Bear,
Vibrant, Ringing, Brilliant, Resonant, Opulent…
I like discussions about sound. I’ve done a search and found some of my past posts about this topic that might interest you. The first is related to the definition of “sound”. James Thompson really captures the various components that make up “sound” as well as I have ever seen. Just to be clear, many people will interchange the terms sound and tone in these discussions. Tone is just one of the components of a players sound.
Post One:
In James Thompson’s presentation from the Yamaha Day of Trumpets one of his video clips is entitled
How To Manipulate Sound Quality – (click on the “launch” button in the bottom left corner to get to the videos)
Clearly (as written above) a trumpet sounds like a trumpet, a cornet sounds like a cornet, and a flugel sounds like a flugel. To be clear, I think this is implying that the “tone” of these instruments is unique and have their own distinct qualities. Tone, however, is only one aspect of what is heard when someone is playing an instrument.
In the video, James Thompson says that he considers the sound of the trumpet to be made up of many different components. There is the tone, attack, note length, volume, vibrato, intensity, releases, etc. A change in any of these components significantly changes the sound perceived by the listener.
To then hear him change the sound of his C trumpet from something your would hear on a D trumpet (or piccolo) followed immediately by an example of the sound of the cornet on the same horn simply by modifying his internal sound concept, is incredible!
I’m certain that he would choose the right horn for the job in a performance situation, but to be able to conceive these different sound images in his mind with such clarity and intensity is really the key to having complete command of the instrument. He can truly paint with an infinite palate of sound colors when the music asks for it.
Post Two:
There was a topic several years ago called
What does “core sound” mean?. The link that I provided is my response to the original question.
All of the responses in this topic so far have been great! This is one of those topics where words simply are inadequate to describe what we all are hearing (and believe me I’ve tried!).
I really like what David Krauss had to say in the Yamaha Day of Trumpets video clip
“The Importance of a Bright, Dark and Resonant Sound” – click the Launch button in the lower left corner.
This is a paraphrase-----
Opera singers have resonance in their voices. Higher voices are brighter and lower voices are darker but the common tie between these sounds is the resonance.
Likewise, some trumpet players have naturally bright sounds and some players have naturally dark sounds (or any of the infinite variations between light and dark). Finding the appropriate balance, the player that looks for a resonant sound first, allows a bright sound or a dark sound to be heard better. Resonance puts sound where it is represented best!
This is from the
Jan 2001 ITG Journal article with Mark Gould. He has some absolutely fantastic quotes about player’s sounds.
Quote:
From page 20, “When I go to clinics, they talk about bright and dark. Bright is bad. Dark is good. This is the wrong model to set up. I like to hear a sound that is very centered and focused, one that has brilliance and can be both bright and dark. That kind of sound can have many colors, but the core of the sound has brilliance that will project. People used to tell me that Herseth had a dark sound, and I looked at them as if they were insane. [laughter] Are we hearing the same guy? There are dark elements to it, but there’s a lot more going on.”
And my favorite from Page 18, “Yes, I heard Vacchiano. I remember his sound. That sound! It was a big, strong, chocolate, beautiful sound.”
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That article was one of the reasons that I became so interested in reading everything that I could about how to achieve a resonant sound. The whole article is fantastic!
Good topic!
Post Three:
I summarized the class that I attended in Denver in a topic called
ITG Conference 2004 – David Krauss. Lot’s of great ideas related to a resonant sound in this folder.
Hope these are of interest to you!