Klarinet Archive - Posting 000784.txt from 2002/04

From: "Gary Smith" <asemsi@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] ensemble playing & aural feedback
Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 08:45:57 -0400

I think the inability to hear so well certainly plays a part, although the
last time I was conscious of not being able to hear myself play was when I
was in h.s. marching band a long time ago. The last time I played in a
*concert* band comes close. Anyway...

Depending on the performance level of ensembles you play in, I think subtle
(and not-so-subtle) rhythm problems creep in, and one can sometimes blame
oneself when the beat starts shifting around under you and you start having
to divert more attention to the conductor, other players, etc. I'm playing
in a local production of Fiddler on the Roof, and I'm finding an interesting
correlation - I can play the difficult passages in the book where the
singers (high schoolers) aren't singing, and I'm blowing some
not-so-difficult passages where the singers are having ensemble and rhythm
problems. The conductor is pretty used to their eccentricities and is trying
to give us a compensated beat with his stick, but when the first 2 beats are
at 134 and the next 2 are at 80, it's hard to concentrate on 1/8th notes
with a lot of sharps or flats in the sopranino register.

I can handle the same rhythm problems okay when my part is repeated notes,
quarter and half notes, etc.

The solution, of course, is to practice it until you can play it in your
sleep, then rehearse for weeks before you do it in public. If we had that
kind of time, the singers would probably be in better shape...

>on the basis of "feel." Am I alone in finding that my tactile
>(auto-kinetic?) sensitivity in ensemble situations is often completely
>unreliable? Sometimes what I'm doing "feels" fine until my part is suddenly
>exposed and a quick adjustment of my pitch or tone becomes necessary. I
>don't "feel" rhythm in my fingers nearly so accurately when I can't also
>hear the result. As a consequence passages that I can play perfectly
>competently when I can hear them can become befuddling and hard to control
>when I can't hear them through the din around me.
>
>What are other players' experiences with this? I don't remember ever having
>discussed it before on Klarinet.
>
>Karl Krelove
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