Vulgano Brother

I’m posting here because of a couple of threads that begged to be combined: one on creativity, one on electronic music. I’ll be quoting from Douglas Hofstadter’s article Variations on a Theme as the Crux of Creativity once again, to be found in the October 1982 Scientific American or in his book Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern. The basic idea is that "creativity" consists of twiddling with knobs; creative genius lies not in the twiddling of the knobs, but in finding them.
Hofstadter:

“Seeing clear to the essence of something unfamiliar is often best achieved by finding one of more known things that you can see it as, than being able to balance these views. Physicists have long since learned to juggle two views of light: light as waves, light as particles. They know that each contains a grain of the essence of light, that neither contains it all, and they know when to think of light which way….Seeing anything as waves suggest immediate knobs: wavelength, frequency, amplitude, speed, medium, and a host of other basic notions that define the essence of undularity. Seeing anything as particles suggest totally different knobs: mass, shape, radius, rotation, constituents, and a host of other basic notions that define the essence of corpuscularity….Once you have decided to try out a new way of viewing a phenomenon, you can let that view suggest a new set of knobs to vary. The act of varying them will lead you down new pathways, generating new images ripe for perception in their own right. This sets up a closed loop:

• fresh situations get unconsciously framed in terms of familiar concepts;
• those familiar concepts come equipped with standard knobs to twiddle;
• twiddling those knobs carries you into fresh new conceptual territory.”

So folks, please answer the following:

What are the technical knobs that we as trumpeters twiddle? Parameters such as “Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release” like a synthesizer?

What “style” knob do I twiddle that takes me from urbane Mozart to earthy Haydn when playing? Is that the same knob that will take me to Mahler? Tower of Power?

As a teacher, I drove students crazy by forcing them to listen to the end of notes (the “Release” knob), and for the most part, they turned into ok trumpet players. Are there some other knobs that I’ve missed that would have turned them into great trumpet players?

This should be fun….

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mattdalton

OK, I'll bite with some initial thoughts...there will certainly be more to think about on this one.

In addition to some of the knobs you mentioned, I'll add vibrato (or lack thereof), sound density, definition vs. diffusion, distortion vs. purity, playing in a controlled fashion vs. the amount of connection between notes, dynamics, and technical facility. For recorded music, recording techniques can play a big role too.

If you think about what makes players unique, sometimes one knob will dominate, but more often it will be a combination of subtle differences that create uniqueness. For example, creating great music using little if any vibrato made Miles Davis unique among other players at the time. But if one is trying to describe what makes Bud Herseth unique amongst orchestral trumpeters, it's not one specific thing. (Sure, people will say "his sound," but to me sound is a composite of turning multiple knobs.)

While I am always impressed when a player has used a creative combination of knobs to create a "signature sound" that makes them instantly and easily recognizable (Doc Severinsen, Chris Botti, Louis Armstrong, etc.) but it is equally impressive when a player has such keen awareness and command over the instrument that they can turn the knobs at a moment's notice to sound like different players.

As a teacher, you were right to have your students listen to the end of notes. Hopefully it didn't give them OCD, but a stronger sense of awareness. That awareness is the most important aspect of being able to set the knobs so they makes the particular style or piece of music come alive. Sure, we have to learn techniques, but at the end of the day they are aren't useful without awareness of what they do or when to use them.

That great Clark Terry quote "Imitate, assimilate, and innovate" comes to mind here as well. It's not the same as the closed loop you mention, but is certainly an outstanding approach to finding new ways to look at things and to build the ability to play in different styles.

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Vulgano Brother

Thanks Matt! I forgot all about vibrato, and the "control" is an interesting knob.

The Clark Terry quote I like as well--that is perhaps where we discover new knobs.

Now I'm wondering if my "annoy violists" knob is innate or learned--I'll still twiddle with it, though!

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siarr

VB, I think that annoying violists is completely natural and instinctive - part of our genome - which often makes it difficult to override when the violist in question is a babe.

Cheers,
Chas

Vulgano Brother

Being a violist and a babe are, as far as I know, mutually exclusive! Then again, I am somewhat of a insensitive, sexist jerk--part of the Vulgano genome I am sure!

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Bloomin Untidy Musician

For me sound colour is an important way of looking at playing. This i suppose is a composite way of assimilating/imitating a sound.

Cliche might be another parameter controlling knob which i suppose is informed by our experience of other performers, and genres. Do disagree with me if i am talking verbal diahorrea.

Vulgano, could you tell me more of your ideas about note endings.

Vulgano Brother

The basic idea, I suppose, is what I used to complain to my students about being musical "Pharisees." The letter of the law, with intonation and rhythm was met, but no music was made.

I contend that music, real music, happens in the space between the notes. If we expand our awareness beyond getting the notes "in tune, on time" and start concentrating on the point of connection between notes, we can allow that intuitive, creative demigod within us to start creating some real music.

The wonderful challange that the Promenade from Pictures at an Exhibition gives us, or the Haydn Concerto, for that matter, is not in the technique: it is in how we connect the dots.

Each note begins at the end of the one before.

I drove myself and my students crazy with this kind of thinking, so please don't take it as dogma!

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ecarroll

I enjoy ghosting my own forum.

Best,
EC

Vulgano Brother

You should be chiming in, Ed! That was the idea at the start!

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rowuk

VB,
my list of knobs to turn:
wind all by itself, (longtones and the like)
then wind plus chops (slurs)
wind+chops+fingers (scales)
wind+chops+brain (beautiful sound)
wind+chops+fingers+articulation (pattern memorization)
wind+chops+ brain+tongue+fingers (beautiful music)
You also need to be able to crank up the survival interests and turn down the excuses knob at times!

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