Klarinet Archive - Posting 000504.txt from 2002/11

From: "Christy Erickson" <perickso@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Dark Sound
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 23:55:32 -0500

Nancy, Most of the time I notice the shortness of breath that occurs
when the asthma is acting up. High school students often become lax
about using the inhalers or allergy medications and have difficulty
hanging in there through long phrases or hanging onto whole notes at the
end of a phrase. They have unusual difficulty getting to the end of
sometimes even short phrases without having to take another breath. I
have discovered that I have a subclinical form of asthma also and have
discovered that albuterol helps tremendously. It allows me to take in
more air than I could otherwise. I don't think my own tone quality
itself suffers when my asthma is acting up and it could just be that my
experience gives me the advantage. I simply cannot take in enough air
at times to sustain through a phrase without having to take another
breath. Sometimes I pick it up in a student when no matter how much
instruction I give them on proper breathing techniques, mouthpiece
selection, reeds, etc... they simply cannot produce a good strong tone.
The tone is often a bit weak and "airy" sounding. With most kids, I can
just instruct them to BLOW, NAIL THE SOUND ON THE BACK WALL, etc. and if
the right equipment and embouchre is there they can do it. The kids
with asthma simply can't. These kids are usually bothered by this fact,
since they often have good ears and can certainly tell that they cannot
match my tone. It's amazing what happens when I ask, "Have you ever
been diagnosed with asthma?" The head starts nodding and then I say,
"Do you use your inhaler?" The answer has always been no. I've had
instant improvement every time when they use the inhaler before playing.
Of course, we know there are a few other things that help these students
such as insuring they are well-hydrated before a performance and getting
regular exercise (which most high school students who are into music
usually have no trouble doing). I haven't had high numbers of students
so it could just be luck that I was able to detect this in the students
I've had, but so far, my suspicions have always been correct.
Christy Erickson

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Buckman, Nancy [mailto:nebuckman@-----.edu]
> Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2002 7:45 AM
> To: 'klarinet@-----.org'
> Subject: RE: [kl] Dark Sound
>
> Christy wrote:
>
> >>> The discussion of breathing techniques is always good (I've also
> always
> been
> >>> able to detect a student with asthma who is not using their
prescribed
> >>> inhaler),
>
> I'm curious. I have asthma and it never abates whether I uses an
inhaler
> or
> not. Granted the inhaler makes it easier, but it never really
eliminates
> the asthma. Nobody, however, has ever said anything to me about the
state
> of my lungs where tone production is concerned. I may have to breathe
> more
> often but if I can breathe well enough to create a sound, the quality
of
> it
> doesn't seem to suffer. I want to know what it is you are hearing, so
I
> might listen and try to eliminate that quality from my own tone
> production,
> if it even exists.
>
> Nancy
>
> Nancy E. Buckman, Technical Assistant
> School of Health Professions, Wellness and Physical Education
> Anne Arundel Community College
> Arnold, MD 21012-1895 USA
> Phone 410-777-2316 Fax 410-777-2233
> E-mail nebuckman@-----.edu
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Christy Erickson [mailto:perickso@-----.net]
> Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 6:58 PM
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: RE: [kl] Dark Sound
>
>
>
> Paul, So how about all you clarinet "gurus" getting together and
duking
> it out to decide what some of these terms mean? You could record the
> sounds you've labeled and then analyze them by electronic means. You
> could develop a software program that students could use to check the
> accuracy of their tone. For those who are visually oriented, you
could
> have a picture of Humphrey Bogart missing his teeth flash across the
> monitor if the "wrong" tone is produced. If they produce the correct
> tone, pennies from heaven could come floating down from the sky. For
> the auditory students, perhaps a recording of "God Bless America"
would
> be appropriate to signal the "correct" tone has been produced.(sorry
> Tony) If not, they would be forced to listen to 100 variations of
> "Chopsticks" (played on an out of tune piano). The kinesthetic
students
> could receive a simple kick in the seat for producing the wrong type
of
> tone but perhaps a big hug if they get it right. Seriously though,
how
> did any of you learn to produce your tones? Did you have a fantastic
> teacher along the way who was able to define and describe to you step
by
> step exactly how to produce your unique tone or did you have a tone in
> mind that you wanted to produce and experimented until you were able
to
> achieve that sound? My daughter is 11 and has played clarinet for two
> years. I have prepared her reeds for her and I did get her a good
> mouthpiece. I also did have her start with my old Buffet Evette that
I
> purchased years ago as a "spare" clarinet. However, I have spent very
> little time working with her. In fact, she doesn't like to listen to
> any advice from her clarinet playing Mom. She has a beautiful sound
for
> a player of her age and level. I'd describe her sound as "big,"
> "strong" and "medium dark." I know that her band teacher in school
> (bassoon player) plays a clarinet during lessons and he has a very
nice
> clarinet sound (for a bassoon player)-even on his plastic Vito. I'm
> wondering exactly how she learned to produce the sound she has. I
> couldn't tell you and if I asked her, I'm sure she could not explain
> this to anyone either. I've found that my students benefit the most
> from advice and guidance on reed selection and preparation,
mouthpieces,
> ligatures, and proper clarinet maintenance by a good technician. as
well
> as some embouchure work. I tell them to listen,
> listen, listen to recordings and when they begin a new piece I require
> more than one recording to be listened to. That gets a bit confusing,
> however, and depends on how good their stereo equipment is. Speaking
of
> that, we need more live clarinet performances for these kids to listen
> to. I'd also love to watch you all in a forum discussing this issue
in
> person. I think we would all learn a tremendous amount. Do any of
you
> have specific words that describe your own clarinet sounds? Christy
> Erickson
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Paul Harris [mailto:pwharris@-----.net]
> > Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 2:27 PM
> > To: klarinet@-----.org
> > Subject: Re: [kl] Dark Sound
> >
> > 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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