Klarinet Archive - Posting 000839.txt from 2003/02

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: [kl] The C of C
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 22:07:42 -0500

On Mon, 24 Feb 2003 10:06:54 -0800, deal5@-----.net said:

> I understand completely, and, as you say, if we were together this
> would work its way out best in sound. Yes, the Eb is arrived at fully
> and forcefully, then there IS a small decaying of tone before growing
> back to the E natural. But we Do grow back to it, (HATE) which I
> thought in your original post you did not agree with. Somehow that E
> natural must be emphatic in and of itself.

[snip]

> Does this sound right?

Yes, it does sound right to me.

In fact, in my original post, I said:

> So it's not at all unnatural musically to begin again on the E
> (strongly, but lightening) after your diminuendo D# [sic!] and a
> snatched breath.

...which agrees with you exactly.

This sort of discussion is very interesting to me, because it seems to
be very difficult to say clearly that a note, or a passage, need not
crescendo in and of itself in order to give the listener the impression
that it 'leads' to the next strong point. A good example of that is the
opening of Weber's second concerto, where the sixteenth-note run
finishes on a high F, sounding Eb, which must obviously be emphatic.
But if you tell a student that the end of that sixteenth-note run can
profitably be allowed to lighten slightly, and that that will help the
accent on the high F, they often look at you in amazement. *Obviously*
the run *goes* to the high F, which means, to them, a crescendo
throughout.

But a crescendo is often best represented on the 'next level up'. If we
slightly modify the 'I love you' example, and say very strongly instead,

"No, I really LOVE you!"

in such a way as to be taken as contradicting the notion in the
recipient that I didn't actually like them, and so emphasising the word
'love' very strongly; then evidently the second syllable of the word
'really' is less than the first, *even though the word clearly leads to
the subsequent 'LOVE'*.

Now imagine it sung by a bad singer. It's not uncommon to hear,

"...reaLLY LOVE..."

which I maintain is horrible, because the unnecessary local crescendo
distorts the words and minimises the meaning. Sometimes local
instrumental crescendos distort phrases and minimise meaning, too.

Here's another way of looking at it, which will explain the subject
header, in case you were wondering.

What's this?
000000000000000000000000
000000000000000000000000
00000 00000
00000 | 00000
00000 || 00000
00000 ||___ 00000 OK, it's a chair.
00000 |/__/| 00000
00000 || || 00000
00000 | | 00000
00000 00000
000000000000000000000000
000000000000000000000000

What's this?

000000000000000000000000000000
000000000000000000000000000000
00000 00000
00000 | 00000
00000 | | 00000
00000 | | 00000
00000 | |____ 00000
00000 | / /| 00000 OK, it's a bigger chair.
00000 |/____/ | 00000
00000 | | | | 00000
00000 | | | | 00000
00000 | | 00000
00000 00000
000000000000000000000000000000
000000000000000000000000000000

What's this?

0000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000 0000000
0000000 | 0000000
0000000 | | 0000000
0000000 | | 0000000
0000000 | | 0000000
0000000 | |________ 0000000
0000000 | / /| 0000000 OK, it's an even bigger
0000000 | / / | 0000000 chair! So what?
0000000 |/________/ | 0000000
0000000 | | | | 0000000
0000000 | | | | 0000000
0000000 | | | | 0000000
0000000 | | 0000000
0000000 0000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000

So, what's this?

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000 0000000
0000000 | 0000000
0000000 | | 0000000
0000000 | | 0000000
0000000 | | | 0000000
0000000 | | | |________ 0000000
0000000 | | | / /| 0000000
0000000 | | |____ | / / | 0000000
0000000 || | / /| |/________/ | 0000000
0000000 ||___ |/____/ | | | | | 0000000
0000000 |/__/| | | | | | | | | 0000000
0000000 || || | | | | | | | | 0000000
0000000 | | | | | | 0000000
0000000 0000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

???

It's a CRESCENDO!

Of CHAIRS!

Get it?-)

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000 0000000
0000000 | 0000000
0000000 | | 0000000
0000000 | | 0000000
0000000 | | | 0000000
0000000 | | | |________ 0000000
0000000 | | | / /| 0000000
0000000 | | |____ | / / | 0000000
0000000 || | / /| |/________/ | 0000000
0000000 ||___ |/____/ | | | | | 0000000
0000000 |/__/| | | | | | | | | 0000000
0000000 || || | | | | | | | | 0000000
0000000 | | | | | | 0000000
0000000 0000000
0000000 louder, LOUDER, !!*LOUDER*!! 0000000
0000000 0000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE http://classicalplus.gmn.com/artists
tel/fax 01865 553339

... I'm not a complete idiot - several parts are missing.

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