Klarinet Archive - Posting 000115.txt from 2007/03

From: "Jenny Connors" <jenny@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Bright and dark sounds
Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2007 10:23:28 -0500


In my case, my teacher (who studied enough with Bonade many years ago to
place a high value on tone) is/was able to give me more specifics than
generalities on how to attain the "dark" sound. To keep my mouth firm but
not tight around the mouthpiece, to take in as much of the reed as possible
in my mouth, to be conscious of the amount of air pressure I am using as I
diminuendo, and across the board, to play the higher notes ever so slightly
softer than the lower notes. In addition, listen, listen, listen, then
imitate. I will probably never have a Bonade sound, and I've always had
good tone (according to others, it was never something I thought about until
I picked up lessons again), but I can hear a difference now, both in my own
playing and in others.

Jenny
(amateur) doubler

-----Original Message-----
From: Martin Baxter [mailto:martinbaxter@-----.net]
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 5:23 AM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: Re: [kl] Bright and dark sounds

Dan
This matter does seem worth further discussion.
I have always believed that by slight variations in embouchure I can alter
the sound I make; ignoring the variations given by different reed/m'piece
combinations. Do you not consider this is so? If it is so; and others seem
to hear me doing it, what actually is happening?
Martin

On 8 Mar 2007, at 00:52, dnleeson wrote:

>
> Tim, it seems to me that you have neglected an important aspect of
> this issue, namely this: what does a player do to exercise control
> over the proportion of the frequencies that create either bright
> sounds or dark sounds? How does the mechanism work? A student says,
> "I want to have a dark sound. What do I have to do to get one?" And
> the answer cannot be, "change the proportion of the frequencies you
> produce and the sound will be dark." That is neither comprehensible
> nor meaningful nor do-able. It is witchcraft used to achieve an end
> that is entirely unclear.
>
> I perceive that you are using a scientific method to describe sound
> characters, but with no idea of how one achieves those given popular
> but meaningless names of dark and bright.
>
> Dan Leeson

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