The more I listen...

[shofarguy]

The original focus of this thread was to examine the real effects of bell taper, mouthpiece bore, etc. on how a trumpet plays. Specifically, that changes in timbre are not the primary difference.

When I talk about "performance envelope", I am not talking about louder playing. I'm talking about how far a horn is able to go in any and every direction, and in every way. I'm not really examining the player here.

An example would be resonance in the low frequencies. No matter what I try, I cannot get my Benge to sound like my Wild Thing down around G below the staff. If I work and work and work on my Benge and get a lovely sound down there, the WT will then sound even more gorgeous.

Also, I can work for an hour to get a delicate response on my smallest bore CG3, but if switch to the largest bore, I always am able to do the harder stuff easier on that otherwise identical mouthpiece.

Again, I'm comparing changes in sound to changes in capability, finding changes in capability outweigh changes in the fundamental sound.

I don't mean to say that everyone should play what I play. That's not at all my point. I know that every player finds a different combination that works. I'm not talking in those terms. Just the realization that different (specifically) bell tapers don't change timbre - as sampled in the middle of the playing spectrum - so much as they change what the horn is capable of doing. The design affects the performance envelope more than it affects the fundamental sound.

Brian
_________________
Brian A. Douglas

Flip Oakes Wild Thing Bb Trumpet in copper
Flip Oakes Wild Thing Flugelhorn in copper


There is one reason that I practice: to be ready at the downbeat when the final trumpet sounds.

[Ed Lee]