Posted by Rick Denney on February 07, 2001 at 14:37:20:
In Reply to: Re: Re: what the heck is "projection"? posted by Webster on February 06, 2001 at 22:44:15:
If I knew the techniques of projection, I'd sound better than I do.
Once, Lee Hipp complimented me immensely by asking me after a concert how he sounded on a horn he was trying out (a first-gen 2165, as I recall). I told him it sounded big, but lacked both the sweetness I was hoping to hear and the commanding tone of his Alexander. He didn't ask me again, heh, heh. But this tells me that even the best pro players have a hard time knowing what they sound like out in a hall.
First time I showed up to rehearsal with the York, I heard some of my own sound reverberating back to me in that big room. I'd been playing the horn at my house for several months, but that was the first time I'd heard that quality of sound.
I think the technique has something to do with the focus of the airstream being projected through the mouthpiece bore. I was taught to make the airstream focus at a point about two inches from the end of the shank, as with a well-adjusted torch. I'm still working on that.
As to the thickness of the metal, I don't know. There are so many factors that may contribute to resonance. It is possible for a thick bell to ring more than a thin bell on one horn and the opposite way on another design. Generally speaking, any vibration of the bell makes the horn sound resonant up close but probably robs the horn of projection to the back row by absorbing some of the sound energy rather than reflecting it all. So, ringing bells are probably a bad thing beyond the range that it can be heard, which is just beyond the sphere of the player. Some horns are credited with great projection (and darkness, which isn't the same thing) and they are very thin; others receive similar credit and they are thick. Go figure.
And I haven't yet figured out how resonance upstream from the lips (lungs, throat, etc.) affects the sound. I see where the great players often have deep, resonant voices to go with their deep, resonant sound. When I hear myself recorded, either playing or speaking, I realize that there is a lot of truth to this. I hear very similar tonality in my tuba sound that I hear in my voice, more's the pity.
Rick "can you say 'tinny'?" Denney