Klarinet Archive - Posting 000457.txt from 2002/11

From: Paul Harris <pwharris@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Dark Sound
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 23:54:46 -0500

I think that most of us will admit that there are differences in the
controllable sound we can produce from any given instrument. These
differences have been for the lack of better terminology described as color
of tone and the consensus is that the word color is appropriately used in
this context. The term color is a graphical term and therefore to describe
difference in tone color, we borrow graphical terms to do so. Warm, bright,
dark, etc.
It seams to me that we have a consenses already of the description of the
these term as aplies to sound whether we can quantify them mathamaticly or
not. When as a group of clarinetist we meet together at the Symposiums to
talk about each others' playing, we use the terms dark, bright, light, warm,
excetera and we understand what we are saying. This is comunication, and we
probably could describe these term in a dictionary faction were it
necessary. That we haven't to now doesn.t mean we can't, it just means we
haven't.
Maybe bright means a richer more involved overtone series, maybe it means
that the pitch of the note is on the high side of being in tune (assuming
that in tune can be a range of acceptable pitch. (A=439.5 to A 440.5 would
be an example of a range of acceptable pitch to be called in tune and A439.5
would be on the low side and therefore dark in color)
Maybe the color is provided by vibrato (both in amplitued and pitch) where
more vibrato is considered warm or bright and a straighter tone is dark.)
We use the terms of color to decribe all of the above variations as
apropriate to the context we are talking about and the context defines what
is meant by the terms. This is evolving language and an example of the flux
of todays world.
My opinion, I could be wrong.
Paul Harris

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