Shakuhachi Flute Songs: Summertime Transition from Upper to Lower Octave

Video Transcript

"O.k. here's an exercise that involves Summertime and it gets you from the lower octave to the higher octave because that's a really tricky break point. One of the keys to making that transition is keeping your lips in the same place, once you play a C, you're going to go from a C to a D; actually, C to a D; maintain the same position, mouth position that you had on the C as you go to the D. Now the C is the hole in the back closed and the first two holes open and the bottom two holes are closed. That's your C to a D. This positioning has to stay the same for that to work. One might want to practice repeating the C to the D over and over, and over again. And every now and again you want to go to an F and then back down to a D. You want to be able to play all the notes around that transition point from the lower octave to the higher octave to make sure that you're always going to be able to make that transition."