Author: kdrew922
Date: 2007-12-02 20:54
In response to Max's post, tone is almost certainly the most subjective element of music. If you listen to a hundred of the greatest players in the world, they all have an excellent sense of rhythm and pitch, they can all make a note stop and start just when they want it to, they all have an expansive dynamic range, virtuosic technique, etc. But the one thing that no two of them have in common is tone. The sound that I love, someone else may hate. The sound that I hate may be someone else's favorite. So when you hear a tone that "sounds like crap," remember that the rest of the audience may be loving it. It's best to learn to appreciate and enjoy all different kinds of sounds, so that tone alone does not bar one from enjoying a performance.
I'm always disheartened when I hear some fellow American oboists dismiss Heinz Holliger as "a mere technician" who they presume is not interested in creating beautiful music... just because he prefers a different kind of timbre! Think of how much they would learn if they could just get past their prejudice against a different kind of sound and learn to understand all the incredible things he is doing with the music!
When I listen to an oboist with a sound that is not quite what I would prefer for myself, I listen just as if I was listening to a different instrument. I would be quite disappointed if my tone was anything like that of the horn player Peter Damm or the gambist Jordi Savall, but that doesn't keep them from being a couple of my favorite musicians, nor does it keep me from appreciating the beauty of their sounds, even if their ideal timbre is not what I would seek for myself.
Cheers,
Drew
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