Breaths and Pitch

It happens often in koten honkyoku and other genres that the last note of one breath and the first note of another breath are the same note. It goes without saying that a player should play these at the same pitch. Many players do not pay much more attention to these transition notes beyond that, however, and this can lead to a large error.

The error occurs because the strength of your breath will be very different at the end of one breath and the beginning of another.

When playing non-meri notes, whether or not you have lungs full of air should not make a large difference. When playing meri notes, however, it is the case for almost all players that the meri note at the beginning of the next phrase rises in pitch significantly compared to the end note of the last phrase. Since it is so easy to fall into the trap of playing meri notes higher with lungs full of air, you should consciously drop your chin even farther or adjust the level of air passing through your lips.

Even a very small difference in air flow makes a significant change in tone when it comes to meris. Therefore, please be extra, extra careful in these cases. Once you get used to it, playing these two meris at exactly the same pitch becomes practically second nature.

The object is to reach the point where you make this adjustment automatically and without thinking about it, but until you reach that point, this deserves special attention.