Posted by Rick Denney on February 06, 2001 at 14:20:30:
In Reply to: what the heck is "projection"? posted by Webster on February 03, 2001 at 23:24:33:
Seeing the article about Mike Sanders reminded me of how he defined projection, or at least of how I remember his definition.
He said that it is the ability to fill the sound with enough color and complexity so that it will persist to the back row, even when played at pianissimo.
My engineering mind thinks that a bare fundamental frequency with no overtones can be easily modulated by other sounds, thus losing much of the characteristic tone. I think what pro players mean when they say "color" is an overtone series that defines a characteristic tuba sound even when other sounds are modulated on top of it.
When I attended the San Antonio Symphony during the time Mike played in it, I sat, literally, on the back row of the first balcony at a very large 3000-plus-seat concert hall. I could *always* hear Mike (though I could barely see him), even during the softest passage or the biggest of orchestral tuttis. A few years later, that group moved to their new home at the Majestic Theater, which is less than half the size. In that venue, Lee Hipp could rule the world, but I figure life was tougher in the previous hall.
Rick "who knows it when he hears it" Denney