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Tone quality is a very important fundamental! If you have a good tone, you are likely doing a lot of things correctly. Strive for tone!
But tone can sometimes be a huge challenge to work on with a student due to many other issues impacting tone negatively. The prompt that is the title of this post (taken from a list in the Douglas Hill book) gives a couple of key areas to focus on.
Centered resonance
The wording Hill uses is very interesting to me. I’ve long used a term I heard in trumpet lessons that I was observing as a Doctoral student. That teacher was very concerned that his students play at the “resonant center” of the pitch.
But backing up a step, part of the issue can be your horn and mouthpiece. I’ve taught long enough to see how, at times, equipment can make a dramatic difference.
Still, I like the idea of focusing on centering and resonance. If you are too low or too high on the pitch the tone will not be optimal. This is where pitch bending can be very helpful, intentionally bending the pitch above and below the resonant center for the purpose of finding and playing at that center consistently.
Consistent tone color in all registers
While the upper range can get pinched, for a much larger number of players the issue is the low range. Specifically, the tone color gets “reedy” in the range below written middle C. And it is something you may not notice unless it is pointed out, as you are just used to sounding like that in the low register.
The solution is easy to say – you need to drop your jaw! But it is not easy to do. The low range is very individualistic. I can tell you this – the tone color change is due to some interference of the lips with each other. Things are not open enough at the lips. The solution can be very challenging to find, but well worth the effort.
Timbre variations?
Can you alter your timbre? Timbre has been defined as “the character or quality of a musical sound or voice as distinct from its pitch and intensity.”
I tend to think that on the horn you just want to focus on always having a good sound, with good control of dynamics. One good sound at all dynamics will get you a long ways.
A real-world example would be what would you do if the conductor asks you some ridiculous thing like “play with a more burnished bronze tone color.” What? In this situation, just play softer.
I’ve had this come up in woodwind quintet a few times. I think some woodwinds really can alter their actual timbre significantly (especially the flute), but, again, I think on horn our options are more limited. Maybe you can adjust hand position a bit and achieve a bit of a difference in some situations, but, again, just focus on producing a good tone.
When the series continues the topic is ranges.
Continue in the Fundamentals Series
