 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Buster Brown
Date: 2006-01-03 13:41
I just read the post about which clarinet player do you sound like? I really can't tell what I sound like while playing the clarinet (or sax for that matter ). I've recorded myself and also listened to recordings of the various groups I play in and usually am somewhat surprised. I sound pretty good, although my tone is generally "brighter" than I thought it was (although my wife thinks my clarinet tone is on the "dark" side).
Any of you surprised at how you "really" sound? Happyabout it or disappointed?
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Author: Bassie
Date: 2006-01-03 14:50
In my experience, clarinets are difficult to mike. Makes recording a representative solo sound difficult! What was your approach?
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2006-01-03 14:51
I've always found it's a bit like the sound of one's own voice. We always sound different to others than to ourselves. I think the sound is too close and we're behind the bell on the clarinet, so we don't get the true "hall sound" of the instrument. I practice in a room that is stone walls on 3 sides and wood on the 4th--it allows the sound to bounce back a bit and helps. Maybe it's kind of like singing in the shower.
Recording yourself does help, but not totally. Having someone you respect listen and comment (like a teacher) is helpful.
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Author: larryb
Date: 2006-01-03 16:29
here's a recording:
[Sorry! the recording I meant to attach was too large (14MB)]
Post Edited (2006-01-03 16:59)
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2006-01-03 17:14
WOW !!!!
Clarinets et al sound magnificent - please tell me the singers are pros !
..........Paul Aviles
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Author: crnichols
Date: 2006-01-03 17:21
Good question, I think Doriot Anthony Dwyer, the Boston Symphony Orchestra's former principal flutist, addresses this well in an interview by Dean Elder from the January 1994 issue of Flute Talk. It was in response to a different question though, here's it is:
Dean Elder: How do you develop tone and breath control?
Doriot Dwyer: Hard work. I have practiced holding long tones; it takes a long time to develop a concept of what kind of tone you want. Even with an idea of what good tone is, it is difficult to know if it is being projected in a hall despite what it sounds like up close. Players need to develop a feeling akin to radar to know how fast sound travels in various halls.
Someone once told Jessye Norman that having her voice must be wonderful because every time she opened her mouth she did something so beautiful. She responded, "I don't hear it the way you hear it. I don't experience how beautiful it is. I just know that when I feel a certain way, I'm producing good sound." That's a good description of how a flute player feels about tone. It's difficult to practice something so intangible. Studying audience response helps a player realize if he is coming across as he thinks. Playing for a conductor provides similar insight. Even though nothing is said, you can tell from the way he reacts whether you've succeeded.
If you can obtain this article it talks about a great number of things that not only apply to flutists, but all wind players.
Christopher Nichols
1st Infantry Division Band
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Author: larryb
Date: 2006-01-03 18:22
Paul - the recording you heard is pro - not what I meant to post.
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Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2006-01-03 18:31
When we listen to a recording and try to emulate a performer we should really have the recording done from inside the performers head. That would be most accurate.
Freelance woodwind performer
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2006-01-03 18:42
I don't play in public, fortunately for the public, but if I did, I'd consider myself lucky if people thought I sounded like Tony Shaloub pretending he knows how to play the clarinet, in the role of Mr. Monk. (See the 1st season episode, "Mr. Monk and the Red-Headed Stranger." After coaching, Shaloub insisted on recording his own takes.) Ms. Shadow Cat has a word for the way she thinks I sound, but I'm not letting her write that word on a public bulletin board....
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: Buster Brown
Date: 2006-01-04 13:23
In response to Bassie's question about how I recorded myself. A friend of mine has some high end recording equipment and a small studio. I recorded a few things in the studio. Never thought about the recording not really sounding like I sound. Interesting?
Our big (jazz) band has been recorded by a fellow who has been selling the recordings at our concerts. He had "all" the recording "stuff". The recordings were done live and contain the bad as well as the good. We are also on the local radio. I've recorded that. I had a few clarinet solos (Begin the Beguine for one), but that sound doesn't count since I don't try for the classic clarinet tone.
I guess I'll never really know what I sound like. I'll simply accept my wife's opinion which I do most of the time anyway.
Thanks all.
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2006-01-04 13:48
I wonder if most of the loving attention some give to barrels and bells has to do with how we sound to ourselves. Some players in a band I play in bought the expensive west coast Canadian barrels and to me, they still sound like themselves.
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Author: Bassie
Date: 2006-01-04 14:24
Buster - I mentioned recording technique because I had the chance to experiment a bit by volunteering as a guinea-pig for a student recording project. We put the mike in a few positions. Saxes can be miked in the bell, perhaps with a clip-on, so we tried that - big mistake. Most pleasing for everyone was a couple of feet away from the finger-holes, on a stand. See, as a performer you want the recording to sound like you want to sound... Perhaps, as johng suggests, it's impossible to know how you really sound because you're just too close to the problem.
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Author: Ah Clem
Date: 2006-01-04 22:33
The sound I make when playing has been compaired to that of "a zoo in flames".
I think I still need some work...
Ah Clem
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Author: Buster Brown
Date: 2006-01-05 13:11
Ah Chem, what part of the zoo? The hyenas? Sorry, IU couldn't resist.
Maybe not knowing what we really sound like is a blessing.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2006-01-05 13:49
I just decided I will record some of my more inspiring performances and sell it as telephone waiting queue music (to deter customers).
I will make a fortune! 
--
Ben
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