Weekly Newsletter for Shinobue Lovers

August 25, 2024

You might wonder, "Why is my tone bad? What am I doing wrong?" It's completely normal to have a breathy and/or tight tone when you're a beginner. However, I can't stress enough the importance of producing a beautiful tone in shinobue playing. Even if you've learned 100 songs, if the tone is unpleasant, you'll have 100 unpleasant songs! Let's talk about what might be causing your breathy and tight tone.

1. You are blowing air with your mouth.

Do not blow air into the shinobue with your mouth. This may sound a bit strange, but once you find the right position for your mouth (embouchure), just leave your mouth alone and let the breath flow from your lungs. Remember, it's all about using your core muscles to power your breath. Do not power the breath with your mouth. When you blow air with your mouth, you are going to create a lot of "wind," and it will sound breathy (windy).

2. Your aperture (lip hole) is too small.

The aperture is the opening of your mouth from which air is released. Many people have a small aperture, especially when playing kan on, which causes the tone to sound tight.

3. Your aperture is too big.

This is also common for a very beginner. If the aperture is too big, you have way too much air coming out, making the sound breathy.

4. Your embouchure is "smiling".

Smiling embouchure creates an aperture that is like a slit instead of a hole, making the tone tight.

5. Your breath direction is off.

Create the proper embouchure to direct your breath down to the utakuchi (mouth hole of the shinobue). You do not create your embouchure to blow the air but to direct it. If your embouchure is off, then your air will not be directed into the utakuchi, and you will be wasting air because your breath will hit the walls of the shinobue instead of going into the tube and resonating in there.

6. Your breath is too weak because you are not propelling the air using your core muscles.

Weak breath does not have the power to vibrate shinobue, so all you get is a breathy tone.

7. Your fingers are not sealing the holes.

Even a 1/4 mm opening on one hole could make the shinobue sound breathy.

To improve your breath and tight tone...

Start by identifying the causes. You can use a mirror or make a video of your playing to carefully observe the points I mentioned. You're likely to discover several factors contributing to your less-than-ideal tone. Then, work on eliminating the causes you've found. You can check out this playlist titled "How to get a good sound consistently". Starting with a video featuring my teacher, Bunta Satoh sensei, this playlist covers many points discussed in this newsletter! 💓

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GREAT NEWS! Shinobue Wako is coming!!

Shinobue Wako offers amazing bamboo shinobues with beautiful colors and a bright, rich sound that I'm sure you'll love! I'm currently working out the details with them so that I can bring Shinobue Wako to you. Stay tuned for more updates - exciting things are coming your way!!

My Go-To brand, Shoji Shinobue is here!

I had a great meeting with Mr. Shoji when I saw him in Japan, who assured me that more Shoji shinobues would be in stock soon. Get on my Shoji shinobue notification list here!

Get on the Shoji Shinobue Notification List

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🎊Hurry to win a free Suzuki shinobue 7 hon choshi before time runs out!! Share my YouTube channel link on any social media platform and tell everyone how it’s helped you with your shinobue journey! (YouTube.com/@MikiShinobue) Take a screenshot of your post and email it to miki@saitomusic.com. 📸 Once my YouTube channel reaches 2,000 subscribers, we'll pick the lucky winner.😍 As of August 24, we are at 1982 subscribers!

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Want to speed up the progress? Take shinobue lessons!