Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 7:45 am Post subject: Th Sonic Signatures (Analysis)
I attended the ITG Conference in Denver in 2004 and bumped into Manny Laureano the day after he had given a short masterclass on resultant tones (which was fantastic), and remember a story that I shared with him.
Quote:
I found Manny the next day in the Joy Burns Plaza at the Lamont School of Music after sketching out some ideas about resultant tones and thinking of a story to illustrate the idea of the "perfect example". I told him that my three little boys all love dinosaurs. We have the Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs at home and it says, "the T-Rex is 35 feet long and has razor sharp teeth that are each 6 inches long". I don't know about you, but I tend to forget numbers rather quickly when they are associated with how big something is. I took my boys to the Mesa Southwest Museum that has a fantastic dinosaur display. The guide at the museum presented an example that I will never forget. In fact, it was the "perfect example". He said, "a T-Rex stood tall enough to look in a second story window and had teeth that were as large as an average banana".
When I told Manny this story, I saw him looking up to the second story balcony area in the Plaza and said, "That paints a great mental picture". I told him that to this day, every time I walk through our kitchen at home and see a banana on the counter I can't help but think to myself, "T-rex tooth!" The "perfect example" can literally take an intangible idea and indelibly etch it in our minds, never to be forgotten.
To make this project on "sonic signatures" more than a bunch of numbers and graphs that is hard to understand and more difficult to communicate to younger players, I've been considering how to create the "perfect example". Well, last night, after thinking about this for several weeks, I came up with the perfect example. I should have something ready by next weekend, and I hope it makes this topic something that you will consider using with your students!
We have all seen the ring of water that forms at the bottom of a glass of ice water in the summer. It's a visible sign that water is present in the air, even though we can't typically see water vapor simply by looking at the air. A little science tells us that when the temperature of the of the glass is less than the dew point temperature of the air, the water vapor in the air will condense on the side of the glass, join with other water droplets and get heavier, and gravity will pull the water droplets down the glass to form the ring at the bottom. In a similar way, we know that white light is made up of all the visible colors, and following an afternoon thunderstorm, we sometimes see a vibrant rainbow revealing all the colors from Red to Violet. The sunlight passes through water droplets in the air and by the nature of reflection and refraction the light is dispersed into its component colors giving us a glimpse of the many different frequencies present in white light.
The sound of a great orchestral trumpet player can be described as having clarity and vibrancy as well as impressive strength and at the other spectrum, graceful delicacy (and many other colorful terms). Looking more closely at this orchestral sound, it has hidden elements similar to the spectrum of colors in white light and the water vapor present in the air. Science identifies this as the harmonic series and essentially, as any note is being played, let's say a Low Bb, there are many higher pitches sounding at the same time that are related to the Bb (a note inside a note).
You can verify this for yourself and make the harmonic series "visible" by finding an acoustic piano in the band room at your school. Gently press the Low Bb key on the piano without letting the note sound so that the string is free to vibrate. While holding down this key, strike the Bb an octave above as a staccato, and listen for this higher octave to ring on the open string an octave below (a note inside a note). Try this same example, holding the Low Bb key down silently, but this time play a staccato F above the higher Bb, and listen for the F to ring on the Low Bb string. These are the first two overtones in the harmonic series and they continue going up from there with a perfect 4th above the F, then a major 3rd above the Bb, and a minor 3rd above the D, with the intervals getting progressively closer together as you go higher in the series. You can also gently hold down the keys for the higher overtones and play a staccato Low Bb to get the same effect on the higher strings. This example is like the rainbow after the storm, and allows us to experience something that is somewhat invisible unless you know what to listen for.
Using today's technology, a software application called Audacity allows a player to record a note (also called the fundamental) and then analyze the quality of the note using Spectral Analysis. While you can verify several notes from the harmonic series on the piano, Audacity can display dozens of "overtones"which is another name for the notes above the "fundamental" in the harmonic series. The software also shows the relative strength of the individual overtones.
This is what my sound looks like in Audacity on a Low Bb (concert Ab):
This Spectral Analysis shows the Low Bb as the first spike on the left side of the plot at about 203 Hz. The first overtone, just to the right of the fundamental is the octave above the Low Bb, about 406 Hz. The overtone series continues with each spike to the right and is represented up to around 6,500 Hz, and my sound is strongest between 203 Hz and just over 3,000 Hz. The horizontal axis is showing Frequency in Hertz (Hz)
My understanding of the vertical axis [Relative Strength (dB)] is that Audacity picks up the strongest sound as a peak decibel (lets say somewhere between 85 - 115 dB depending on your dynamic) using Sound Pressure Level (SPL). This is the highest bar on the graph. Since the vertical axis shows negative decibels, all the other peaks would be relative magnitudes compared to the highest peak on the graph. The important thing to understand is that overtones that have much less relative strength than the fundamental will most likely not be heard by the audience. I have drawn a horizontal line showing the strength of the fundamental for reference.
Now, this is the interesting part of how to read the Spectral Analysis (the last two paragraphs are really not that important, so it should be easier to understand from here). Studies have been done that show human hearing is most sensitive between 2,000 Hz and 5,000 Hz (some studies show between 3,000 Hz and 4,000 Hz). Instead of showing the Spectral Analysis plot, I have simplified the plot into a curve that represents the general character of the sound. And for each 1,000 Hz band of frequency I have tied these sections to the colors of the rainbow. So Red represents 0 Hz to 1,000 Hz. Orange is from 1,000 Hz to 2,000 Hz. Yellow, Green, and Blue go from 2,000 Hz up to 5,000 Hz, and then Indigo and Violet are above 5,000 Hz.
While I have a lot of red and orange in my sound, I'm getting quite a bit of yellow, which is just inside the magic region for human hearing.
This next plot shows what the general character of sound would be for a young student and for a professional orchestral trumpet player.
The pro has a full spectrum of colors in that sweet spot for human hearing which means that the sound will carry to the back of the hall easily. The student has all of the energy in the fundamental and the overtones are so weak that the sound will not get past the front of the stage. I will simply call this sound "The Red Rainbow".
What we really want is a full spectrum of colors (well into the sweet spot for human hearing) for every note that we play. This is a great example of a sound that rings to the back of the hall from the ballet Spartacus by Khachaturian with Alexey Popov from the Mariinsky Theater:
There is no microphone for amplification in this recording. The principal trumpet is simply burying the orchestra (beginning at about 50 seconds)! You can't do that with a Red Rainbow sound. You need the full spectrum, rich in overtones to get the sound out like he does!
What I really like about the Spectral Analysis tool is that it gives a very clear picture of the shape of a players sound. There is an excellent quote from Dr. Bernard Lown (inventor of the defibrillator) that seems very appropriate for this topic. "Only those who see the invisible can do the impossible". This Spectral Analysis tool allows each of us to literally see the invisible giving a deeper insight into one aspect of a great sound.
A complex sound is one that has strength in many overtones, especially above 2,000 Hz. To achieve this sound, a player needs to have the flexibility to place the note where it aligns with the trumpet and the right kind of strength to maintain great vibration throughout the range of the instrument.
The purpose of this topic is to get many players to post an image of their sound on a Low Bb which should allow just about everyone to see significant strength in many overtones - stronger than the fundamental. As we move up an octave, and request images for the 3rd line Bb, many players will start to experience the Red Rainbow. Getting to the final Bb above the staff, will narrow the field even more, and the Red Rainbow will be the most common shape to our collective sounds.
A have a few more thoughts on finding and developing a sound that is vibrant and rich in overtones, but this is plenty for now.
A number of years ago, Pat Harbison wrote a fantastic post in the Bill Adam forum that I think is worth sharing here:
Quote:
For an Adam Student a "great sound" is one that has all of the harmonic spectrum present and balanced in the tone. When I play my long tones I feel like I am developing the fundamental and overtones in my trumpet sound as if I were standing in front of a brass choir tuning and balancing the notes of a chord until it sounds absolutely perfect. A great sound is both "bright" and "dark". The full harmonic spectrum is present in every note. This is what is called resonance, center, core, and a dozen other nebulous terms by different people.
While I wish I had the ability to hear and balance the overtones like Pat describes in his post, I know that I have made significant progress in this area over the years. While there are many ways to play long tones (steadiness of sound, crescendo followed by decrescendo to explore dynamic extremes, mf to a whisper to explore response, etc.), taking an occasional snapshot with Audacity while playing long tones to see and balance the overtones (moving away from the Red Rainbow) may help those of us who aren't hearing as vividly as Pat. But, once we find the point where the sound jumps out of the horn, and see it in the Spectral Plots from Audacity, it will help to know what to listen for to get the "great sound...that has all of the harmonic spectrum present and balanced in the tone." _________________ Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest
Last edited by Derek Reaban on Fri Feb 08, 2019 8:26 pm; edited 1 time in total
I like your rainbow analogy.
I am going to start using that.
You wanted to be better at adjusting resonance.
There are 3 main things that suppress resonance.
(Facial tension, lip curl, mouthpiece pressure.)
We all use some of these things but most players cross the line and allow too much of them and they lose lots of resonance.
The 2 main things that add resonance are increasing the aperture tunnel to allow the soft tissue to get the ripples and using a forceful forward push for the anchor tongue rest position. The variations of usage of those 2 things can give 100 different amounts of resonance.
Both extremely easy to learn. I add them to players toolkits everyday. _________________ Clint 'Pops' McLaughlin
You can always Google me.
50 years Teaching. Teaching and writing trumpet books is ALL I do.
7,000 pages of free music. Trumpet Books, Skype Lessons:www.BbTrumpet.com
I'm glad you liked the rainbow example. I knew I needed to make this as simple to understand as possible, and when I figured out how to get rid of the complicated looking plot for a colorful curve, I felt like that would be a winner.
My youngest son helped me with parts of this project (taking the pictures of my recording set up and pushing the play button for me). When I told all 3 of my trumpet playing boys about the red rainbow they thought it was a really good example. When my youngest son asked about the colorful curves that I put together, I showed him my curve and then told him that my friend Jim Benitez would be the pro curve and since he has heard both of us many times he agreed with the picture! That tells me that I got it right! He asked what I thought his sound curve would look like, and I'm guessing that since he has practiced with me for a number of years now his would be similar in shape to mine. I might have to get a plot set up of him and post it to the Baseline folder.
I adopted dorsal tonguing about 10 years ago, and this clearly helped the vibrancy in my sound. When I started working out of Special Studies for Trumpet by John Daniel, this gave me the additional push that I needed to find much more resonance in my sound. Doing the right kind of exercises (which aren't that hard to learn) from John's book over the past three years have made all of my playing much easier with far more trumpet content in the sound.
Seeing what my sound looks like today through Audacity versus the sound experiment I did 10 years ago has made me a real believer that anyone can find that great symphonic sound with enough dedicated practice using the right exercises. _________________ Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest
Joined: 26 May 2006 Posts: 1807 Location: Toronto, Canada
Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 11:33 am Post subject:
I'll freely admit to having an inadequate understanding of the acoustics involved, and realize this could be an unworkable idea, but I'd be really interested to see how some past major players would compare. Rafael Mendez springs to mind - maybe sourced from his recording of the Arban single tongue exercises?
Thanks for your post. I did a little research and found a good 3rd line Bb from the Arban tonguing exercises and posted the plot in the Benchmark folder. It's been a long time since I have listened to that recording. What great playing! Makes me want to play through the whole set of exercises! Maybe next weekend. _________________ Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
