[Shaku] weird length shakuhachi question

I've been doing some playing with a minyo group lately and as it turns out the best key for the singer would have me playing a flute such that ro would be an F concert, i.e. a half step higher than a 1.6 (a 1.5 I guess). We've been doing pieces in a key appropriate to the 1.6 but that's not optimal for the singer (i.e. the lowest notes aren't quite as strong as they could be). Interestingly, while I've learned to play some jazz pieces in pretty weird keys, transposition doesn't work so well with minyo as a lot of the time the flute plays the melody (or close embellishments) with the singer. So the phrasing and dynamics are often dictated by what the singer is doing and this is hard to do when one has to play a lot of meri notes. So my question is, has anyone ever seen such a beast (i.e. a 1.5 or a flute with ro at F concert) ? It seems like it wouldn't be hard to make but probably no one makes them because there is no demand. I suppose if anyone would know it would be someone who focuses on minyo playing but I don't know any such players. Anyway, thanks for any thoughts on this. Cheers,

Karl Young
Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCSF
VA Medical Center, MRS Unit (114M)
Phone: (415) 221-4810 x3114
FAX: (415) 668-2864
Email: karl young at ucsf edu

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Received on Wed Apr 2 13:10 PDT 2008