Klarinet Archive - Posting 000568.txt from 2005/03

From: "Vann Joe Turner" <medpen@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] that nice dark sound
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 17:44:30 -0500

Dan Leeson writes:
"For one thing, unlike the word "big" that Joe brought up, dark and bright
cannot be measured. Thus it is impossible to measure if one sound is darker
than another or brighter than another. And if you can't measure it, you
really can't talk about it in any serious way."

I wonder we're on the same page, Dan?

Legato is not the same a slur. We cannot measure legato, but we can
certainly hear it, and can learn to produce it. That we cannot measure
legato is beside the point. Dan, it isn't a matter of talking, it is a
matter of recognizing and producing. Perhaps that's the problem in
communicating with you.

You are a writer and scholar, and since words cannot capture all of the
fabric of music, you want to limit that fabric to what you can write about.
Sorry, there, guy. The fabric is deeper than that, and more richly hued.

Dan writes:
"And for anyone to say, "I know it when I hear it," is a statement that is
beneath contempt. Will your student know it when he hears it?"

Only a fairly advanced student would ever ask about a dark tone. A good
teacher would play recordings of clarinetists with this tone quality, and
(it is to be hoped) could play himself with just that same dark, rich sound.
It then becomes the advanced student's task to learn to produce it himself,
with guidance and direction.

Joseph hit it on the head, in responding to Dan's:
"But the natural question that has to arise from any student is, what must
I do to get more or less of the things that acoustics suggests defines the
distinction between dark and light?"

Joseph wrote:
"(ii) Experiment with your clarinet, with a whole range of variables (setup,
embouchure, mouth shape etc.) and find out what changes you can make that
correspond to these sound changes you observed previously....I have a
feeling Tony may have suggested something along these lines previously."

I would only add for the student to hold in his mind's ear the sound he
wants to produce. Play softly and listen, listen, listen. When the student
stumbles upon the combination, see if he can repeat it, and then memorize
what it FEELs like.

It is teachable, but not like fingering F is teachable. For it involves
Tony's observation of body and horn as one (paraphrase, and a poor one, but
maybe it communicates.)

I'd suggest to the student:
1. the reed must not be a soft jazz spread-tone reed, but medium hard to
hard, and
2. that breath support must be continuous, and
3. voice the tone far in front, as if blowing through a straw, and
4. listen, listen, listen, and keep in your mind's ear the sound you want to
produce.
5. Work on it, and you can achieve it.

I should add here a clever repartee, but I'll leave the insults and
cleverness to Mr. Leeson.

Best wishes,
Vann Joe Turner

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