MURAIKI
What is muraiki?
Muraiki literally means “irregular breath or blowing”. It has been variously described as making a sound like a “blast of air”, “like the sound of the wind through bamboo leaves”, “a rushing wind sound”, “air sound”, etc.
It can be violent and loud or soft
and delicate.
Some people say I should raise the tongue to play muraiki?
This is one way of making a breathy
sound. Raising the tongue in your mouth will create turbulence and make the
sound breathy. But using this technique it is hard to get power into muraiki.
Conversely, if you want a pure sound
without breathiness, reduce turbulence in the breath by:
· Putting the tongue at the base of the mouth cavity
· Making the mouth cavity as large as possible. Imagine a ping-pong ball in your mouth.
· Making the throat cavity as large as possible. Imagine you are “singing” the note out load. Imagine you are being sick!
·
Making
the chest and diaphragm as large as possible. Imagine your body is a big empty
44 gallon drum.
How else can I make the sound breathy?
Blowing harder will increase the breathiness of the sound. But this usually results in an unwanted rising of the pitch.
Now try this. Move your lips closer to the blowing edge and then blow harder. Not only is the rise in pitch compensated for, but the breathy/windy effect is greatly increased.
The tips on playing meri warned against blowing. That is
because if you play meri AND blow harder, then the sound will be very breathy.
This is muraiki.
How can I get power into muraiki?
Move your lips closer to the blowing edge (utaguchi) and BLOW
© 2003 Andrew MacGregor