Klarinet Archive - Posting 000054.txt from 2004/01

From: Dan Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] 5rv tone color
Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2004 09:22:30 -0500

Karl Krelove wrote:

> Dan, I continue to be confused about why you recognize physical differences
> among clarinets of different sizes as capable of producing different timbres
> but deny that physical differences among different manufacturers' products
> are capable of producing the same kinds of timbral variety.

I don't deny this possibility at all. It may be true, but the
perspectives on this issue are presumed to be true based on the
flimsiest pieces of evidence, most of which are anecdotal in any case.
("My uncle has this kind of a clarinet and he sound great!" as if this
means anything.)

Until there is some serious work done in the arena of what elements of
clarinet playing influence the sound character, I take the extreme right
wing position. And this is because, the moment one allows even a little
interpretation and guesswork away from the right hand end of the
political spectrum (and without serious evidence to support a movement
towards the center), then we have the famous slippery slope.

I fully admit that I don't what produces a distinctive sound on a
clarinet. And I don't think thay anyone else knows much about that
either. So in the absence of serious evidence, we get all kinds of
voodoo theories about this instrument, that mouthpiece, the medium, etc.
as being responsible for influenceing the sound. And then those
elements get tweaked more and more so as to achieve (in theory) an even
greater contribution to a particular person's sound character.

And before you know it, we are back in the "wood is better than plastic"
argument all over again. And the dark sound is achieved by this reed
and that ligature.

When I see real evidence on this subject, with no one's anecdotes
contributing to particular conclusions, you will see me do a 180 faster
than a speeding bullet. But has any evidence been advanced on this
subject over the last 10 years that this list has been in existence? On
the contrary, new people show up and give the same tired old
grandmother's tales about how to produce a distnctive sound.

Until the time that real evidence is given, my heels are going to remain
dug in. If someone had dug their heels in 100 years ago, we wouldn't be
in voodoo land today about what elements can influence a player's sound
character.

Dan

I am right there
> with you on almost everything you've said about this over the past few weeks
> (and years...), but I just can't make that last jump with you when you
> insist that, dominance of internal differences in the player's physique and
> his/her technical approach and concept of sound notwithstanding,
> -a Vandoren mouthpiece *can't* produce some (possibly) small but measurably
> different (and audible) tone color from a Pyne or a Marcellus/Woodwind Co.
> mouthpiece or that
> -a B-flat clarinet made by Yamaha cannot because of its deliberately
> different design produce a measurably different (and audible) tone color
> from one made by Buffet or Leblanc or (fill in the name...).
>
> It just seems as if you've taken a position that up to a point is absolutely
> defensible and have decided to try to stretch it to the point of
> distortion - or do I still misunderstand what you've said?
>
> Happy New Year to all!
>
> Karl
>
>
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Dan Leeson [mailto:leeson0@-----.net]
>>
>>You misunderstand the subject that is the heart of this discussion. A
>>clarinet sounds like a clarinet and not a trumpet or a taragato or a
>>soprano saxophone or a tuba because of a variety of factors, none of
>>which have very much if anything to do with what we are talking about. A
>>clarinet in C has a distinct sound that is measureably different from
>>that of a clarinet in B-flat, and yet both are clarinets. No one would
>>suggest that one sounds like a clarinet, while the other does not. This
>>phenomenon has little to do with the issue that I was addressing. You
>>have put the natural characteristic of the sound of a particular musical
>>instrument into the pot along with the issues of individual sound
>>personality produced by a specific player, and then stirred the soup.
>>
>>What we ARE talking about is the character of the sound that YOU produce
>>on a clarinet, and which, all things being equal, will sound the same
>>from clarinet to clarinet. And the factors that influence your
>>characteristic sound are due almost exclusively to a number of
>>uncontrollable aspects of your body, as well as several that you able to
>>control.
>>
>>>
>>
>>--
>>Dan Leeson
>>leeson0@-----.net
>>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org
>
>

--
Dan Leeson
leeson0@-----.net

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