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Re: Teaching sound projection to young students

Author: clarinetwife
Date: 2003-05-13 15:46

I have very similar issues with some of my students. I think that dynamic range and projection are interrelated. Students need to learn that "p" doesn't mean "puny". Sometimes they think that if they have a fat sound they are not really playing softly. I sometimes find that when I get a student playing a really nice forte on a particular passage, that helps their sound on softer passages. It also is partially a function of the age group--many kids that age don't like feeling they are "sticking out".

I like duets with students, and I like having them listen, as others have mentioned. One thing I am going to try after reading some of these posts is having them listen to some woodwind quintet and other ensemble music, because students will be able to hear where voices blend and where one voice comes to the fore, but on a smaller scale than listening to a symphony orchestra.

Projection is a rich topic that students will work on even into college and beyond. I am a skier, and I remember an interview with Tommy Moe after an Olympic win. He said he won because he kept his hands out and kept his weight on his downhill ski. I'm sure his coaches were teaching him those things when he was eight years old, and it was still something he thought about on race day.

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