MY SHAKUHACHI GENTLY SIGHS

There have been some new shakuhachi players I have met who, despite my best efforts of assistance, have not been able to make any sound with the shakuhachi. We checked every basic technique and required condition. When they blew into the flute, there should have been a sound. But alas there was none. There was something about the breath that was incompatible. What was it?

I talked about the breath as being similar to a deep “Sigh”. We all know that sighing can be a sign of anxiety and bodily stress. But sighing can also be relaxing and even purifying. Signing with a sound vibrates the soft palate and soothes that part of your brain that controls your heart rate and blood pressure.

When you sigh deeply, check what happens to the front of your hara (the front of your belly about 5cm below the navel). It should push out slightly, at least at the beginning of the sigh. Similarly with a sharp shout. You will notice that the hara again pushes out, this time more noticeably. Now try laughing. You will notice that hara pulsates out quite violently with every sharp expulsion of air. After a yawn, there is a wonderfully relaxing exhalation. Check what happens to your hara at the end of a deep yawn.

So, I asked the student to sigh deeply into the flute. There was an instant response from the shakuhachi and it burst into life. Magic!

Think of your breath into the shakuhachi as a deep sigh, with the air coming up directly from the hara. Of course a sigh is gone rather quickly and to play the shakuhachi we want to extend the breath for longer periods. To achieve this we must regulate the air as it comes out through the lips only by increasing or reducing the pressure between the lips. There should be no regulation of the air using the mouth, throat, chest, tongue, or by any other means.

So a long breath such as this, which is regulated by the lips, is the same and every bit as relaxing as a shorter duration deep sigh, perhaps even more so.

Sigh into your shakuhachi and feel the tensions of the world evaporate into the cosmos. It is not a sigh of sorrow but rather a purifying sigh which will result in a warm relaxed feeling of love and contentment.

Those of us who have no trouble making a sound should ponder on this aspect of the breath and may find that, by modifying our breath, a quantum leap in our playing can be achieved.

© 2004 Andrew MacGregor

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