Shakuhachi and Breath

 This is from an exchange I had with a friend, talking about breathing techniques. Maybe you'll find it useful...

About legato / staccato / vibrato / tremolo, etc.: 

 

With the western flute, you know that we use lots of "tonguing" (staccato), and a tremolo using the breath. These techniques are generally not used in older shakuhachi music. However, some schools use a very extreme tremolo (that is, komi-buki), so there are exceptions. Same with staccato. Shakuhachi basically doesn't use tonguing, but there are some cases where you'll stop the breath and then start it again - for example, ha-u often sounds good this way. Part of this is because this can be a difficult transition, since the breath needs to switch from strong (ha) to a more precise, gentle one (u) when you play ha-u in the higher register.

The general rule, though, is that each phrase is played with a steady breath, and any changes in notes are done with the fingers. It's kind of like meditation here: you want to maintain a smooth, steady, longish out-breath; the notes are kind of a way of decorating and playing with that breath, but the breath is perhaps more important than the notes. So: legato.

Vibrato is sometimes used. You can do so by moving the shakuhachi, or moving your head up and down. When komuso were wearing "tengai" (upside-down baskets) to cover their heads, they couldn't move their heads without jiggling the basket about, so most of this effect was done using the shakuhachi, and probably more sparingly than it is used today. However, we don't have baskets on our heads, so either is fine. Sometimes I like a vibrato, but it's also good to practice a very plain, steady breath. It's easy to hide faults in our playing by using vibrato all the time, so I think it's good to use it only minimally.

As for the "legato" breath:

There are several types. Kinpu-ryu uses "sasabuki." Sasabuki refers to sasa-gusa, or bamboo grass. The shape of the leaf starts in a point, then grows wider, then gets smaller again. So with the breath: it comes out of silence, gets stronger, then leads back into silence again. Seien-ryu pieces originally used "bo-buki," or "stick breath." In this case, there is no amplitude modulation at all; you suddenly start at full volume, maintain it through the breath, and then suddenly stop. When Higuchi Taizan, a major figure in Fuke playing / Myoan-ryu, edited some of the Seien-ryu pieces (including sanya, shizu, etc.), he played them in his own style, which I like better than the original so I follow it. He used "kusabi-buki," or "wedge breath." This breath follows the image of a bell: it starts at full volume, then gradually fades out. For the majority of pieces, this is how I like to play.