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rowuk · 06-13-2007, 09:12 AM

_TrumpeT_
one of the biggest advantages professional players have is the appropriate spaces to play in.
When we first blow into the horn, our habits form the initial embouchure. When sound comes back, we adjust subconciously. In small rooms, the sound reflected reaches our ears in a very short time - often too close to the direct sound from the bell for our brains to properly sort out (recording engineers talk about "early" and "late" reflections). In addition, small rooms sound pretty "bright" which also changes our tonal perspective.
Did you ever notice how playing outdoors can be VERY tiring? That is because there are few sound reflections coming back to give our brains clues - so we play even louder. If we could hear ourselves properly, we could play equally in just about any acoustic space.
Practicing in larger rooms helps us achieve and maintain a large sound because we
a) have to play with projection to fill that space up and
b) have later sound reflections giving us better clues about what our sound really does.
Once that you have a sense of "big", playing in small rooms will not hurt you, but bigger rooms will give you further capacity to learn to play even bigger.
A small room is probably better when studying articulation as deficiencies become more apparent.
I think we need to practice as often as possible in the spaces that we perform in. The room is also (an important) part of the complete system: player, mouthpiece, horn, room, audience! That needs to be rehearsed too!

06-13-2007, 09:12 AM	#6 (permalink)
rowuk Moderator Fortissimo User Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Germany Posts: 4,640	Re: Steady, resonant Sound _TrumpeT_ one of the biggest advantages professional players have is the appropriate spaces to play in. When we first blow into the horn, our habits form the initial embouchure. When sound comes back, we adjust subconciously. In small rooms, the sound reflected reaches our ears in a very short time - often too close to the direct sound from the bell for our brains to properly sort out (recording engineers talk about "early" and "late" reflections). In addition, small rooms sound pretty "bright" which also changes our tonal perspective. Did you ever notice how playing outdoors can be VERY tiring? That is because there are few sound reflections coming back to give our brains clues - so we play even louder. If we could hear ourselves properly, we could play equally in just about any acoustic space. Practicing in larger rooms helps us achieve and maintain a large sound because we a) have to play with projection to fill that space up and b) have later sound reflections giving us better clues about what our sound really does. Once that you have a sense of "big", playing in small rooms will not hurt you, but bigger rooms will give you further capacity to learn to play even bigger. A small room is probably better when studying articulation as deficiencies become more apparent. I think we need to practice as often as possible in the spaces that we perform in. The room is also (an important) part of the complete system: player, mouthpiece, horn, room, audience! That needs to be rehearsed too! __________________ Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.