Learn to play the Shakuhachi: Honkyoku 5 : Sokkan

Learn to play Shingetsu

Created byMarco Lienhard

Last updated 9/2022

English

What you'll learn

Students will learn to play a new Honkyoku and learn the basic and new techniques to play Honkyoku
Students will learn to play with more confidence and creating better sound
Students will learn to read and write Shakuhachi music
Students will learn to read Shakuhachi music more easily through the study of these Honkyoku songs

Course content

1 section • 6 lectures • 1h 9m total length

Ro- buki daily warm up for your practice5:23
One of the daily Exercises we recommend you do before playing. Try to do it on other notes as well. Practice octaves as well
Sokkan: Part 116:38
A quiet Honkyoku that is very challenging to play. Ro Oumeri is particularly difficult to play. Try the best you can do and listen to the song several times to get the melody in your head. It will help you create the sounds you need and it will help you get the correct pitch. Practice KORO over and over to get used to this technique.
Sokkan Part 213:45
Second part of the song. Make sure to practice the first part before moving to this section. You will have some Chi Ru techniques that you will need to refine. Practice the. " Ho" fingering and also special Ri Meri.
Also again Ro Oumeri notes to master. Pay attention to the notes played after Meri notes as they tend to be played too low and need to be adjusted. Record your playing and listen to it to check your playing.
Sokkan : Play the whole song8:05
After practicing both parts, we are putting this together and have some continuity in the melody. You' ll have to focus on the song and try to memorize the song to be able to play it and focus on the main lines and the song.
Start with simpler lines at first and as you progress in your study, you will have more freedom in adding some little decoration without losing sight of the main lines of the song.
Read and write Shakuhachi Honkyoku music12:55
This lesson is made to help you write the shakuhachi notations and learn some of the new ones that appear in Honkyoku. There is a specific order in writing Katakana and Kanji. This video will help you writing the characters correctly.
Repairing a Cracked piece of bamboo12:59
A video to help you out repair any cracks that you might have on a bamboo flute. The video shows you a Fue, but we use the same technique for Shakuhachi. Make sure to let the wet cloth overnight to close the crack and then put the tie on to repair the bamboo.

Requirements

Be able to read the music and get sounds out of the Shakuhachi.
Should be able to play Ro buki and play Meri sounds, as it is used a lot in Honkyoku
ou should preferably have a 1.8 Shakuhachi to be able to play along
Be able to hold long tones

Description

You will learn to play a new Honkyoku on the Shakuhachi. Here we are focusing on Sokkan.

Sokkan means to "see or the breath" contemplating the breath. It is a Honkyoku that has some level of difficulty as it introduces some new techniques such as Koro , Ro Oumeri alternate notes: Ho, Ri meri and Chi RU, and other techniques. This song is a great way to get used to these new techniques that will get more intricate in other Honkyoku. A Honkyoku is one of the harder music to play on the Shakuhachi. We recommend that you first take the easier lessons to develop some playing skills before moving to this harder song.

So I recommend you start with the simpler songs from our first lectures before moving on to these pieces. Some sections with meri and Oumeri are difficult, you might not be able to get it right away, but try through practice to get closest to it as possible. It will take some time, it is also a good idea to come back to it through your practice as the song will make more and more sense each time you go back to it.

We have several videos as a bonus to learn to read and write the music and also a video to help you warm up before playing. We also included a short warm-up video in each of the lessons. Let us know if you encounter any difficulties and we will try our best to help you.

These songs should be played hundreds of times if not thousands of times to really grasp the song. Each player will make the song his/her own.

I recommend learning to write music as well. Try to rewrite the score yourself. It is a great exercise to memorize the notation and later be able to write your own music in Shakuhachi notation.

Don't expect sudden results, this is a slow process and needs patience and lots of practice. So have fun with it and discover a new world of music through these two songs.

Who this course is for:

Intermediate to advanced students
Advanced students who play different styles
Shakuhachi players who want to learn thistle of music