 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Keith Pemberton
Date: 2002-10-31 23:12
Without sounding too ignorant, I was wondering what this whole business of tone color is anyway? I have seen the Optimum liguature advertisments about the three different plates that allow for different tone color (great ligature BTW). How do you change your tone color and what are some good contrasting examples of tone color that I might be able to lookup? Thanks in advance!
Keith Pemberton
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Author: Brenda
Date: 2002-11-01 00:08
Think of an artist with variations of colours and textures in his artwork. Tone colour is an audible equivalent of the artist's visual colours. Listen to your sound as you change reeds or mouthpieces. Even reeds from the same box will change sound depending on their strength and composition. The same reed will also change sound depending on how much it's been soaked before use, the atmospheric conditions, and how you feel physicaly that day. This is why we rotate between a variety of reeds because they'll change on us from day to day.
The way a reed is held in place makes a difference as well, this is the principle behind the Optimum ligature. Think of holding a crystal goblet. If you strike it while holding the stem you'll get a clear ringing sound. If you hold the cup while striking it, you'll hear a much less clear tone, muffled. So the plates are designed to be in contact with the reed in three different ways, horizontally, vertically, and with 4 separate contact points. Depending on your mood and your reed you could choose any one of those plates on your ligature that day. Experiment with them, just for the sake of listening for the difference.
If you listen to your sound, see if it sounds bright (very clear, like it will carry a long distance and enunciate each articulation well) or dark (more of a muffled sound) or something in between. Clear as crystal, or clear as mud?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2002-11-01 01:46
Brenda wrote:
> If you listen to your sound, see if it sounds bright (very
> clear, like it will carry a long distance and enunciate each
> articulation well) or dark (more of a muffled sound) or
> something in between. Clear as crystal, or clear as mud?
This is where words fail. A dark sound can carry far, be articulated well, and ring. It has nothing to do with a muddy sound in my mind (I may call that kind of sound unfocussed and damped - but I don't know if we're talking about the same sound at all!)
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Author: Bob Arney
Date: 2002-11-01 01:52
I love Brenda's answer. It also helps me to think what the composer had in mind when he wrote the piece and see if "colors" come into it. Rather like looking at a dull sea-scape on a cold day and visualizing the difference between "gray" and "grey." Does that make any sense at all. In truth, a lot of it's in your head. You don't need to "look up" anything unless you are trying to mimic or imitate someone's style.
Bob A
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Author: Keith Pemberton
Date: 2002-11-01 03:09
How do you work on focussing your tone? I have heard my private instructors talk about this, but never really understood what they meant. Thanks for the very informative replies. One more question... Can anyone give me a good method for recording my practices and then playing them back so I can hear what I do and don't like about my playing? I was thinking of getting a minidisc recorder and taking that to the practice room. I would like to have something a little more advanced than a tape recorder. Thanks again for the great responses.
Keith
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2002-11-01 03:40
Keith Pemberton wrote:
>
> Can anyone give me a good method
> for recording my practices and then playing them back so I can
> hear what I do and don't like about my playing? I was thinking
> of getting a minidisc recorder and taking that to the practice
> room. I would like to have something a little more advanced
> than a tape recorder. Thanks again for the great responses.
Actually investing your money in a reasonable microphone will make a tape recorder useful. If you have a decent cassette tape recorder (Dolby® recording, etc.) you can make some very good recordings. Plan on spending upwards of $100 for a mike - audition them, too.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2002-11-01 09:12
Yes, a low quality mike makes a carinet particularly, sound dreadful, like a comb kazoo.
Tone colour is determined by the relative volume of the various harmonics present in a particular sound.
When words fail, a bar graph of this information quantitatively defines tone, but the definition is not as poetic as words.
Piano repairers who make their own bass (i.e. wound) springs use such information, along with the pitch anomolies of the harmonics, for determining best compromises for core thickness, winding thickness, number of windings, length of unwound core, etc.
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Author: d dow
Date: 2002-11-01 11:18
Nice definition by Gordon of NZ here, it is quite important to remember one has to also be able to change tone color even within the movement or prhases we work in. How many times do we hear people play the Debussy Rhapsody with no change in tone color in certain phrases. Debussy is the composer who comes to mind most here on this discussion...
Alot of players forget in this whole sound discussion that one has to be able to do something with the tone....it has to be alive, adaptable and the real artist has many colors in their palette to bring across a phrase or musical moment...intensiity of sound, color, and phrasing are inexetricably woven in great playing.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2002-11-01 22:29
TKS, again, Gordon, I've been waiting for a thread on tone quality, our frequently-occuring dark/bright discussions, to broach a harmonics/overtones thought/question. "Does a clarinet's tone quality become "dark" as a result of suppression [however we do it!]of the very high, odd-numbered [somewhat out-of-tune ?] harmonics, but ?remain? bright if they are permitted to be present at a moderate energy-level???" This seems to make sense to me when we suppress the fundemental via the register key for the clarion and further suppress the clarion [12th] via overblowing/uppermost-tone- hole-opening etc, to produce altissimo. See what your reference to harmonic energy distribution kicked off!! Don
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Author: David
Date: 2002-11-02 02:33
Try the Realistic PZM (pressure zone microphone) from Tandy (UK). I think they might be the same mob as Radio Shack?
It's a cheap, unsung little hero. Ugly as sin, but gives very faithful reproduction, and avoids the "recording in what seems to be a reasonably acoustically dead room, but on playback was apparently an airship hanger" effect.
It also copes well with huge levels of noise. (Pressed against the front of a guitar amp with the volume up to 11 behind a pillow). (Don't ask...)
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Author: Brenda
Date: 2002-11-03 03:08
To clarify the "clear as mud / crystal" comment - I was told that some other countries don't use this expression or know what this means.
This expression didn't have anything to do with the tone colour. It's a question meaning, "Do you understand the explanation or do we have to start over?" It's pretty common in Yankee territory, northern U.S.
It's fun to read the clarifying explanations from the rest of you though, it's difficult to write an about sound, best to get various perspectives. Say, David Dow is back!
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2002-11-03 15:43
Brenda wrote:
>
> To clarify the "clear as mud / crystal" comment - I was
> told that some other countries don't use this expression or
> know what this means.
Brenda, re-read what you said. You compared dark to muffled, which may or may not be the case. It had nothing whatsoever to do with your clear as mud / crystal clear" comment. As an American, I understood that meaning "crystal clear".
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2002-11-03 21:21
I use Sony ECM-MS907 one point stereo microphone.
You can search here. Sold 99.99$ in US.
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_Storefront-Start;sid=7WRHFCWa1NpHABhfTVpNH2qVQmBf8KnGhWo=
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2002-11-03 21:28
Sharp recently issued a 1-bit portable MD player.
http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/press/pr2432.html
I found this sounds better than my Sony MD player.
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