Re: Re: Re: German and American "sound"


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Posted by Rick Denney on July 01, 2002 at 13:56:26:

In Reply to: Re: Re: German and American "sound" posted by js on June 30, 2002 at 23:10:31:

I agree. A person's characteristic sound is the dominant characteristic, and a horn's characteristic sound at best influences the person's sound.

But there IS a difference. I played my Miraphone yesterday for about an hour, and then I played my York Master for another hour. The difference in the sound that bounced back from the room glowed in the dark--the York Master sound had much more apparent bottom and richness to it.

I happily concede that any external observer would lament that both sounded like Rick Denney. But within the limiting space of what I can produce at the mouthpiece, the YM sounded fuller and richer.

We each try to find an instrument that makes the sound in our ears more like the sound in our heads. The horn can only take us a little ways along that road--our own skill must cover most of the ground.

Therefore, I agree that we can't say a horn will make us sound good when we don't, and otherwise depend on the instrument to make up for what we lack. But it is just as wrong to say that the horn has no effect on our sound, or that that sound difference is not important to us as players and what we are trying to accomplish. This is no less true for hobbyists as it is for top pros.

So far as my experiments have progressed so far, I've posted my objective measurements on my web page at the link below.

Rick "who thinks few players reach the potential of their instruments" Denney



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