Date:
Friday, May 29, 2009
Time: 11:47 PM
Individual Tone
Hi all
This is your long-lost senior who comes back every thursday to slack and intimidate the sec 3s, as well as to be Santa and give out Green Teas =P
On a more serious note, I'm sure the following will be helpful to everyone in the section. Its pretty long, and hence I shall be posting it in bits and pieces to facilitate digestion by you guys (: Be sure to internalise it, and I'm sure you'll improve tremendously.
Best section ftw! (:
DEVELOPING YOUR MUSICIANSHIPStage One: Individual.Tone.- Establish a rich and pure tone. Clear and NOT FORCED.
- You need to have a strong impression (idea) of what a good sound is. To do so, you need to have recording samples of professionals playing solo, even unaccompanied, and listen meticulously and often
- Then you must keep trying to imitate that sound.
- Start working on one note first. Practice daily, then continue to other notes until you cover the entire range of your instrument.
- Finally, practice keeping your tone 'perfect' at all dynamic levels, extreme soft to very loud
(pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff).
If you take 1 week of practicing everyday to improve 1 note, and 1 additional week for each dynamic level, you'll need: 24 notes (2 octaves) x 6 dynamic levels = 144 weeks (2.7 years) to complete this taskTherefore, it has to be a work in progress starting
ASAP (: Tone is really something that differentiates a good player from a not-so-good one. It is the first thing that people will judge you on when you play.
Always remember to keep your air speed intense and imagine the embouchure as a circle and that all the air has to pass through that hole immediately upon starting the note. Do not apply pressure on your lower lip as far as possible. Experiment with variations of these (speed, vol. of air, amount of mouthpiece 'eaten' etc.) to produce a good tone.
One last thing, remember to breathe warm air into your instrument. Also, try blasting your way up the scale (like what some of you guys did last thurs) to have a gauge of what air speed and intensity to have for all your notes, as well as warm up your instru.
That's all from me! Do wait for the next instalment which will talk about intonation.
Happy holidays (and remedials to the unlucky ones)
Cheers,
JJ
