Klarinet Archive - Posting 000038.txt from 2003/04

From: b1rite@-----. Rite)
Subj: Re: [kl] Curious
Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2003 12:33:04 -0500

<><> But your statement is just a further assertion that the character
of sound one gets from the clarinet is due exclusively to the clarinet
itself [snip] Your sound is fundamentally formed when the air leaves
your mouth.

Dan, I assert that a person's sound is due to an **interaction** between
body (including neurology) and instrument. Adjectives such as
"exclusively" and "mostly" are too strong and one-sided.

The way that I like to say it is:

Your body and musculature and neurology and personality (soul?) are part
of an acoustic system. A major change in any single element thereof
may (probably will) change the sounds (to some extent) that issue from
the system.

It's probably true that Mr./Ms. Clarinet Virtuoso sounds like
'him/herself' on any instrument; but this is NOT the same as saying that
he/she sounds **identical** on any instrument. What it says is that
the qualities (whatever they are) that attract the listener's attention
come through on any instrument **if** Mr./Ms. Virtuoso works hard to
project these qualities despite the instrument's individual quirks and
despite whatever other 'irrelevant' qualities may accompany the sound.

While clarinets certainly tend towards a subset of all possible sounds
(emphasize odd harmonics, continuous crescendos are possible, etc), even
statements such as "you can't make clarinets sound like timpani" are
dangerous. There are enough possible interactions that somehow you
probabably could, and it's not a certainty that altering the player
rather than the equipment would be the way to do it.

Cheers,
Bill

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