| The Room
Greetings again,
So, here's another question for people....kind of related to the whole "playing soft discussion." While trying to get to the root of why I fell into the mf-f trap in the first place, I began to think about the acoustical environments I did much of my playing in. As a teacher (with 40-45 private students between trumpet and piano), I do a TON of playing in a room that is - I measured this - 6.5 feet by 6.5 feet.....with soundproofing on all four walls. Bottom line, I can play fff in there, and it might sound mf at most to my ear, because so little sound is reflected back. It can really mess with my head.
I also do a good chunk of time in a normal sized room in my house (maybe 12 by 20 feet or so).....which creates a much more normal environment for my ears.
So if you all had your druthers, what kind of room do you prefer to practice in? I had a teacher in college who preferred to teach and practice a small dead room because he said it gave him the most unfiltered and unenhanced (and consequently the most accurate "raw sonic material" to work with) version of sound, as compared to a rehearsal room or hall. Another teacher felt the exact opposite. It might be a loaded question, and maybe one with no answer...but what kind of room do you think is the most conducive to improvement and giving a realistic, real-time feedback of how one is "really" sounding?
Thanks, folks - hope life is treating everybody well!
Greg |