The Clarinet BBoard

The Clarinet BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Previous Message | Next Message

RE: Projection and Tone

Author: paul
Date: 1999-08-12 15:12

I personally believe that Hiroshi has a good point about projection. Being able to play at the piano level of music (fairly quietly), yet having it pierce right through the walls is a pretty good example of fantastic projection. A good pro player should have this kind of projection from his/her horn. The secret to this, as far as I can tell, is to play the instrument right smack in tune for all notes and for all conditions. Tuning practice with long tones and with a meter is the only way I can think of getting this one right. Play with a full breath at mf. Play with almost totally "stale" air at the end of your endurance at ppp. Play low chalemeau. Play clarion. Play altissimo, way up in the nosebleed section. Learn where you and your horn hit right smack in the center of the meter for all of these conditions. My pro tutor can do it for any playing condition I can think of, and for thousands more that I can't even imagine. He has to play in a heavily sound proofed room so even his ff level doesn't distract folks in the other parts of the adjacent strip mall area. Forget fff for him. I can hear that clear out in the middle of the parking lot.

As for tone, I also believe that the folks posting above got it right. Embouchure and air support are the first essential elements of good tone. The quality of the horn has something to do with this, of course. Expect a good pro quality undercut horn to have a much smoother and better tone than a cheap square cut plastic beater of a horn. That's the facts of life. The quality of the reed and mouthpiece of course are heavy factors in this equation. But, I've personally found that taking the same mp/lig/reed setup to a higher quality horn does make a difference. Of course, I had a good tone in the first place, with my beater plastic horn, with my intermediate horn, and now with my good pro grade horn. I agree with the posters above that you should mimic others' good tone and you are on your way to creating a good tone for yourself.

If there would be a magic "quick fix" solution to these areas of the clarinet, I bet good money that folks would have figured it out by now. Alas, there is no such thing. Only by investing years of intensely focused hard work will folks find the "Holy Grail" of the clarinet.

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics