Posted by Steve Dedman on December 16, 2000 at 11:26:28:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: More orchestral questions... posted by Bill on December 16, 2000 at 10:04:25:
..."and get not only your mouth but also your sinus cavities working on resonating the tone. Why this causes the tuba to resonate, I don't really know but it seems to work."
I don't know for sure, but I have a theory based upon studies in speech and theatre, particularly voice and diction exercises. Those of you with any vocal music training will recognize some of this, and it transfers to instrumental playing very well.
When the body is used to produce vocal sound, it is at its most effective when the body's natural resonators are utilized. These include the sinuses, the skull, the throat, and the chest. Patrick Stewart is not a particularly large man, but I think we can all agree that he has a huge resonance in his speech. This is why you will hear actors warming up with all kinds of strange, alien sounds. They're getting their voice keenly attuned to their internal resonators to produce the maximum vocal projection. Singers do the same thing with their musical warm ups, as we should be doing when we are warming up. We are taught to concentrate on the sound and the intonation while warming up, but those two things are both very dependent on the body's resonators working in tandem with the instrument, and here's where my theory comes in (this may have been proven elsewhere, and I'm sure I didn't think of it all on my lonesome).
When the lips vibrate, those vibrations are not only projected through the horn, the are transmitted back into the body's resonators through the teeth and jaw. When the vibrations in the body are focussed through the horn, with the embochure acting as the lens, the body's resonance acts upon the horn's natural resonance (caused by the physics of the metal, and about which I am fairly ignorant), and enhances it. It's also been my experience that the vast majority of players that have a great sound can also sing with a vocal resonance that would indicate a much higher level of vocal training than has actually been received.
Just my theory, but I'm certainly no Einstein. Now if I can just figure out how to get my sound to the point that this will actually help me sound better.
Steve