| This was something that I wrote in response to a similar conversation that we've been having on the TPIN list related to "projection".
When I had a lesson with Charlie Schlueter (Principal BSO), I was in my living room and had a recorder set up on the other side of the room. When I would play a phrase, the needle would maybe register about to the halfway point. Every time that Charlie would play the same phrase, the needle would be pegged!
Years later when I was getting ready for a Phoenix Symphony audition, I was recording my lesson. When I played the opening to Mahler 5 my sound did not project across the room nearly as well as my instructor’s sound did (now recording on a Mini Disk player). His sound would peg the led indicators and as I got into the higher register my sound would simply not register as well (maybe a half to a third of what my instructor was getting).
So, when I think of projection, I simply think of a sound that carries well and can be recorded.
I've been thinking about what I have available to me for this experiment, and since I don't have any sound level meters (I'm not even sure where I would go to borrow one - or many), I've come up with another idea.
I have a Mini Disc recorder and so does my instructor. If I would set up one recorder across the room, and the other one in line with our ears, I could very easily count the number of bars that are registered on the LED indicator for each individual note. This would give a rough estimate of what the microphone's pick up (behind the bell and at a distance).
My sound is very vibrant from the bottom of my register up to a G/A at the top of the staff. While I can play up to a concert D/Eb, my sound loses vibrancy above the A. This is where the experiment would really be able to highlight a difference.
After my lesson I would simply take both disks home, listen to the play back and count the LED bars from both recording and compare mine against my instructors. If this shows what I think it will, I could then do the same thing with a student player (I know someone at my church that has the sound I hear in many young players) and then I could compare his numbers against mine.
I guess we'll all find out if this phenomenon can be measured after my lesson. I think it will be very apparent (based on my past experience), but who knows? We'll let the Mini Disks do their non-partial evaluation of what they are hearing.
I'll report my findings next Monday. |