How to Play the Xiao: Posture and Embouchure
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- čas přidán 13. 02. 2022
- Learn the fundamentals to play the xiao. In this lesson, we start off with basic posture and how to make the embouchure. If you are just learning how to play the xiao, welcome to Wu Dao Music! You will find everything that you need to know to get started with the xiao!
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#xiao #xiaotutorial #howtoplayxiao #bambooflute #xiaonotation #dongxiao - Hudba
Excellent! I've been struggling to make a sound with my flute but this video helped me to find the right position a lot!
Awesome! I am happy that this helped. The first sounds can be very difficult. I still revisit this quite a bit.
Wu Di Harrelson has great tips
I just bought my first fllute and im having so much trouble getting a noise from it haha thank u for these videos ❤
It is a learning process in the beginning, that is for sure. I hope these videos help you to get started.
Very good basic for a beginner to play Xiao.Thank you so much.
You are very welcome!
Thank you so much for these tutorials! My Xiao arrived today and your videos and website are helping a lot.
Awesome! Wish you the best of luck on your musical journey!
Thank You much for these details. Teaching myself with your videos and others CZcamss. Yet I have taken so long to finally get a sounds which is not always constant as I practice other notes. Especially hard it the last hole/note as I have little fingers that are child size and barely cover the last hold of Xiao or any whistle or flute I appoint to play. But I will keep at it. Again Thank You
You are very welcome! I hope this new series helps you to advance your practice!
🙏 thank you very much! a great help.
Tysm you’re great!
👍
Really good tutorial! I started playing the xiao 2 days ago and it's actually my first instrument. Thanks to your tutorial I got the first notes really fast but the last one with all holes covered im struggling with. I only got it one time but I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Maybe I need more time. Thanks for your amazing tutorial!!!
Good job! It is very normal to struggle with the low notes when you first start. I stumbled in the dark for a few weeks before I got to where you are already. Keep it going!
So grateful for your videos, since I recently started playing xiao. I'm an experienced flutist, accustomed to using tonguing to start notes. That doesn't seem to be the practice on the Xiao. I've looked through your book and videos for some instruction on how to start notes (repeated notes can be articulated with grace notes), But when starting a note after taking a breath? How do we physically do that?
Yes, while tonguing can be used to begin notes, it is not the standard with xiao. It will usually be marked if this is the case ( with a "V" or "TK" above the pitch notation). Otherwise, the embouchure is the key for creating sound. The xiao should rest on the chin and even if you move/open the mouth to breathe in a pause, you should return to the exact same position as you recreate the shape of the mouth.
Think of spitting out seeds one by one. Keep the shape of the mouth and remove the "P" sound while just blowing a thin airstream out. Hopefully this helps to get you started.
@@WuDaoMusic So we start the airstream with something like a "huh"?
@@rastagrammarian Sort of, yes. Though as you progress you really shouldn't need any vocalization, tonguing, or any kind of "burst."
Hi thank you for your videos they have been very helpful! I have an 8 hole Xiao in G and I’m using full piper grip on the right hand. After playing for 20 minutes or so I find my right hand hurts, because most of the weight of the flute is focused on the right thumb. Is the Xiao just heavy in general? Mine does not have a root end.
You are welcome! For the grip, there are a few things to check on. You may just be holding too tightly (very common). You can also check the placement of the thumb. Some people hold the flute with the thumb parallel to either the middle finger or the index finger. You can try both ways and see if either position offers refeif. You may even hold the flute with the thumb in line with the flute itself. If this is the case, and you have long fingers, this can contribute to tension in the wrist.
After checking this, also look at your overall posture. If your wrists are at a hard angle, typically from dropping the elbows too close to the body, this will cause tension and fatigue as well. These are a few things to look for and to work on.
I hope that helps!
@@WuDaoMusic Thanks for responding! I”ll try those things and note my elbow position
Hi from New Zealand. I received a comment on a post I did some time ago of a professional Chinese musician playing the Xiao. This was rather terse query. “So, Mr. Geertson: An amazing and talented Xiao player, no doubt, but this video fails to live up to the expectations given by the title: What exactly are the many moods of the Xiao? What I expected was a kind of mini-lecture and demonstration of exactly what those moods were. And another perplexing question that I have as a flute maker: Why on God's green earth are the lower or bottom portion of the Xiao so long? Sure doesn't help when you're trying to pack it into a suitcase! It seems like it might even be longer than the main fingered part of the instrument. If you would kindly shed some light on these questions, I would be most grateful.”
I have searched and haven’t found a suitable explanation for the length of the Xiao, and wondering if you can help?
I will do my best to answer your questions. The colors of the xiao are actual very determined on the size, make, and bamboo type of the flute. However, there is a lot to be said for the player themselves as they greatly affect the sound as well. The color of the flute for me refers to the tone and quality of the sound. This can change in different climates, from player to player, even from day to day playing. This is the great thing about an open mouthpiece wind instrument, the variations greatly affect the sound that comes forth. An easy indicator is just listening to a high vs low quality xiao. It is very apparent. Even if the pitch is tuned similar the shape of that sound can be drastically different. Even more so does the player have control over these variations.
As for the length of the xiao, there are some standards. Some of it is aesthetic (the standard is 9 nodes of bamboo) but it is mostly founded in the quality of the sound. I have played flutes that are super short and others that are very long regardless of key. Generally the deeper the key the longer the flute. Though it also depends on the bamboo type and thickness of the flute wall. This will all affect the sound and the ease of playing. I guess that because the deeper sound can be difficult to play, they can also end up being more quiet. A longer xiao ensures that the notes will resonant more and thus be more audible.
An example is a qin xiao and how, just by being smaller, more narrow, and having smaller cuts for embouchure and fingering, it produces a much more quiet sound.
I am not a professional xiao craftsmen but this is my best guess.
I wish you discovered the japanese shinobue instead (or also), so shinobue players could have rare content with the same quality ^^
😄 Thank you! I hope some one picks up the mantle for that. There are so many great traditional instruments that don't get enough recognition.
@@WuDaoMusic hehe thanks. Maybe I should be the one spreading it !
Hardest instrument for me so far, Xun has similar blowing hole ( like this one czcams.com/video/JXRFfReqDaI/video.html ) and I struggled with both lol, with your skill you will be able to master Xun real quick. Great tips, thank you.
Thank you! Though I haven't taken quite well to the Xun yet. The fingering patterns are so complicated. Very beautiful sound. Though the Xiao will forever be the first wind instrument to really opened me up to all of the others.