Klarinet Archive - Posting 000793.txt from 2000/05

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Tone and its perception
Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 09:07:23 -0400

Claudia Zornow wrote,
>>My point was, how can I tell, from inside the bone cage of my head,
>>how I sound "out there"? I may sound different to myself when
>>playing in different halls or in my practice room, but how do I
>>know when it will sound good to the audience?

Recordings are great for keeping track of personal progress, but it's not
always feasible to record yourself in a rehearsal to see how you'll sound in
a strange hall. Musicians need to help each other out with teamwork. One of
you (or several) play while another (or several) walk(s) around listening.
Often a conductor or a janitor will know the acoustics of the hall and can
give good advice about where a soloist should stand on the stage. A few feet
in one direction or another can make an enormous difference in some rooms.

Conductors and soloists test unfamiliar halls this way during rehearsals. So
do pianists and organists, who can't bring their own instruments to gigs and
constantly play on unfamiliar equipment in unfamiliar rooms. As a student
competing in high school forensics meets, I found that even arch-rivals would
help each other make sound checks as a matter of common courtesy.

When I spent the summer with my organ-playing uncle and my aunt (a retired
coloratura soprano), he would always send us around to listen in different
places while he rehearsed. Usually he would also ask one of us to play on
different combinations of stops, while he walked around to hear for himself.
He would change his mind about which stops to pull, depending on how things
sounded "out there."

Be aware that most rooms will resonate less when full of people than when
empty, because the soft, lumpy surfaces of human bodies absorb sound. Try to
be mentally prepared for a bad sound check, so that if it turns out the room
acoustics are exceptionally poor, you won't lose your concentration and you
can just soldier on (with the thought that the room sounds as lousy for
everyone else as it does for you... cold comfort, I know, but...). Sometimes
there are things you can do to help the room. For instance, if the room is
dead, and there are big windows with curtains, see if lighting conditions
permit you to open the curtains so that your sound will reflect off the
glass. Conversely, if the room is an echo chamber, ask if you can close the
curtains.

Good luck!

Lelia
(who plans never to play in public again, fortunately for the public!)

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