Klarinet Archive - Posting 000022.txt from 1994/11

From: David Lechner <dlechner@-----.NET>
Subj: Re: Chris' 'vowels-of-national-schools-of-playing' theory
Date: Wed, 2 Nov 1994 00:29:15 -0500

Yes, I believe you misunderstand my message.

I'm not arguing that lips, tongue and so on will make not make a difference in
the sound emanating from the horn; I'm arguing that -- seen from the parameters
used to chart a vowel -- there is not going to be a lot of variation in
where a clarinetist positions his/her "parameters." Furthermore, (and
I'll concede that there is perhaps a bit of the circular argument here)
it seems only reasonable that there is not going to be a lot of
variation, since the performer is only concerned with making the
instrument "speak" -- not with making it "speak" French or Swedish or German.

Finally, were we to concede that the vowels of a language somehow
influenced the tone of the clarinetist, how would we decide _which_
vowels were creating the primary influence?
First off, of the languages which we seem to be focusing on in this discussion
(English, French, German, perhaps Spanish and Italian), most have the
_same_ five to eight or nine primary vowel sounds _in_common_. (discounting
vowel length)
Secondly, for any of the languages in question, the register of vowels spans
the entire range of the traditional "vowel triangle" used to map individual
vowels. So which vowel is primary?; which one is causing the influence on the
horn's tone?; _which_one_is_in_the_back_of_the_mind_of_the_player_of_a_given_
_national_school_ as he/she goes to produce that characteristic national tone.
That was why I raised the spectre of my fourth grade teacher exhorting us to
blow "tu-tu" in my original message. Would the results have been different if
he had called upon us to blow "ta-ta" or "ti-ti"?

--David Lechner