Author: hautbois
Date: 2007-11-29 13:33
Perhaps, d-oboe, you were just trying to stir up some reactions by trying to limit the definition of "dark" to the light spectrum. Surely you do not go through life without the use of metaphor or analogy. (Note that in the Mirriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary, for which my PhD daughter was one of the lexicographers, one definition of "dark" is: "possessing depth or richness", as in a voice.) It is by analogy of course that some players refer to a reed color ("color", of course, also being used by analogy) or to an instrument or sound as "dark" or "bright".
Part of what I think of as a "dark" sound has to do with what I hear as a complex tone, with less presence of aspects that would be considered more "piercing" or "bright". I view a complex tone as one which (another metaphor here) has layers which the player can peel back and open up to produce a multitude of nuances and shadings. A good "dark" reed would, with embouchure adjustments, be able to create a strident sound when the music requires; but it would have as its default tendency, a timbre towards the other end of the tone spectrum.
Sometimes a husky type of sound is called a dark sound. I would call that a less responsive reed, as although huskiness might be called for from time to time by the music (perhaps a blend with the clarinet in multo diminuendo), I do not strive for that to be the default tendency of the reed.
Good topic, d-oboe. I am interested to see where it leads.
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