January 1998

Alternative Fingerings

There are many traditional fingerings for achieving certain notes on the shakuhachi. For instance, for a Kan Tsu-meri, open up the first hole only slightly. This will give you a very traditional-sounding Tsu-meri, but it will also be very weak. Some modern music calls for a strong Kan Tsu-meri, so what to do? The answer is alternative fingerings. The alternative fingering for a Kan Tsu-meri is opening up holes 4 and 5 and kari-ing as much as you can (or else the note will drop). This will give you a strong Kan Tsu-meri. Try it out with a tuning meter, and you will see that the note is indeed D-sharp.

The note one octave below Kan Chi-meri is called U in Kinko style notation. There are many ways to achieve this note, but the most common traditional fingering for this note is to open up hole 3 only and meri slightly. However, you can also use the same fingerings as for a Chi-meri, only modulate your breath to play an octave lower. This fingering, which will give you an U as well, is advantageous in some contexts (for instance, when you want to play U very quickly after a Re).

The traditional way to play a Re-meri is to shade hole 2, but you can also leave 2 open and close 1. Similarly, the traditional way to play Ri-meri is to open up 3 and shade 4 (meri), but this can also be achieved by opening 4 and closing all other holes (meri). All of these require fine pitch control with your mouth.

In the song “Haru no Umi” is the phrase “Tsu-meri, Tsu, Tsu-meri, Ro”, which must be played very quickly. Instead of playing a regular Tsu in this case, you can get by with just opening holes 2 or 3 and then shutting it again. This will make a note which approximates Tsu closely enough for the quickness of the phrase. This, like the other examples above, is an alternative fingering.

Modern music makes demands on the shakuhachi that were not present in classical music, and using solely traditional techniques for these pieces means that we will not be able to express them fully. So, we use alternative fingerings to achieve certain sounds, and by doing so we broaden the scope of expression of which the shakuhachi is capable. However, we must also be careful not to abandon the traditional techniques (because they are more difficult, for instance) entirely, or else the good qualities which originally drew us to shakuhachi will be lost. The important thing is to evaluate what is called for on a song-by-song basis.

However, do not assume that all alternative fingerings are new. Indeed, there are many alternative fingerings that are crucial to playing honkyoku. For instance, if you meri Tsu-meri again, you come up with the same pitch as Ro. If you meri an U (Otsu octave) or a Chi-meri (Kan octave), you come up with a Re. Meri-ing a Ri-meri leads to a Chi.....etc etc.

Ask your teacher about alternative fingerings, but also experiment on your own.