Author: sömeone
Date: 2005-11-03 16:00
Ah......ensemble playing.......wouldn't that be nice if i could do it as much as you do......going back to local orchestra this Sunday...mum who was hit by stroke 4 months ago apparently is much better now and i think it's high time i resume some of my responsibilities in the ensemble.......months since i have played with the school concert band too....since i am in exam season (this is my final year of high school, where the system has led me to be in the age of 18, haha..), and i am almost as 'retired' as can be, although i do go back to conduct the band occasionally when the band conductor aint available.
Anyways... (i think it's high time i switch my name to an easier recognizable version of an avatar from another board....so i'll be appearing as HautboisJJ the next time i post......i hope i remember.....)
Ohsuzan - "I was taught, as a singer, that the sound rides on the air, and it is the air that must remain consistent. Stops and starts of air leads to choppy, unmusical playing. Air is the essence of line."
Gotta love that. Time to write it in my oboe note book! (yes....i do have a note book to quote everything down.)
While using a tuner will make sure you get safe entrances or whatever the possible circumstances you are using it for, i don't really find it practical on a long term basis. It amazes me that your section actually has the tuner turned on every second of the rehersal! Well, focussing on this criteria, i will give some of my suggestions.
Well like previously mentioned relative pitch is foremost more important it is in practise than perfect pitch. While the tuner might suggest the standard of intonation going on, it does not reflect the change of intonation, or simply put it, it's not flexible, and does not benefit your ear. What i mean by saying it does not reflect the change, is that unless your band has near perfect intonation like the top professional orchestras in the world, you will be out of tune when their intonation start to change.
For example: (trying to make this simple...)
Say the first 1 hour of playing everyone manages to play according to standard, and you have your eyes on the tuner, sounding spot on, but after half an hour, the instruments are really warmed up, brass section starts to sharpen, and you think they are out of tune, and you fire an 'in tune according to your tuner note', that is practically weird. Of course unless you are using the tuner to play the what they have been playing, using the out of tune note be your standard when you do the entry, if they are sharp you do so too criteria. But then, you will be tuning with your eyes, not your ears, and that will be damaging and becomes sort of a bad habit in time.
So basically the art of ensemble playing, in this case, intonation has to abide to a few basic rules:
- You have to in tune with the rest of the ensemble to sound good
together, and that does not necessarily mean that you have to always be
in tune according to the standard.
- Of course the final aim and 'perfection' seems to be that everyone is
always playing according to the tuning standard (lets say A=440 every
second), a.k.a consistent pitching. And when you abide to the point
previously mentioned, you are a professional!
- So being 'in tune' has a lot of definitions, and being in tune to the true
standard and being in tune with the ensemble suggest different points of
view.
- Again there is this different chord or musical aspect that might lead to
suggestions of intentional change in pitch, but let's not discuss it here.
Using the tuner in self practise is highly recommendable, but again, only for casual checks on intonation, not round the clock playing against the tuner.
Basic updates on all of the technical aspects such as tone production is very important in daily playing, especially when you are no longer a beginner. And intonation practise must be a bit of a mixture of relative pitch training and perfect pitch training. The first can be achieved through playing a lot of scales every day in slow and disciplined manner, and the latter through much study of good recordings and playing instruments that arent particularly in hazard of being out of tune all the time (e.g. piano).
When i just started playing the oboe with the band years ago, it was horrible, it happened to me like it happened to you, you were always despised of being to loud, or having a tone that couldnt blend with the rest of the band, and today i will tell you that, from a conductor's perception of things, it might as well be true, even as a player, i now find it real than ever, that you yourself might not be detecting as much flaw as people listening to you. So you just have to be careful, but not until the stage where you don't dare to sound, i mean, when no one is complaining, it doesn't matter will it? Haha....until they do, just accept the fact that you have learnt to not do this or that during that particular time in the music.
Ohsuzan - "I've played in other ensembles, and simply have not had this problem. The prior feedback I have gotten in regard to my tone and musicality in ensemble work has been overwhelmingly positive -- embarrassingly positive, even. I'm a good musician, and a good oboist."
It happens to me all the time, and that is certainly caused by the means of the ensemble which you are playing in. Certainly, be confident about your own playing. In different forms of ensembles where the level/quality of playing or the music performed, or perhaps the type of ensemble (chamber, orchestral) you are playing in, may well decide what's wrong or what's right. That's where experience kicks in. And we are all trying to gain more each day i suppose.
Internal composure? I say there's no need for such prepared mind, just be there to play and learn as enthusiastically as possible! Haha....i guess the director won't mind a small mishap or two, you're just scaring yourself because people are complaining, this is the stage where the inability of the mind to accept critique kicks in. Haha...it's normal, you don't feel it, but you think you are doing badly, which actually you are not, just that you ain't familiar with situation to cope with it. And critique is one form of reminding yourself that you do sound different from other's ears, and that you will still have so much to learn. So don't be afraid of mishaps, like they always say, mistakes are just one tiny unavoidable part of performing music. Although you might not want to put that as an excuse, try to perform music everytime you practise (Herseth Bud).
So i'll be glad to hear your updates this upcoming Sunday, and i'll be looking forward for my first orchestra practise in months too. Enjoy oboing!
Howard
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