05 Jun 2010, 9:42 pm
05 Jun 2010, 9:44 pm
05 Jun 2010, 9:51 pm
AngelRho
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05 Jun 2010, 9:57 pm
auntblabby wrote:
pschristmas wrote:
auntblabby wrote:
neither is better than the other, just different- and each contributes much to the total sound.
True, it's just my preference.
I just don't care for the reeded instruments very much. There's something about the sound that just sets my teeth on edge, like there's a buzzing to it, even in the more mellow instruments like clarinets. It's the same feeling I used to get in software stores before everything went to CD-ROM. I know, weird.
you might find it an interesting variation, that some folk play their woodwind instruments with brass mouthpieces, ala a serpent. i heard an old sun ra jazz piece featuring a bassoonist who used a trombone mouthpiece on his bassoon. it sounded weird. my band teacher in junior high school demonstrated a contrabass tuba with a baritone sax mouthpiece and reed. it sounded weirder.
That's difficult to do. Brass instruments have a fixed overtone series with each varying length of pipe. Even though reeds have harmonic nodes just like strings do, they are still typically limited to a single fundamental frequency. Brass instruments are capable of resonating at a large number of harmonically-related frequencies, so it isn't likely you're going to get much out of playing a brass instrument with a reeded mouthpiece.
Placing a brass mouthpiece on a woodwind instrument gets the opposite effect since lip and air pressure allows the player to adjust the center frequency of the lips to match the resonant frequency of the instrument (I can play a clarinet like a brass instrument by taking off the mouthpiece, for example, and just blow through the barrel). I don't know about saxophone, but I do know that it is possible at least on the clarinet to tune/detune formants. This is possible because the clarinet is an open pipe, meaning that tongue placement and control over throat muscles can greatly increase the length of the resonating pipe, hence lowering the pitch of overtones, altering intonation, and allowing for pitch manipulations in the upper registers. Think Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, CLASSIC example, as well as any Dixieland clarinetist. Another advantage the clarinet has over other instruments is its organization of harmonics--odd-numbered harmonics ONLY. This allows for wider leaps than other instruments as well as greater sliding dexterity than an instrument such as the trombone.
Circular breathing is easier on reed instruments.
Clarinets have wider timbre variation without making changes to the instrument itself than brass, who are only able to vary timbre by using mutes.
Multiphonics are EASILY accomplished on reed instruments, as are quarter-tones.
Music for woodwind instruments is more often the most innovative, progressive, and INTERESTING.
There are more electronic instruments modeled after woodwind instruments, such as the Akai EWI (though there is a mode that uses brass fingerings), the Yamaha WX series, and the now-ancient Lyricon.
auntblabby
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05 Jun 2010, 9:57 pm
05 Jun 2010, 10:05 pm
AngelRho wrote:
That's difficult to do. Brass instruments have a fixed overtone series with each varying length of pipe. Even though reeds have harmonic nodes just like strings do, they are still typically limited to a single fundamental frequency. Brass instruments are capable of resonating at a large number of harmonically-related frequencies, so it isn't likely you're going to get much out of playing a brass instrument with a reeded mouthpiece.
Peter Schickele calls it a tromboon and says it sounds like "a sick cow."
tromboon
auntblabby
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07 Jun 2010, 12:16 am
pschristmas wrote:
Peter Schickele calls it a tromboon and says it sounds like "a sick cow."
what a WEIRD sound! there are also saxobones and saxophoniums and double-reeded sax-like horns called sarrusophones that sound like a cross between a contrabassoon and a bass saxophone. i would really love to hear a tuba played with a contrabassoon reed, that would be really different. it seems to work best with the reed playing the brass horn rather than the other way 'round, as serpents and other brass mouthpiece hybrids with woodwind instruments sounds lip-buzzy to me, an almost flatulant sound.
07 Jun 2010, 9:41 am
MattTheTubaGuy
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07 Jun 2010, 10:43 pm
tromboon sounds funny!! !! 
as I am a brass player, I will pick brass, and brass isn't all about playing loudly.
search "Canadian Brass - "Echo" Glory of Gabrieli" in youtube and click on the first video.
also listen to the middle movement of the Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto for the tuba at its best. (I am actually going to play this in August!)
For epicness, search Janacek's Sinfonietta. 9 trumpets, 2 bass trumpets, two euphoniums, and timpani, plus large orchestra.
Also in Janacek's sinfonietta is lots of the fantastic woodwind. I love the sound of the various woodwind instruments, and they rival the brass, but I think brass wins out in the end.
07 Jun 2010, 11:00 pm
Brass hands down.
AngelRho wrote:
Depth? Oh you mean LOUD. I mean, that's great and all. But woodwinds OWN brass and strings when it comes to dynamic contrast. It's a little thing called "expression" and "artistry." Perhaps you've heard of it. 
Oh, it's on.
I know you clarinetists have "brass envy" because you can't produce any significant amount of sound, but brass players can vary our dynamics quite a bit.Quote:
BAND WAR!! !! !
OK...
Brass instruments are for wanna-be tough guys who couldn't make the football team.
Unlike brass instruments, with their cute buttons and slides, woodwinds require something brass instruments will never have: SKILL.
Real men play reeds.
OK...
Brass instruments are for wanna-be tough guys who couldn't make the football team.
Unlike brass instruments, with their cute buttons and slides, woodwinds require something brass instruments will never have: SKILL.
Real men play reeds.
Brass instruments are for real men who appreciate the depth and power that they can produce.
Skill? Brass instruments are much more challenging to play. As a low brass player especially, it is important to consider that there are actually pretty high physical requirements to be able to play well. Bass trombone is my primary (I also dabble in euphonium and tuba) and you have to have an inhuman lung capacity to play bass trombone properly. And then you have to work much more carefully for intonation, because trombone (like the string instruments) puts control of intonation completely in the musician's hands, rather than babying you with all the silly buttons woodwinds have.
Even better, trombone (unlike your feeble clarinet) is capable of using the just tuning system, which sounds much better than equal temperament. A group of trombones playing perfectly in tune and producing resultant tones is the most beautiful sound on Earth.
Quote:
Clarinets have wider timbre variation without making changes to the instrument itself than brass, who are only able to vary timbre by using mutes.
There are a lot more ways to vary timbre without using mutes.
Quote:
Multiphonics are EASILY accomplished on reed instruments, as are quarter-tones.
Quarter-tones? You want to compare your ability to do that on a clarinet with my trombone? With the continuous variation allowed by the slide, I can produce any arbitrary pitch, not limited to half- and quarter-tones.
07 Jun 2010, 11:59 pm
auntblabby
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08 Jun 2010, 12:47 am
auntblabby
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08 Jun 2010, 12:48 am
AngelRho
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08 Jun 2010, 11:22 pm
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