In shakuhachi, it takes a long time to get to the point where you listen to a recording of yourself and think “that’s so-so” (and I don’t just mean getting used to bad playing).
Listen carefully to what differentiates a professional’s playing from your own. One of these factors will be pitch, as I have mentioned numerous times. And, even though you might not have a nightingale tone color loved by everyone, you can still have a distinctive tone color all your own. Think Louis Armstrong.
One other important factor is volume. I talked about the “ma” of honkyoku in my July, 1999 column, but it is not just honkyoku in which volume variation is important.
Students are often given advice to “sing more” with the shakuhachi. This refers mainly to making better use of volume variation and control.
Beginning and intermediate players have trouble playing small, quite notes. Often they put all their energy and breath into playing big, loud notes. Loud sounds are of course valuable, but only if they help bring out the smaller notes as well.
What is crucial for small, delicate notes is stability. A delicate note must be stable if it is to live. Adding a small amount of vibrato to these notes is fine, but if that turns into a wavering, uncertain pitch, then the note is effectively dead.
To attain this stability for smaller notes, what is necessary is controlled out breaths using abdominal breathing. Also, increase the volume of space within your mouth. Imagine you have a ping-pong ball inside your mouth while you blow.