Your Shinobue Pitches Are Flat 😣 Is it You or Your Shinobue?? 😵‍💫

You've worked very hard to get all the notes on your shinobue, and now your songs are sounding nice. You are feeling pretty good about your progress. 😌

But then you discovered that all of your notes were one semitone (a half step) flat! 😱

I experienced something similar. I was playing an 8 hon choshi and thought I sounded pretty good. Then, I casually started playing the melody on my piano and realized that my notes didn’t match the pitch of the piano. They were sounding more like a B major instead of the C major they should have been!

At first, I genuinely thought I had picked up a 7 hon choshi by mistake, so I flipped the shinobue over and checked the kanji number, which confirmed it was 八 (8). 😳

First, I blamed on the shinobue

I thought "Wow, this shinobue is tuned way off. Or maybe they put the wrong number on this shinobue! It should say SEVEN!"

But no... it wasn't the shinobue. The shinobue might have been slightly off (which happens occasionally since they are hand crafted) but it was my technique.

How to find out if you are playing off pitch.

You might be playing as much as half a step off and not realize it. It's actually very common. You can quickly find out.

iPhone users, download the insurer app.

Android users, download Soundcorset.

​Read this article to learn how to check your pitches.

How I fixed the problem.

I worked with Bunta sensei and worked on my embouchure.

At that time, I was playing with the "smiling" position and my breath direction was going more or less straight out toward the audience.

Picture 1: Smile Embouchure

Bunta sensei's way is to create the embouchure to direct the breath to go down, approximately at 45 degree angle.

Picture 2: Bunta sensei's method -side view

Here is the front shot of my embouchure with Bunta sensei's method.

When I was playing with the smiling position (picture 1), in order for the utakuchi (mouth hole of the shinobue) to catch my breath and make a sound, I had to roll the shinobue toward me quite a bit.

When you roll the shinobue toward you, you get a lowered pitch.

By learning Bunta sensei's method of embouchure, my breath went downward and I was able to have my utakuchi more flat and open, creating the correct pitches.

Other reasons why you might be flat.

When you're not using diaphragmatic breathing, your breath lacks support from your core muscles, resulting in weak airflow. This weak breath can lead to flat pitches.

The temperature of your environment can also cause the shinobue to sound flat. To warm up the shinobue, close all the holes with your fingers and blow warm air into it for 30 seconds to 1 minute. This will help raise the temperature of the instrument.

Why my pitches were flat on that shinobue only

I believe I was especially flat on the shinobue I mentioned earlier because:

1. I had a hard time playing that shinobue so I brought the utakuchi closer to my mouth to get more breath, rolling the shinobue even more.

2. Maybe it was cold in the room that day.

3. Maybe that shinobue was created slightly lower pitched.

Shinobues are hand crafted so they are not perfectly in tune like a piano keyboard. With every shinobue, you must adjust the position slightly to play in tune.

With practice, you can learn how to play in pitch too!