Re: Re: Re: Re: Tastes...


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Posted by Jay Bertolet on August 06, 2003 at 16:27:24:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Tastes... posted by Wade Rackley on August 06, 2003 at 15:56:30:

See, I think that's exactly the question. I don't think the equipment has nearly as much to do with FD as the way we play. Orchestras play so much louder these days. All the instruments (except strings it seems) are being made to produce massive amounts of sound, more so than ever before. Brass instruments are especially affected though even string instruments use metal strings instead of gut. This isn't to produce a more beautiful tone! Anyone who's heard an orchestra that only uses gut will attest to the lovely, warm sound. Yet, it is a softer sound. There has been speculation that this is an outgrowth of the costs of producing orchestral music, that performances are now in larger halls that require a larger sound to be enjoyed. Look at all the great concert halls in Europe, most built in the 1800's and 1900's. 1000 seats is pretty big over there. Here, you don't see halls built with less than 2000 seats generally. Everything seems to be getting bigger and louder.

The notion that FD is particularly widespread right now may be inaccurate as well. I think we're all attuned to it today because of at least a couple of high profile cases recently. I have no figures to back it up but my sense is that FD may be only slightly more common today than in the past. If anyone has any figures, please present them. I'd be curious.

To attribute the occurances of FD to the use of larger equipment just doesn't add up for me. For one reason, switching to a big BAT means changing (at least partly) the way you play. You can't just bang away on one of those horns, it won't do any good. The beauty of these horns is the efficiency and the color of the sound, not necessarily the volume. Of course, you can really torque on these instruments and get very loud sounds. That approach doesn't really yield any of the benefits of that equipment though. You almost have to work harder to play a 6/4 the same was as you would with a 4/4. When you relax more, and let the horn do the work, the 6/4 can produce louder volume more effortlessly. Of course, the color of the sound is completely different than the same approach with a smaller horn.

About the only case I can see effectively made against the 6/4 (where FD is concerned), would be that players tried to play too aggressively on those horns and drove themselves into damaging themselves in the process. I have no idea if that's the case in the high profile cases (I suspect not) but you never know. With the technology evolving like it does with horns, I bet we don't do much like players did 100 years ago. Certainly our perceptions of the processes are different, as is our understanding of the process. It is at least possible that there may be problems with a 6/4 that we're unaware of at this point. That just doesn't seem likely to me. My money is on the general increase in volume that orchestras have seen over the last 100+ years.

My opinion for what it's worth...


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