Bear,
I love these quotes about resonance, which imply playing to the Center of the Pitch:
From David Krauss: …consider playing less loud and more resonant… From James Thompson: Get the resonance and don’t push the volume. The louder you play it just doesn’t work. From Marcel Tabuteau: The louder you play, the less it carries! In my opinion, the quality that carries is the amplification of the dolce tone.
Here’s a post that talks about sounding softer behind the bell but projecting a great sound to the audience:
Blow Your Socks Off, Bury You, Obliterate the Orchestra!!!
Playing to the CoP is one component of achieving a vibrant sound. You also need to have great vibrancy and response (ease of sound production). You need to provide just the right amount of air to the chops (not too much and not too little). You need to have a great internal sound concept.
I really like this
David Krauss article as well as the
DK and Jim Thompson video clips at the Yamaha site. They both talk in great detail about resonance of which CoP is a very important component.
Good topic!