Klarinet Archive - Posting 000630.txt from 2001/01

From: webler <webler@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Re-facing & metaphors
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 00:19:32 -0500

I'm not sure that I can agree that the naming of intervals is the same as
spectral analysis of the Clarinet.

First of all, intervals are fixed. They are not subject to personal taste.
A fourth is not a fourth because I feel it sounds like a fourth. It is a
fourth because it is four notes removed from the Root of a scale. The only
thing that is left up to subjective judgment is how a particular person may
respond to certain interval. Charlie Parker liked flatted 5ths. Others
considered it the devils interval. Like it or not, it is still a flatted
5th.

When you get into the quantification of the sound qualities of an
instrument, whether it is dark or bright, you run into the problem of
trying to come up with a definition to quantify against. What parameters
are going to be used to define a dark or bright sound, considering the
fact that not everybody is agreed as to what they are.

An avid audiophile might be able to explain this better. Due to the
absence of one of these individuals at my keyboard, Me, myself, and I will
attempt this task by way of an analogy. If you take Ten people into a
High End audio store and sit them down in front of 5 different speakers
from 5 different manufacturers you will get 10 different opinions on the
sound that comes out of the Speakers. Since it is a High End store, you
know that all of the speakers have been produced using the latest it
Hi-Tech equipment to achieve the best linear flat sound response. One will
say the midrange is too strong, another will say it's too weak. There will
be discussions and disagreements on the irritating brightness of one set
and the muddy bass on another. In the end, 5 people will end up walking out
with 5 different speaker systems. The other five will try to find another
stereo shop, looking for that perfect speaker system.

Despite the fact that you can quantify every aspect of the audio production
of a set of speakers, that quantification has no value when it comes down
to deciding which speaker system has the best overall sound.

What, in the end, determines the actual quality of the sound is the
understanding and trained perception of the person listening to the set of
speakers. This is something that is only gained through much study and
listening. All the quantification in the world can not help a person
understand what a good speaker system sounds like, if he has a tin ear.

My teacher has a much better understanding of what a good balanced, full,
focused sound is, than I do. Not because she has quantified all the
various sounds that a Clarinet can produce, but because she has studied,
listened, and played the Clarinet for years. I have a better understanding
now than I did a number of years ago, but I still have much to learn.

Although the scientific study of the sound of a Clarinet may prove
interesting, I'm not sure that it will actually help a teacher to learn how
to instruct a 5th grader to produce a good sound..

In the end, I will always search out good, qualified, respected teachers
and listen to quality players to help me understand what goes into a good
sound.

Jay Webler

-----Original Message-----
From: William Wright [SMTP:Bilwright@-----.net]
Subject: RE: [kl] Re-facing & metaphors

......Drats, I hit the SEND key by mistake....

In further reply to Jay Webler's post, I was going to use 'interval
training' as an example. Why do you need names and measurements for
the intervals anyway? Wouldn't music be boring if everyone hit every
note with machine-like precision?
The answer is obvious: you need to be able to recognize the
intervals and to isolate them from everything else that is going on and
to store them in your memory and to recall them and to communicate them.

Also, 'learning' is the other side of 'teaching'. Some people ---
and I am certainly one of them --- have real difficulty learning to
play; and for me, visualizing what's going on is an essential step in
the process. This may account for why I learn so slowly and why I am
not an adequate musician by some standards, but until neurosurgery
improves somewhat, I'm stuck with it.
'Visualize' does not mean to actually see an image of the reed
moving up and down, nor to see ripples flowing in the air stream.... no
more than Copeland actually saw vibrations when he described the 'aural
image'. But I've talked before about 'image' (Descartes' Error) and
why it applies to any form of rational thought, from mathematics to
philosophy.

....enough said for the moment. They actually turned our power
off last night, I'd better send this before it evaporates into the
electronic ether......

Cheers,
Bill

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