Klarinet Archive - Posting 000830.txt from 1998/05

From: Lee Hickling <hickling@-----.Net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Orchestras which sing
Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 19:24:56 -0400

Chris Hoffman wrote:

>I think if you can sing it slightly helps your instrumental abilities .....

Oh, yeah! Correct breathing is important to a wind instrument player, but
it is VITAL to a singer. Learning to sing, after many years of being afraid
to try, has improved my breath control on clarinet and sax considerably.
And I learned something else I'd never thought of. We fuss a lot about
reeds and pads and the virtues and vices of instruments - or so it seems
from this list - but a singer IS her or his instrument, subject to moods,
fatigue and illness. Nervousness, tension or momentary loss of focus can
ruin a performance.

With this new-found empathy for them, I have learned to love baritones and
altos, and I'm working on tenors and sopranos. (Basses are generally so
laid-back and cheerful that I've always found them likeable.)

Lee Hickling <hickling@-----.net>
Cobb Island, MD 20625
301-259-4483

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