Klarinet Archive - Posting 000509.txt from 2002/11

From: "Christy Erickson" <perickso@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Dark Sound
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 23:55:37 -0500

Lelia, Thank you for your comments and I wholeheartedly agree with you.
The quote below was meant to highlight the ridiculous extreme. We all
communicate in different ways but playing the clarinet is, after all, an
auditory art form. I suppose someone could successfully teach me to
paint pictures that don't have stick people in them. They could teach
me how to mix the colors, how to use various brush techniques, and so on
but I would never enjoy it and I would never become very good at it. I
simply don't like to paint and draw. In order to do anything well one
must first and foremost have the interest and perseverance needed to
sustain them through the often painful and tedious process of developing
the skill. Just as any visual artist pursues his art using his own
medium and preferences, musicians use their own instrument and their
very being, personality and spirit to communicate to the world through
sound. The attempt to characterize or describe that sound in words via
e-mail is not useful for the most part, since I think that sound needs
to be demonstrated before words to define that sound can be chosen. All
parties involved would have to have heard that sound, as well as the
definition of that particular sound in order to communicate it to
others. I don't think anyone could describe the sound of an ambulance
siren to me if I had not experienced that sound before. I also don't
believe I could reproduce a sound I've never heard before no matter how
many words someone used to try to describe it. Some sounds are the same
every time we hear them but the clarinet is capable of producing so many
different types of sounds and there lies the difficulty of trying to
categorize and describe them all. Christy Erickson

> -----Original Message-----
> From: LeliaLoban@-----.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2002 8:54 AM
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: [kl] Dark Sound
>
> Christy Erickson wrote,
> >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.
>
> Someone makes this suggestion at least once a year. I think the
reason it
> never comes to fruition is that it goes against human nature. The
idea of
> "dark" and "bright" sound does mean something to me, although I
recognize
> that I can't use the terms here on the list, because the words mean
> something
> different to other people. I've learned that trying to use those
words
> here
> is counter- productive for communication (unless the communication
that I
> desire is prolonged and repetitive bickering). Although I could grit
my
> teeth and change the way I use the words to conform to the way other
> people
> use them, the point is, I can't change the way I *think* about the
words,
> and
> even more to the point, *I don't want to.*
>
> They're not logical words. They're impressionistic words. They're
> metaphoric. They're private. By using a number of other words, it's
> possible to communicate "bright" and "dark" or at least describe them
to
> others who might be looking for a metaphor and who might find mine
> attractive
> and decide to adopt it and internalize it. But if others already have
> already internalized their own definitions, as many clarinet players
seem
> to
> have done, then way down deep, they'll never accept mine--nor should
they,
> any more than I'll accept their definitions. Calling a sound "bright"
> that I
> intuitively hear as "dark" makes me uneasy. It feels all wrong. It
makes
> me
> feel as though I'm denying my own perception of reality. People will
only
> change our perception of the world for a serious reason.
>
> We're all well aware that our lives don't depend upon coming up with a
> universal definition of bright and dark clarinet sound. We're not
going
> to
> lose jobs if we don't do it. We're not going to go to jail if we
don't do
> it. Therefore we're simply not going to do it. We might pretend we
think
> we
> really ought to do it; we might say we're going to do it; but the
reality
> is
> that we're *not* going to do it now, any more than we did it the
previous
> times we dumped the administrative job of tabulating responses on some
> half-willing victim who eventually gave up after wasting a lot of time
> trying
> to herd the cats.
>
> Does anyone believe for one minute that we could bring the musical
> community
> into agreement with us, or that anybody could enforce a definition
that
> would
> become The One for all future generations, even if we on klarinet
could
> agree
> to use the same definition here within *this* group? How long would
the
> resolution last? Until the next crop of newcomers shows up with their
own
> deeply-felt definitions? The metaphorical cat is already out of the
bag,
> and
> has already leapt yowling up onto the back fence numerous times, and
has
> already reproduced enormous litters of musical kittens who all have
> different
> fathers, and how do I get myself into these ghastly metaphors,
anyway?,
> and
> it's just too late to try to turn the cute little bastards into
purebreds.
> So, vive la difference.
>
> Lelia
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------