Klarinet Archive - Posting 000333.txt from 2002/07

From: Alexander Brash <mactrek@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Not Hearing Yourself
Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2002 11:01:01 -0400

A few people have brought this up,
In my community band in the summers, we play outdoors concerts, in which
I can rarely hear myself playing. It's a combination of the lack of
acoustics outdoors, with the great deal of wind, I believe. In orchestras,
whenever I'm in front of a large brass section, forget about it. I have to
trust the vibrations of my mouthpiece to know that I'm even playing. It's
bad, because when solos come up, you're suddenly surprised by your own
tone...case in point fourth movement of the Symphony Fantastique. After the
huge fortissimo section everyone drops out except the clarinet who plays the
idee fixe. I always had to trust that my sound was going to be the same than
last time I heard it, quite a few measures back. Oh, and when we do huge
pieces with chorus i just give up. Beethoven Choral fantasy I had timpani,
brass, and a 200 voice chorus standing behind me. One can leave out most of
the last page without anyone being the wiser.

~Alexander

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