how to play hulusi and bawu, lesson 3-------control the lowest note

note that close all holes is not the lowest, if fact when we play a note normally at the beginning we will heard a front note, normal note and a tail note. because we increase pressure gradually, reed can make the sound with just little pressure. we can call the front and tail note "the lowest note" when we play a tune, don't need it. so we must learn to avoid this note.
here is some methods to avoid it.

for avoid the front note, you can use tonguing to give a pure start.
for avoid the tail note, you can open your mouth quickly, to release the pressure.
or you can use your tongue block the blow hole, this effect is not good than above.



in fact sometime we will use the lowest note in some tunes, close all hole and blow gently and decrease pressure quickly, the note is MI ( if close all holes is SO, it's preferred scale in most chinese woodwind intruments)
so let me show you how to use this MI.

how to play hulusi and bawu, lesson 2 -------make the sound

to make sound you must blow air into the blow hole
hulusi and bawu are reed style instrument, not edge style flute (like silver flute,irish whistle, japanese shakuhachi and etc). the range is only over one octave, it need some pressure to work, but it is contrary as edge style, when we play low part, we must give more pressure to it. and in high part, we just blow gently. if you are woodwind player or hulusi beginner, you must pratice to be used to it.
so the note that close all holes, need most pressure, if the pressure is not enough, the pitch will be high.
and most pressure for the highest note(open all), it maybe break the reed, no sound.
don't blow hulusi fiercely anytime, it will break reed. that is why some hulusi player don't like other people(first time to play or not learned hulusi) to play his hulusi.

how to play hulusi and bawu, lesson 1 -------hold it.

you can hold it stand-up or seated.
normal hulusi has 7 holes, 6 are in front and one is back.
your fingers must be relaxed and bend naturally, like hold something.
and when your left hand or right hand three fingers are up, you can put your little finger on the pipe for hold the hulusi.
when the 7 note holes are open, you can use mouth and thumb for the fulcrums, and two little fingers keep hold hulusi placidly. put the blow hole in to your mouth gently
please see the video. and finger chart.






*if the hulusi have 2 drone pipes, when you open the drone pipe the short one make the note Mi (xxooooo)
the long one make the note RA(xxxxxxo)

if here is any question please let me know.
thanks very much
Lei

Hello, every body.

Hello every body.
my name is Tong Lei from China. and very happy to bulid my blog here. I am a chinese musical woodwind player, just want to spread Chinese musical to worldwide and make more friends.

Hulusi is a beautiful flute in China, the sound is soft and mellow. and it's easy to play. now many people like it and want to learn it. I found some english tutorials in internet, but they are too simple. I think I should make a better tutorial first for fans to learn it. I really want to make video tutorials in english on youtube. but very sorry, my english is not good enough. so I found the blogger, I will use words, pictures and videos to finish my tutorial and let every body can learn it. hope everybody help me to improve my english and support me.

thanks very much
Lei