Klarinet Archive - Posting 000010.txt from 1998/10

From: "Karl Krelove" <kkrelove@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] playing loud and soft
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 12:24:34 -0400

It's very dependent on context, as you've now discovered. What passes (or
is demanded) as piano in one context may be forte in another. It depends on
the demands of ensemble balance, the taste of the conductor (if you're
playing in an ensemble that is conducted), and the quality of your sound
when you're playing at the extremes. The tone always needs focus and
substance. What the band director insists on in a soft tutti with the whole
clarinet section playing may not sound steady or secure or projective enough
in a solo passage. What is loud in most contexts may not be enough to carry
a solo passage over the orchestral background the composer has written or
may not be loud enough for the big climax of some Romantic piece like Death
and Transfiguration (R. Strauss). Always, you need to exercise some
judgement of your own on the first try when playing in an ensemble. After
that, the conductor's reaction, if there is one, will tell you whether or
not he agrees with you.
Your teacher was teaching you in a solo context and probably a studio
context as well, where balance isn't an issue except as your teacher
imagines it will be in an actual performance situation. He's (she's) giving
you the benefit of experience outside the teaching studio added to his/her
own sense of taste and musical expression.

-----Original Message-----
From: Nicholas Yuk Sing Yip <nyip@-----.edu>
Date: Thursday, October 01, 1998 3:02 AM
Subject: [kl] playing loud and soft

>I feel like asking this out of the blue but anyway. Just yesterday my
>teacher asked me to play loud and I played loud, however that was not
>enough for him so I played louder. I thought that the first time I played
>loud was too loud because I have played that loud before in ensembles when
>asked for "forte" and the conductor has said that was too loud. My teacher
>then asked me to play soft so I played as soft as I could and he said that
>was too soft, so I played a little louder. Before, when I played this loud
>the conductor considered this "forte".
>
>What is considered loud and what is considered soft?
>
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