At 9:52 PM -0600 3/13/10, Robert Patterson wrote:
So help me to understand. You are sitting in the audience of a large hall listening to an ensemble with a large number of players. How do you know whether they were reversing their mouthpieces? I ask in all seriousness, because many players do it automatically. The fact is, as a player you have to do *something* if you want the effect to be heard, because freely blowing through the instrument does not produce enough sound to be heard over much more than a harp, and then at short distance. So you have to leak or obstruct to create a sound. Reversing the mouthpiece provides better control of both timbre and dynamic.
Not meaning to be argumentative, but isn't this a composer's problem and not the player's? If a composer calls for an unusual effect and it doesn't work out the way he thought/hoped/imagined/guessed that it would, isn't that his or her lack of skill and knowledge on display, just as it would be if he tried to write for lute with brass choir?
Just curious. John -- John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music Virginia Tech Department of Music College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:john.how...@vt.edu) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html "We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition of jazz musicians. _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
