Why is my tone bad? 7 Possible Causes

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! 💓