Klarinet Archive - Posting 000595.txt from 2005/03

From: "Patricia A. Smith" <arlyss1@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Tone colours vs Dark & Light; was, that nice dark sound
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 23:42:59 -0500


I'm finding this discussion like so many we've gotten into over the few
years I've been reading klarinet.
I imagine should MANY of us ever read the discussions flute players have
of "tone colours" and "varying the palatte" of colours, to get a WIDE
VARIETY of tone colours on the flute, we would all go mad and jump off
the top of the Sears tower or something.

IMHO, I do think that, by limiting ourselves to thinking in terms of one
sort of sound or another as being more or less desirable, we lose sight
of the myriad possibilities the clarinet is capable of producing. Each
of us, when we listen to, and then bring our musicianship (however
well-developed it may be) to the music stand, has this fantastic
opportunity to make choices concerning what the character of the music
is, and what particular type(s) of sound(s) our clarinet makes that
would best serve it. There are many many possibilities, not just one or
two, and in view of thinking of the types of sounds the instrument is
capable of producing, it really seems to me that, sometimes, these
endless discussions of exactly what defines "a nice dark sound" is,
well, irrelevant. IMO, this terminology is one that was invented by
high school band directors and private teachers of intermediate to
advanced players on the high school level as a metaphor to assist
students in getting rid of the shrill, shrieky,
unsupported-by-abdominal-musculature-and-full-lungs sound with which so
many of these players often torture their bandmates and teachers.

For people who are well past the high school stage, and into the
professional craft of musicianship, IMVHO, I think what is more
important is that a player has developed a facility with the clarinet
that enables him/her to utilize a great variety of sounds to give the
character to the music at hand which it is deemed the composer is
requesting. That this is something of which I feel I've barely
approached scratching the surface, I am the first to admit. It is
something that would in some form or fashion seem to be part of what is
termed "interpretation". It is certainly something quite different to
teaching a young player to produce a sound that is pleasant enough so
that the next door neighbor's dog will finally stop howling all night.

Patricia Smith

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