Kan How to play the higher sound of the shakuhachi Japanese bamboo flute

In this video, I demonstrate how to play the often illusive, higher sound of the shakuhachi called Kan. I give closeup views of the lips and the Hara or abdomen. The Hara is truly the heart of shakuhachi playing. It works together with the lips to get every sound possible on the shakuhachi. For example, to get Kan we typically generate more power from the Hara and focus it at the lips with a smaller opening. Here, I also give an exercise I came up which I named Climbing the Ladder of Kan. It s helped many of my students to play Kan and improve. Intro 00:45 Closeup view of each note in Otsu and Kan RO 02:29 TSU 03:08 RE 03:26 CHI 03:38 HA, RI 03:48 I 04:02 Meri notes in Kan 04:14 Demonstration of power used for Kan 04:32 The Hara or abdonmen 06:01 Hara closeup 06:24 Exercise Climbing the Ladder of Kan 07:53