 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Morrigan
Date: 2014-10-27 21:42
I used to really like my sound, and of course as time goes by your sound changes and evolves. I've experimented with mouthpieces a lot over the past 12 months and I've settled on something that I LIKE the sound of, but I don't LOVE it. I feel like I don't sound like myself at the moment. I've spent so much money on mouthpieces, reeds, ligatures, barrels, and spent so much time recording myself and listening back that I'm just sick of it all. People tell me often that they like my sound, but I seem to be the only person not happy with it. I feel like I've lost my identity, that I have a completely generic sound.
Where does one go from here?!
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-10-27 22:06
Look, DON'T GET DISCOURAGED over small stuff. You must love music; that hasn't changed. You have your favorite composers to listen to and to play; that hasn't changed. I think it's too easy to fall into a self critical spiral (particularly if you're doing regular recording of yourself - play five minutes; listen five minutes etc.). Just try to forget all the extraneous stuff and enjoy music for music's sake again. Give yourself a break from all the analysis (John Yeh used to say "analysis is paralysis!").
It may help to go to a reed/mouthpiece that worked and just stick with it for a few months until you're 'back on your feet.'
It's just a phase.
.............Paul Aviles
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2014-10-27 23:12
I second the suggestion to go back to the best setup of the ones you've already tried - maybe all the way home to whatever you were using when you "used to really like" your sound. Get re-oriented and let yourself settle back into it. While you're there, decide what it was that really drove you to look for something else. If you can't describe it to yourself, then stay with what you have until you can identify what you're looking for that's different from the sound you're getting.
Wandering around the universe looking for a sound you like is a sure path to confusion. After awhile you'll have lost any moorings you started with.
From what I've read, a hundred years ago (I wasn't there), players didn't obsess over sound as they have since the 1950s or '60s (the heyday of classical recordings - coincidence?). If it sounded like a clarinet, there were more important things to worry about, like phrasing, staccato, rhythm and ensemble, etc...
Karl
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2014-10-28 02:43
Some years ago I had an interesting experience. I had spent the whole day running from one rehearsal to the next, playing on various instruments. When I arrived at the venue for the evening performance I didn't feel the need to warm up because I had spent so much time playing during the day. When I finally opened my case 10 minutes before the show I realised that I had left all my reeds in another instrument case! There was no time to go anywhere to get any other reeds. I remembered that there was a box of reeds in an old instrument case that belonged to the orchestra. I opened it and saw that the reeds were 2 whole strengths stronger than what I usually play on. I asked the oboe player for his reed knife and whittled away at a few of the reeds, without having really any idea what I was doing. I managed to get a reed that made a sound. Without any other choice I went onto stage with this almost unplayable piece of wood attached to my mouthpiece. I spent most of the performance just hoping that the notes would actually come out. This was a horrible way to spend an evening with a professional orchestra.
After the show I went to the bar with the other musicians, relieved to finally be able to have a drink. After downing the first half of my beer I started to tell the string players about my whole experience that evening and how stressful it had been. Guess what? None of them had noticed any difference in my sound that night! These are the colleagues that I play with every day.
Besides making me completely depressed, this did show me that the way we obsess about our sounds is totally out of proportion with what the audience (and even our colleagues) take any notice of. What they will notice much more is our expression, phrasing, dynamics, style, rhythm and intonation.
Maybe you're worrying too much about your sound?
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Author: maxopf
Date: 2014-10-28 03:49
I've been going through sort of the same thing as you. I've realized though, like others have said, that we're much more sensitive to our own sound than those around us are. My teacher has helped me to cultivate a "don't worry about it so much" kind of mentality about my tone (not to say that she wants me to ignore my tone, she just emphasizes focusing more on musicality, phrasing, technical abilities, air support, and so forth, rather than spending time messing with my setup in search of the "perfect tone.")
I have a funny story about this.
A month or two ago I was starting to work through the Brahms clarinet quintet with my teacher (she plays Eb, Bb and A professionally in an orchestra, so she obviously has a lot of experience with sound and tone.) I had been fussing with different types of reeds lately trying to get the tone I wanted, and the reed I picked for my lesson happened to be the worst one of the bunch. It was really buzzy, thin, and generally bad sounding, especially in the low register.
I actually stopped in the middle of a phrase at one point and said, "This reed sounds really bad," or something to that effect, and my teacher told me, "You sound fine, don't worry about it. Keep going." At the end of another phrase my teacher could tell I was still annoyed with the bad reed, and she adjusted it with a reed knife for me. I put it back on and kept playing, then mentioned that the reed still wasn't quite right.
Still thinking that I sounded fine, she said, "Let me try it." She put it on her mouthpiece, played one or two notes, took it off, and threw it across the room, saying, "This is awful!"
This is not to say that she couldn't tell there was any difference in my sound - she could tell it wasn't 100% how I usually sound - but it does show that we're much more sensitive to our own sound than those around us are. It also seems to suggest that a lot of what we perceive about our sound comes from how our setup feels to us rather than how it actually sounds. The reed in this case really didn't sound all that bad, but to my teacher and I it felt buzzy and light.
Post Edited (2014-10-28 03:54)
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Author: TomS
Date: 2014-10-28 08:05
A lot of your sound that you hear is through bone conduction in your head. What the customer hears is an entirely different experience.
And, you are your own worst critic, so don't worry about it too much, especially if your fellow musicians like your sound!
I'd suggest recording yourself regularly ... you are probably much better than you think! You will declare: "Wow! Who is that guy?" He is pretty good!"
Also, I have found that almost everything influences my perception of my sound. The weather, my sinuses, the room, the reed, what I had for lunch, sunspots, and most importantly my attitude and mood at the moment.
You know, as my playing progressed (when I was a kid), to me it sounded like I wasn't getting better ... what I perceived was that some of the other clarinet players were getting worse! Relativity in perception of progress, I guess!
Of course, there were monsters in those days ... a few players that still send a chill down my spine when I think about what they could do! Unfortunately, many great HS players went on to pursue difficult degrees in an unrelated discipline. I believe that great musicians are just generally smart people. They can do anything with uncommon success!
Tom
Post Edited (2014-10-29 23:56)
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Author: Alois
Date: 2014-10-28 20:30
Hi there
I know what you mean about spending lots of money on new kit -I think all good clarinet players are guilty of that.
I too record myself a lot and I believe it is the only true way to hear what you really sound like. But I have heros such as Sabine Meyer and Wenzel Fuchs and constantly try to copy them, whilst having some personal preferences also.
Maybe ask yourself -who do I admire or would wish to sound like?
Alois
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2014-10-29 00:33
The judge who purportedly made that sour remark to Leister was Ulysse Delecluse, professor at the Paris Conservatory. On this board, Ken Shaw seems to have returned the compliment for Leister (2010-10-13) when he likened Delecluse's tone to "tearing sheet metal" (while still admiring his performance of the Saint-Saens Sonata). At any event, Delecluse's remark evidently rankled Leister because more than one generation of clarinet players has heard Leister retell the tale.
Leister in his long career hasn't had just one sound. Early on, he had a very thick ,covered sound which later because lighter and more international, and he switched from a very close facing with hard reeds to a medium open facing with French Vandoren reeds to assist in making the change.
Post Edited (2014-10-30 18:59)
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2014-10-29 23:41
I performed a little experiment a year or two ago when I was struggling (as I still am, though getting closer!) to achieve a sound that I like on the German-system bass clarinet: I recorded several pieces and excerpts on the Oehler and Boehm basses, absolutely certain that they would sound totally different on tape (as they do to me when I'm playing them at home or onstage). To my surprise I could hardly tell them apart on the recording.
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