Finger hitting, Yubiuchi（指打ち）

I've just started video recording myself during practice Shinobue. With video recording, I can hear my own sounds and find out my physical bad habits while playing. So far I think this is a very effective practice to make good progress.

I feel my finger hitting, Yubiuchi（指打ち） is still not there.
The movements of my fingers are not smooth. (sigh)


For the benefit of Shinobue beginners, I will write about finger hitting, Yubiuchi（指打ち）today.

Finger hitting, Yubiuchi（指打ち）

When you play the western flute, you may apply the tonguing technique for articulation.

With Shinobue, you apply the finger hitting technique, Yubiuchi（指打ち） for articulation instead of tonguing.

How to do

For example, if you want to make 六 tone 3 times (六―六―六―), you hit your left index finger twice quickly.


六-----------
      ↑    ↑
     hit    hit


You need to make 六 tone with one breath and then hit your left index finger twice quickly to divide the continuous tone into 3 tones.

This is the basic idea of the finger hitting technique.




Finger hitting is the best part of all the Shinobue techniques which can make a great impression with the audience.


Shinobue players in festival music who create good sounds by hitting their fingers quickly and smoothly are my respected role models.

I'm fascinated not only by their sounds but also their beautiful finger movements.



Let me post links to my Shinobue master, Mr Akira Morita (森田玲)'s blog below.


No.1 - About Finger hitting
http://shinobue.blog.jp/archives/3685631.html

No.2 - About "Kishiwada Danjiri Bayashi"
http://shinobue.blog.jp/archives/11979413.html


Sorry, it's all written in Japanese, but you can understand what the finger hitting technique is like by watching some videos in his posts. His finger movements are very beautiful and smooth, aren't they?

He is playing "Kishiwada Matsuri Danjiri Bayashi" (岸和田祭だんじり囃子), one of the representative melodies of Kishiwada Danjiri festival in Osaka in one video of No.2 link. （He is explaining it's a basic melody of "Kishiwada Matsuri Danjiri Bayashi"）

After posting the video on Twitter, more than 10,000 people viewed it within only 4 days and most of the viewers are junior and high school students.

I'm happy to know the young generation still love the sound of Shinobue and Japanese festival music.


Today, I wrote about Shinobue's very unique technique, "finger hitting（指打ち）".
I hope you may find this post helpful.



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