The somatic path to pitch control

The shakuhachi is an eminently tunable musical instrument. There is no reason why it should not be blown at the correct pitch at all times, with all kinds of music. Yes, the mouthpiece is a bit of a wild animal but it can be brought completely under the player's control. It takes time and a lot of attentiveness to many physical aspects of playing, as well as careful listening.

Modern shakuhachi are made so that if you blow strongly and efficiently, whilst maintaining a good posture, your sound will be somewhere in the ballpark of near-correct pitch. This is only the beginning though. Stability is important. Very slight movements of the head will change the pitch, as will slight differences in embouchure and breath. As a player, one has to become hyper aware of all these nuanced movements and their effect on pitch, because that is the process one goes through whilst actually performing a piece.

Good pitch is as much a touchy-feely thing as it is an aural recognition. It is very useful to learn pitch control on one main instrument, a 1.8 length. This facilitates the understanding of pitch and pitch intervals on longer and shorter flutes.

When you are on pitch at A440 for any given fingering, your body and breathing will be arranged in a certain way only associated with that good pitch, which you can eventually learn to reproduce at will. You literally 'feel' the pitch in the breathing and in the physical relationship of the flute with your body.

Our job as players is to be able to revisit that somatic arrangement over and over again for each note, until good pitch and the body awareness of good pitch are recognized, and can be accurately reproduced at will.

Pitch training

Practically speaking, how do we train pitch awareness? The best way is to play music in unison with your teacher, and listen for their pitch. In the absence of a teacher, the tuning meter is really helpful.

Find a tuning meter that has good strong visible pitch indicators, like LEDs, flashing arrows or a large swinging needle, and position it next to a score on the music stand, so that you can see it with your peripheral vision.

While playing a simple piece, adjust your pitch as you play, according to the meter's indication. At first, this is challenging, especially for those who are beginner players. But slowly, with practice, you will begin to recognize the physical feedback signals that tell you how your body feels when you are on pitch.