I should have done this when I first presented this data, but I hadn’t thought about it enough to see the patterns yet, and simply wanted to get the results of my small experiment summarized so that I could visualize what was going on.
Here’s the original analysis of “High C” (just above the staff) in Table form from my Excel spreadsheet. Clearly this is difficult to read, and I’m probably the only one that can look at it quickly and see what the data is saying. I must point out that at the microphone that was in line with our ears, my decibel reading was louder than Benny’s (8.89 versus 7.00 OR 12.32 versus 11.15 – i.e. two ranges shown because the High C was between the indications on the scale that was provided in Audacity).
Now, here is the data presented “side-by-side” for the High C at the Far Microphone (i.e. across the room – “In the Hall”):
That still may be a little hard for some people to read (click on the pictures with the red boxes around them, and you can see a larger / clearer image), but my fundamental and overtones are represented by the blue bars and Benny’s are represented by the burgundy bars. Clearly, he has more energy in all of his overtones, whereas my fundamental is stronger. Hmmm….
Now, this is what I really want to try and show. I have separated my data from Benny’s, showing my fundamental and overtones alone. I have also penciled in a “general” curve to represent the shape of my “sonic signature” on a High C.
When you look at Benny’s fundamental and overtones, his “general” curve shows a very different “sonic signature”. That characteristic hump in the first 3 or 4 bars is what seems to distinguish a sound with real carrying power from one that simply doesn’t get out into the hall as well.
I’m betting that my sound will have this characteristic hump up to around a G at the top of the staff. At that point, incremental harmful tension starts to dampen my higher overtones. I’ve made some wholesale changes in my playing since this experiment, and I can clearly hear that my own “hump” carries a little higher in my range than it used to.
If a player was to use this visual cue occasionally during long tone practice to assure that they don’t venture into the wrong shape, they would be not only “strengthening” their chops, they would be coordinating the entire playing system in a more balanced way. They would be spending time in their “real” playing range and eventually, with persistence, they would carry this more vibrant and resonant “hump” shape well above the staff.
Hope this makes my discussion of the data a little clearer.