Klarinet Archive - Posting 000455.txt from 2002/11

From: Elgenubi@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Dark Sound
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 23:54:44 -0500

In a message dated 11/11/2002 7:58:49 AM Pacific Standard Time, Elgenubi
writes:

Dear List,
I am not caught up with my reading, but I just jumped into the middle
of yesterday's digest and saw William Semple's suggestion........etcetera.

Well, I just read a bunch more of this current debate, and of course
it is very deep and complex. Here are three ideas I get from it.
* There is a strong urge for folks to use 'dark' and 'bright' as adjectives
for clarinet sound. Dark is slightly more popular for clarinets at this time
and place. Maybe 'dark sound' has come to mean 'clarinet sound' in a
superficial way. (Don't flutes frequently use 'bright' as a preferred
adjective?)
* Someone with a little technical help (a spectrum analyzer) could play us
recordings of sounds with additional odd harmonics, even harmonics, or no
harmonics. I bet we could at least come up with a trivial, comparative
definition of 'dark' and 'bright'.
* And finally: the notes this morning about tone color being a variable we
must control, are the best yet. I will take to heart the Robert Bloom
article. (I am in the middle of learning to play a brand new clarinet. I
played 40 years on my original horn, yet never dreamed there was such subtle
potential of different sounds from a clarinet. Dark and bright
notwithstanding, controlling these sounds and being musical is a wonderful,
difficult challenge.)

Wayne Thompson

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