Shamisen Week 3 Practice

Nothing much happened during Week 2's practice so no post. Week 3 was more productive as I believe I have finally got the process of holding the bachi correctly. I still fuss and take some time to get it correct in my hand, but I am able to do it more quickly than before.

Although I don't have particularly large hands, the jiuta bachi is larger than the other sangen bachis used for the various styles of shamisen music, both in width of the blade but more importantly in the girth of the plectrum itself. This girth, as it widens out to the end of the bachi, places pressure on the little finger as it curves under the bachi as seen in the photo below.

If you have smaller hands, the little finger squeezes in just fine. In addition, notice the three fingers that actually hold the bachi are splayed outward a bit. I cannot fit the bachi completely parallel to my fingers because this would crunch my little finger too much.

The thumb does NOT hold the bachi and should not be used as a pressure point (as in using it to move the bachi up and down while striking the itos). Some instructors like the thumb to be on top of the bachi, the tip of the thumb (thumbnail) not to extend beyond where the bachi begins to curve downward (there is a crease on most bachis to help with alignment.

My instructor wants the thumb at the edge of the bachi, split in half, as the following illustration shows.

Remember, you hold the bachi with the three fingers, the little finger is curved over the edge, and the thumb to the crease of the bachi or where it begins to slant downwards. The thumb should sort of "rest" on the bachi, not be extended a great length. This should allow the bachi to be held perpendicular to the itos for playing. Additional photos below.

Please excuse my hairy and age-spotted hand!

Although the bachi holding improves daily, the sangen positioning in relation to the body is still a work in progress. I take more time with that (and initial tuning) than anything else. However, I am feeling more comfortable, as the practice days go by, that it won't be long before I can pick up the sangen and have it positioned near perfect within seconds. We'll see.

As to the tuning, it is interesting that the instrument does not have knurled ratchets that can allow the tuning to remain rather stable. The itomaki (the wood pegs that wind the strings inside the open wood chamber called the itogura) have no ratchets to lock the strings in place. They are held in place by wood against wood pressure alone.

Since I am unfamiliar with string instruments, this is probably true of all of them. However, it makes for a bit of frustration since all three of the itomaki, no matter how tight you push into the itogura, eventually loosen. This loosening then changes the base tune setting of the instrument. In plain English, my sangen gets out of tune often.

I believe it is a problem with my particular sangen and not in general, but I am not sure. My instrument is a lower cost one where the itomaki may have worn down enough to make semi-permanent tuning wishful. In any case, I can see an improvement in the sangen by installing a small ratcheting device inside the itogura whereby the itomaki would not loosen. Having said that, it would probably alter the sound of the sangen, since metal would probably be the best material. Something to think about.

The week's practice goes well (I think) as I learn my first song. Very brief and, unfortunately, no vocal accompaniment. Many jiuta songs have vocals associated with them. The song I practice has no new ito positions but does have vocal notation alongside. It's good to actually hear a song, although I don't play it that well since I have not nailed the number 5 position yet on the sao. Patience.