August 2001

A Breath “Nozzle”

I have long suggested that people blow ten minutes of Otsu-no-Ro per day to develop good sound and good tone. I have also suggested that increasing the volume of the inside of your mouth can help you gain a smoother sound.

Everybody possesses different images of what they are doing when they blow on the shakuhachi, so I have used many such images to describe suggestions of what to do. Here is one that I think works particularly well.

Obviously, your breath must pass through your lips to get to the flute. However, you might have difficulties if you think of your lips as the place where the breath leaves your body. Instead, try thinking of the breath leaving your body from a place much further back in your mouth.

Try imagining the “nozzle” where your breath leaves your body as lying somewhere farther back in your mouth. If you think this way, the extra tension you may be holding in your lips will disappear, and your tone will become smoother.

Thus, my advice is to blow from further back from a “nozzle” inside your mouth rather from your lips. Try it and see how it works.