[TPIN] Fw: CONCEPT of SOUND

[Dwight Bird]

Leon, great post.  I am just going through "Lasting Change for Trumpet
Players" by Lous Labriel Sp?  The book analyzes Arnold Jacobs's pedagogical
approach.  It also contains transcripts of lessons and lectures.  Great
resource!

If I could add anything to your post it would be:
1.  How do you get the sound in your head more firmly?  You listen intently
to live performances or playing in lessons of players whose sound you
admire.  If you can hear them play music you are working up, that is even
better.  Good recordings are the next best thing.
2.  Getting your sound to match happens through imitation.  Jacob's concept
was that you put perfect notes into the cup of the mouthpiece, singing with
your lips.
3. The process takes time.  Get the sound in your head and eventually that
sound will come out of your horn, but it certainly doesn't happen
immediately.

_______________
Dwight Bird
Kaysville, UT
-----Original Message-----
From: tpin-bounces at tpin.okcu.edu [mailto:tpin-bounces at tpin.okcu.edu] On
Behalf Of Leon Merian
Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 10:43 PM
To: tpin
Subject: [TPIN] Fw: CONCEPT of SOUND


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Leon Merian" <lmerian at tampabay.rr.com>

Subject: CONCEPT of SOUND


>          I have recently gotten about 3 or 4 posts from players asking me
> what they should do to produce a better sound...and most recently from a
> Robert Bessen who I am not acquainted with list-wise ...tthey all seeem to
> be quite unhappy with the particular sound they are getting. Three of the
> players tell me that they are capable of hitting high As and Bbs quite
> consistently but with no quality of sound or musicality.
>         I must first start my answer to this question by saying that
without
> a true CONCEPT of a beautiful, resonant, pure sound, any and all trumpet
> instructionlacks meaning and consequently success.You the player will do
> better in making your goal to create a pure and resonant sound rather than
> performing a particular muscular  function [called "muscling" the horn.
I'm
> sure you know what I mean by this !!In doing the latter you are achieving
> only a limited concept and what you want is a  general, complete concept.
>        As for becoming a good {great} player we must function in terms of
> playing[performing] as  a
> Total Organism---and not compartmentalizing our playing in different,
> various sections which really become unrelated--which separates one from
his
> "whole being".............The resonance[quality] of
> the sound you produce on the horn is simply the image of the sound that
you
> have in your own mind.
>    If you are not pleased with this sound, then you must alter the
CONCEPT
> of the sound in your mind rather than going through any analysis of the
> mechanics of your playing functions.
>     It's a  mind-body thing. The body will act accordingly to the message
it
> receives from the mind.....
> Therefore, the message which you feed to the mind is what determines the
> quality of your sound....
> If you want to make a change for the better in your sound, then the
quality
> of the information you feed to the mind must dominate your thinking.
> Of course we can use different mouthpieces [deeper, shallower etc] and
> different horns [M,ML,L
> lightweight, heavyweight etc etc] to achieve more closely the desired
sound
> BUT  the sound that is desired has to be firmly established in the
player's
> head; otherwise simply changing equipment alone will not give you THAT
sound
> you are looking for.
>             This is why I say that each player has a unique tone quality
and
> a very distinct, personal characteristic to his / her sound. IT IS ALL IN
> THE  CONCEPT  .Respectfully, Leon Merian