Bore Size and Blending

[CasbahRocker]

Hi friends! So I am in a band where the directors are very anal about blending with each other, which I understand. But what I am not a fan of is that they don't allow us to play on our own horns. Instead, they provide horns for us. But I really want to use my own. So My question is how well would a medium bore horn like a Martin blend with a medium-large bore horn like the Getzens we play?

[HERMOKIWI]

The sound that comes out of a horn has more to do with the player than it has to do with the horn so there's really no way to answer your question with confident precision. The idea that if everyone plays the same model horn then the section will automatically "blend" and if they play different model horns the section will automatically "not blend" is nonsense.

"Blending" is a highly subjective concept. Basically, if no one "stands out" then the section is "blending." Of course, there are degrees of "standing out" and "blending." Variations in volume alone could create a lack of "blending." Because of the differences in individual players I think that "perfect blending" is, at best, a theory no section reaches.
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HERMOKIWI

[JayKosta]

[Don Herman rev2]

As far as the horn itself, the bell flare has the biggest impact on the sound, and the next big mechanical contributor is the mouthpiece. Bore size is pretty much irrelevant.
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[cheiden]

I think it's a mistake to believe that making all players use the same gear will make them sound the same. But I also feel that this is a bit like moving near the airport and complaining about the noise. If the groups you've joined has a policy of using identical gear there's not much to be done. If you get suitably involved in the management of organization then I suppose you'd be in a position to advocate for a change. Until then I suspect that you need to try to find a way to acclimate to the gear.

FWIW I doubt the bore size is the biggest determination of why those horns would sound and play differently.
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[lipshurt]

yeah thats not now blend works. However there is something to the concept of everyone plying the same model for helping intonation, at least least when playing unison lines. Blend is basically a combination of sound quality matching, volume matching, and also pitch matching, and once say the trumpet section is matched and "blended" then the trumpets have to match and "blend" with the other ensemble sections.

I have been a high school band director for 27years now, and here is how that scene deals with "blend":

1) really most of the time when someone says the blend is bad, its because there are a very few number of players who are
'sticking out" (that is the term they always use) and those ones that are sticking out are often the best players and they might even sound great.

2) if the band is small but balanced and in tune,some people are likely to something about the "blend" because when there are less bodies and music stands on stage you hear each instrument from its precise location on the stage. It's like they thing "blended" and "muffled" or "covered" are all the same good thing. Some directors and "judges" really hate the sound of a brass instrument from the front of the bell, so they have the stands high up, or have the trumpets on the sides facing in as opposed to straight out to Hall.

3) some influencial people in the used to try to get an ensemble to sound like there was one big volume know turning everything up and down "homogenously". That is only good in the very rare instance of the music actually calling for that. If the lines that weave around each other in the music all have different peaks and and valleys etc the music can breath and have a clarity that works great...... and then somebody might say "yeah but the blend was not homogeneous enough. And sometimes that person is respected.

4) There is a school of bandsmanship that strives to have each player stay hidden. That is usually large bands because a smaller band has to go after the music to make the energy. A large band has to try not to be out of control. In a large band if you try to hear yourself like you do in a smaller ensemble like an orchestra brass section you will probably have to over play or bounce off a music stand to hear yourself. That is why that whole "covered" sound concept gets promoted. Its a nice sound, but lower energy and has a "safeness" to it that does not serve many kinds of musical content very well.
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[Andy Del]

[Jazzsoul]

"A physical law is that every oscillatory structure is stimulated by other swinging structures to swing. If we activate the damper pedal of a piano and play with the trumpet in the piano, we hear an echo, the string with the pitch of the played sound resonates. This phenomenon explains something very dramatic: when we play in a reverberant acoustic setting, for example in a cathedral, not only for psychological reasons we play better, but also for physical reasons, because the air in the room stimulates our lips to resonate, by leaning on the backward negative pressure pulse. When we play with others and the intonation is good, then it is a lot easier to play well than alone, because also the harmonics are stimulated to swing, so the notes that you want to play themselves are in the overtone range of others already included."
(Source: Malte Burba - Brass Master Class.)
(Please excuse my bad English, but this was kind of difficult for me to translate from German to English.)

I think this is very important for what is called "blending".

Nils
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