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November 04, 2005
Reworking Old Shakuhachi Flutes
Here's an old flute I recently upgraded from a nonfunctional flute to one that works in the tradition of the shakuhachi as a music instrument. There is much confusion about the shakuhachi instrument. The shakuhachi was never made as a meditation flute. it either worked as a shakuhachi or it didn't depending upon technical fingerings. Suizen practitioners used real shakuhachi instruments as part of their practice, they just didn't play music. If you understand the Japanese culture, you will know that the Japanese have an aesthetic based on refinement. The earliest users took the Xiao, which the Chinese already made into a functional flute, and brought it into another sphere with the bore worked. Those who made and blew on bamboo poles with holes drilled into them did not do so with any formal guidance or from any tradition. To say that these simple types of flutes were used by Suizen practitioners in Japan is perpetuates further misunderstandings of the shakuhachi outside of Japan.
Back to this little beauty. I found it in a dusty antique shop in Kyoto three years ago and only recently had a little time to work on it. When I first blew into it in, I knew right away it was a simple flute. Although beautiful as it was, it didn't play as an instrument. The Ou san didn't work nor did Chi Ru. And Chi Meri was impossible. I bought it anyway because I wanted the challenge of bringing it into the standards of a well playing shakuhachi flute. I was going to show it to Kinya and ask his advice but never got around to it since time in the shop was always so busy.
Three years later, I found that simple removal from resonance spots made a dramatic difference.
Originally, I thought I would have to open up some of the finger holes but it really came down to internal bore work. Just some removal from a few resonance spots and the notes began to ring. The Ou San worked and the Chi Ru and Chi Meri became possible. I love the process of discovering the amazing rich timbres these old flute have, which is very different from the modern shakuhachi. When people ask if I can make their old flute play to the specs of the modern shakuhachi, I say yes but why don't you buy a modern shakuhachi instead? The old ones have so much to offer if it can handle the traditional fingerings and if that's what you want, I can make your old flute play shakuhachi music
If I were to make this into a modern bore flute, it would'nt
SOUND LIKE THIS.
Namaste, Perry
Posted by Perry Yung at November 4, 2005 11:47 AM