (hence off-list), I had thought no one
>got around to getting Shakuhachi to concert pitch until the middle of the
>20th C.
>
>No doubt there were a few which happened to be pitched at concert pitch...
>What is your understanding about when it was that Shakuhachi started to be
>pitched to concert pitch i.e A=442Hz.
>
>I'm not just being deliberately pedantic, I would interpret 'Concert
>quality' to mean can be played with other instruments in an ensemble, and in
>this case most older flutes would not be suitable.

I'm not sure exactly when makers started being really concerned with
pitch, although I would suspect it was a good bit earlier than the
mid-20thC. The Tozan school has many, many duets, trios, and
quartets in it's repertiore and Tozan, whose notation timing and
musical ideas are loosely based on Western music, would have picked
up the Western scale from the beginning or shortly thereafter.

A good number of older and komuso flutes I've seen are @ 440 or close.
Peter Hill has brought a lot of old flutes through here that play at
that pitch, and my teacher had a Komuso flute that he found in the barn
of his house in Hida that played better (in terms of pitch) than his
own concert flute.

When I say "concert quality" and properly pitched I mean that if you
play otsu-no-ro in pitch (@ A=440mHz) and then move up the scale on
the flute, the notes will play at the proper intervals.

Of course, the absolute pitch of a flute is a bit of an open question.
These aren't pianos. How meri/kari you play will have an effect, as
do other aspects of your embrochure. My claim is that, if you do
your part, the flute will cooperate.

Your point is also valid. There are far more shakuhachi out there that
do not play in pitch, or even close to 440. In that, you're absolutely
correct when you say that most old flutes are not well suited to playing
in ensembles, particularly with Western instruments (one can always get
the koto or shamisen player to tune to the shakuhachi).

The pitch of the flutes I'm selling is one of the factors that makes
them more interesting.

bj

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Received on Mon Nov 12 07:29 PST 2007