Klarinet Archive - Posting 001138.txt from 2003/06

From: jimmy lee <jrlaudio@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Electronic Acoustical Performance (Warning: Only Marginally
Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2003 13:47:48 -0400

Karl,
I have never heard amplification at a live concert of acoustical music that
added one once to that performance. Actually it always detracts.
Jimmy

Karl Krelove wrote:

> Warning: the following rant is about music performance, not limited to
> clarinet.
>
> Bill,
>
> Your tag-line, which has been at the bottom of your posts for as long as I
> can remember, came to mind last month as I listened to our high school jazz
> band perform at its final concert of the school year. Thus, you've inspired
> the following ("If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO
> LOUD!"), although I am clearly not complaining to or about you in any way.
>
> I was sitting as a member of the audience about 2/3 of the way back in 775
> seat auditorium. I found the sound of the entire band, which was heavily
> miked and very strongly amplified by a hired audio engineer, grating at best
> and actually painful at the loud places where the brass opened up. I left my
> seat a few minutes into the concert, went backstage and listened to the rest
> of the concert from the wing (as "lead teacher for music" in my district, no
> one kept me off the stage - Rank Has Its Privileges) and thoroughly enjoyed
> it. Because I was then behind the speakers I heard mostly acoustical sound
> and very little of the electronic noise everyone else out front was hearing.
> When I mentioned it to the band director (after duly praising the
> performance I felt only he and I probably heard) he seemed surprised at my
> reaction - that's the way ALL jazz band performances are done in our area.
> Our assistant superintendent, himself a former music supervisor and at an
> even earlier time the jazz band director, actually told me afterward that he
> thought the balance was fine and had no problem at all with the audio.
>
> When I go to hear/see Broadway shows in Philadelphia theaters, a similar
> effect takes place (more acutely, in my experience, than in theaters in New
> York) - everything is so heavily miked that it is sometimes painful. The
> result, besides my discomfort, is that words get muddled and the orchestra,
> although practically hidden in a covered pit, often overpowers the singers
> because it too is amplified and no one but the engineer (who must not enjoy
> singing) actually hears the result or has the power to change it.
>
> Last night I went to one of several Philadelphia Orchestra concerts my wife
> and I attend each season. Not a single performer was amplified, including a
> wonderful sounding soprano and two different pianists as well as a
> Mozart-sized orchestra, and I could hear every note. That's what a live
> performance should be like (unless it's a performance of inherently
> electronic instruments or an outdoor concert where nothing would be heard
> acoustically more than a few feet from the stage).
>
> My bottom line is this question for anyone who cares to comment: Why should
> I go to (and pay for) a live performance of what should be (at one time WAS)
> acoustical music if all I am permitted to hear is an electronic effect that
> is simply a bigger, louder version of the stereo equipment I have in my
> living room? At least in my living room MY fingers are on the volume
> control.
>
> Just venting - I feel better!
>
> Karl Krelove
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Bill Hausmann [mailto:bhausmann1@-----.net]
> > Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2003 8:21 AM
> > To: klarinet@-----.org
> > Subject: Re: [kl] Martin Powell's CD
> >
> >
> > At 02:02 AM 6/29/2003 -0400, NoName4882 wrote:
> > >Thank you to those of who you responded and clarified my original
> > >statement. You were correct in asserting that I was only insisting that
> > >the list was not an adequate reflection of universal acclaim.
> > NOTHING more....
> >
> > Thank you very much for your clarification. I , for one, now understand
> > what you meant to say much better. Sorry for tempest in a teapot.
> >
> >
> > Bill Hausmann
> >
> > If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!
> >
>
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