Author: HautboisJJ
Date: 2011-02-18 05:12
Adding to Craig's excellent exercises, two things come to my mind when it comes to dynamics:
- In music, although dynamics do literally suggest the shade of volume, i find that it helps one to think more of the expression that the dynamic brings instead of it's pure volume. Depending on the music you play, at that particular moment, one has to have the will to mentally reach that dynamic, and this will can sometimes be more important than physical effort to produce the right sound. To give an example, think Schubert's Unfinished Symphony opening theme with clarinet, here instead of thinking now i need soft soft soft, you think, i need to phrase the same as the clarinetist and blend the sound, suddenly, it happens! Think the first big solo in the 2nd movement, there is a crescendo in the high Bb towards the next bar with the dancing rhythms. Here instead of thinking go louder, one thinks, phrase towards the next bar, and force yourself to mentally really BLOW into the next bar. I find in such situations where vibrato helps immensely. A change of color is often the key, thus adding vibrato to the crescendo. Again, we know in practical terms that it involves change of volume, but somehow, it works better when you think in different perspectives, at least for myself.
- Of course non of the above is useful when we don't involve practical practicing advise. I do only 2 exercises for pure dynamics (one admittedly less than the other).
1. Simply, switch on a tuner, play long tones in < > manner in a manageable length (say 8 beats at crotchet = 70), and the key is to keep in tune, often more important than sticking out in an ensemble in an attempt to play louder!
2. Pick a note, and with a tuner, always, play a note for 8 beats, again at any speed you can handle, and try and achieve an almost robotic sound in expression but full of depth in color, in other words, a giant FORTE with no change whatsoever throughout the 8 beats. At the 9th beat, suddenly, do a subito piano without taking a breath, and hold it for a further 8 beats. Again this has to be in tune with the tuner. When you reach the end of the 8 beats, again, at the 2nd 9th beat, slur to the next upper or lower semitone for 4 beats keeping soft. Rest, and repeat the exercise on that note you ended with. Trust me, this is a really useful exercise in building dynamics!
But really, think musical, crescendi and diminuendi are often just phrasing ideas, since there are rarely robotic volume suggestions in music (unless you are playing a lot of late 20th-21st century solo repertoire). The rest, is often sudden changes (that are hopefully in tune) and that is where the exercise above will benefit you. Britten's Temporal Variations is a great piece to learn dynamics!
To answer your question, no, it's not repeated playing that improves it, it's identifying what helps change the dynamics (using the sides of the lips to increase or decrease the cover on the reed, working with less or more air to play in tune in different dynamics), and being sensitive about what it means to play a certain dynamic in context of music. (a piano dynamic can really be a solo in orchestra and thus takes a complete different meaning altogether, not necessarily louder, just different in character.)
Post Edited (2011-02-18 05:17)
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