Text / Silence: noise and meaning in shakuhachi honkyoku.

Silence is a system of listening, a filtering of noise, based upon certain aesthetic/cultural precepts.
Silence in shakuhachi honkyoku is the ‘de-focusing’ of attention from any individual element through action.

The shakuhachi flute is an end-blown tube with five finger holes. The instrument is ‘simplistic’ in its design as it is focused on timbre; Zen honkyoku repertoire is characterized by a structural model of tension/resolution on a timbral level.

The shakuhachi requires extreme precision in the control and directing of air onto the mouthpiece. In effect, the breathing technique required to play shakuhachi results in a build-up and sustain of diaphragmatic tension equivalent to techniques used in meditation.

Fundamental to the shakuhachi are the techniques of meri and kari; terms which refer to the position of the head and the angle at which air is blown onto the mouthpiece. These different head positions are used to produce pitches which cannot be made by blowing straight (kari) into the instrument; the closer the lips to the mouthpiece the lower the pitch and ‘darker’ the timbre, the farther away the higher the pitch and ‘brighter’ the timbre.

The meri/kari technique of playing requires specific control/refinement in how the air is placed on the mouthpiece with changing head positions. “Kubi furi san nen” is a saying in Japan referring to the fact that this technique takes three years to develop.

Producing sound requires physical effort/action; the meri/kari technique requires intense focus on the quality of sound made with these techniques. In combination this division of internal and external focus brings about a ‘transcendental’ state when performing.

Silence on the shakuhachi is about de-focusing attention on any particular element through the creation of a meta-physical feedback system.