Hyper-specializing in Saxophone Using Acoustical Insight and Deep Listening Skills

212 Pages·2019·10.863 MB·English

by  Jonas Braasch

Current Research in Systematic Musicology
Jonas Braasch
Hyper-specializing
in Saxophone
Using Acoustical
Insight and Deep
Listening Skills
Current Research in Systematic Musicology
Volume 6
Series Editors
Rolf Bader, Musikwissenschaftliches Institut, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg,
Germany
Marc Leman, University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium
Rolf-Inge Godoy, Blindern, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
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Systematic Musicology,—Musical Acoustics, which covers the whole range of
instrument building and improvement, Musical Signal Processing and Music
InformationRetrieval,modelsofacousticalsystems,SoundandStudioProduction,
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Systematic Musicology.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11684
Jonas Braasch
Hyper-specializing
in Saxophone Using
Acoustical Insight and Deep
Listening Skills
123
Jonas Braasch
Cognitive andImmersive Systems
Laboratory,School ofArchitecture
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy,NY, USA
ISSN 2196-6966 ISSN 2196-6974 (electronic)
CurrentResearch in Systematic Musicology
ISBN978-3-030-15045-7 ISBN978-3-030-15046-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15046-4
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Preface
In the summer of 2010, I started to experiment with new sounds on my soprano
saxophone by attaching a cornet mouthpiece to it with a crude self-built adapter.
Over time, I built more and more mouthpiece adapters for my saxophone and I
started to learn to play the soprano saxophone as a brass instrument, a flute, a
double-reedinstrument,andasafree-reedinstrument.Iwrotemyexperiencesdown
in this book, which includes instructions to build some of these adapters, general
performanceguidelines,exercises,andsamplesongsforeachadapter.Iplannedto
write this book for a long time,butit took a while for meto play these instrument
variations at the proficiency level I believed would be needed to make it a mean-
ingfulcontribution.Thebookintroducesanewwindinstrumentphilosophy,which
Icallhyper-specialization.Usingthisconcept,theperformerextendsherinstrument
to such a degree that it takes on new qualities such as would usually be expected
only from switching between instruments. The Circle of Sounds is introduced as a
subsequent method to develop a character profile for each of the individual
instrumentvariations.Themethodfocusesontheabilitytoproduce alarge variety
of sounds with a single wind instrument to enable a performer to adapt to many
musical situations.
ThisbookwouldnothavebeenpossiblewithoutthesupportIreceivedoverthe
years from mentors, friends, and collaborators who helped me to develop the
interdisciplinary expertise needed to write this book. I started to learn tenor saxo-
phonein1985withGünterBraunsteinafterhavingstudiedtherecorderfromearly
childhoodon.Günterwastheidealinstructortoteachthefundamentalsofjazzand
classicalsaxophone.Hewasverysystematicandcompleteinhisapproachandalso
greatatmotivatinghisstudentstopractice.Inthe1980s,Ialsolearnedmanythings
about music performance from István Nagy, who was the principal piano and
composition teacher at our local music school in Marl, Germany. With him, I
studiedandperformednotatedclassicalavant-gardeduosforpianoandsaxophone.
Later in the 1990s, I had a saxophone/piano duo with Matthias Scheffel. It was
Matthias’influencethatledmetolearntoimproviseatthebordersofmodernjazz
andclassicalmusic.Intraditionaljazz,IhadtheopportunitytoplaywiththeHerbie
Klingertrio(HerbieKlinger,guitar;StefanWerni,Bass,LotharWantia,drums)on
v
vi Preface
a weekly basis for a longer period of time. After the sessions, we would listen to
Herbie’s extensive vinyl jazz collection—often into the early mornings.
In 1994, I met Jens Blauert, who taught me the fundamentals of acoustics and
helped me to improve my ability to think critically—especially with regard to
humanperception.Inparticular,thegroundbreakingworkonproductsoundquality
he conducted with Ute Jekosch helped me to address many concepts in this book.
I completed my Ph.D. degree in communication acoustics with Jens in 2001, and
we played a lot of jazz together in our institute band during my time at the
Ruhr-University Bochum. Christian Ahrens served as my adviser for my Ph.D.
thesisinmusicologyonfree-reedstopsinpipeorgans.FromChristian,Ilearnedto
address problems from the perspective of a musicologist by trying to understand
musicaldevelopmentsfromahistoricalperspective.Ialsotookanumberofcourses
inethnomusicologywithhim,whichgavemetheprivilegeoflearningaboutmany
fascinating indigenous cultures. Without the mentorship I received over the years
from Christian, it would not have been possible for me to write this book.
Another transformative experience for me was meeting and working with
Pauline Oliveros over the course of 10 years at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
whereweoftenplayedtogetherinourtrioTriplePointwithDougVanNortasour
third member. Pauline had the unique ability to teach by listening and thus gave
people the intellectual space to discover things themselves. Her concept of Deep
Listening is one of the central theories underlying my book. In 2015, Pauline
suggested that I take the Deep Listening Certificate Course. I am still amazed at
howthiscoursecarriedmeawayfromtraditionalthinking.Withinthiscourse,Iwas
able to discover many new things, in particular about dreaming from Pauline’s
partnerIone(CaroleLewis),andaboutmybodyandmovementfromHeloiseGold.
Within the Deep Listening course, I chose the adapted mouthpieces for the saxo-
phone as my project topic, and this project is now the central theme of this book.
When Pauline passed away in November 2016 at age 84, I suddenly felt the
immediateurgetowritemyideasdown,andthebookyouholdinyourhandsisthe
result of this urge.
In addition to the immense gratitude I owe to my mentors, I would also like to
acknowledgefurthersupportIreceivedwhilewritingthisbook.M.TorbenPastore,
David Dahlbom, Mallory Morgan, Nikhil Deshpande, Jonathan Mathews, and
Samuel Chabot assisted in proofreading the manuscript and provided helpful
comments. Financial support for my journey to the Hohle Fels Cave in
Schelklingen, Germany, was provided by a Rensselaer Robert S. Brown
Fellowship. Reiner Blumentritt, chairman of the Museum Society Schelklingen,
enabled me to visit the cave outside the general opening times.
Troy, NY Jonas Braasch
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 Acoustics of the Saxophone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 The Resonator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2.1 The Cylindrical Resonator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2.2 The Conical Resonator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3 The Tone Generator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3.1 General Mechanisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3.2 Acoustical Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.4 Acoustic Coupling of Tone Generator and Resonator System . . . . 26
2.4.1 General Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.4.2 Physical Coupled Reed/Resonator Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.5 The Role of the Vocal Tract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.5.1 Shaping the Instrument’s Timbre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.5.2 Intonation Using Super Formants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.5.3 Articulation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3 Extended Techniques for the Saxophone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.1 Altissimo Range. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.2 Circular Breathing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.3 Singing and Playing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4 Deep Listening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.2 Hearing and Listening. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.2.1 General Definitions and Background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.2.2 Focal and Global Listening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.2.3 Auditory Scene Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.2.4 Transparent and Fused Music Ensembles . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.3 Intuitive Listening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
vii
viii Contents
4.3.1 Intuitive Approach to Music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.3.2 Embodiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4.3.3 Enauditioning Situations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.4 Listening and Understanding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.4.1 Background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.4.2 Sound Quality and Assigning Meaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.4.3 Breaking Cultural Conventions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4.5 Creating and Adapting to Musical Situations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4.5.1 The Freedom of Shared Responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4.5.2 The New Virtuoso Performer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
5 Grafted Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
5.2 Historical Background on the Saxophone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5.3 The Sarrusophone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
5.3.1 Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
5.3.2 Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
5.3.3 General Playing Instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
5.3.4 Songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
5.4 The Cornett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
5.4.1 Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
5.4.2 On the Use of the Saxophone as a Cornett . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.4.3 Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
5.4.4 Embouchure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
5.4.5 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
5.4.6 Cornett Repertoire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
5.5 Rim Flute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.5.1 Historical Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.5.2 Mouthpiece Adapter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5.5.3 General Playing Instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.5.4 Daily Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
5.5.5 Songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.6 Didjeridu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
5.6.1 Historical Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
5.6.2 Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
5.6.3 General Playing Instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
5.7 Bawu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
5.7.1 Classification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
5.7.2 Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
5.7.3 General Playing Instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
5.7.4 Songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Contents ix
5.8 Duduk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
5.8.1 Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
5.8.2 Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
5.8.3 General Playing Instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
5.8.4 Songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
6 The Sonic Circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
6.1 On Diversity and Cultural Equality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
6.2 Tracing Our Ancestral Voices Back to Intuitive and Rational
Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
6.3 Traditional Social Roles for Wind-Instrument Players. . . . . . . . . . 157
6.4 The Sonic Circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
6.5 Practicing Through the Circle of Sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
6.6 Applying Sound Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
6.6.1 Absolute Sound Quality Assessment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
6.6.2 Sound Quality of the Instrument Variations. . . . . . . . . . . . 166
6.6.3 Character Profile Suitability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
6.7 Case Study 1: The Stiff Cow Leads the Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
6.8 Case Study 2: Doppelgaenger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
7 Sound Radiation, Recording, and Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
8 Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
References.... .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 189
Index .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 201