Audio interview of Gene Pokorny

Leland · Post by **Leland** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 2:00 pm

"That's a low G, for all you musicians out there; and for all you non-musicians, it's also a low G."

Funny.

Time to convert this to something usable -- this is an interview worth keeping. Where's the complete version?

Easty621 · Post by **Easty621** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:54 pm

"Most of that air is not being diverted to the brain, it's just going into the insrument. So you end up with a lot of glassy eyed tuba players by the end of a Strauss tone poem."

Wyvern · Post by **Wyvern** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 5:20 pm

I found the Planets example of playing differently from the back of the orchestra very interesting. Food for thought for any budding orchestral player.

Leland · Post by **Leland** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 6:13 pm

Neptune wrote:I found the Planets example of playing differently from the back of the orchestra very interesting. Food for thought for any budding orchestral player.

Food for thought for everybody, I think.

That was something I was working on with my fellow tuba players in college. While watching their recitals & concerts, once I started to listen to only the volume, I noticed that any fast licks sometimes had half the sound output (or less) than the surrounding notes. We found that we needed to "think louder" to get the quick notes to simply sound balanced with the others.

In an ensemble, those notes can get lost really easily. As a listener, one could tell that fast notes were happening, but what they were was a mystery. It's important that they speak clearly enough to become harmonically relevant, support the ensemble and lead the phrase to the end.

It's not quite as important while soloing, but I think it helps provide more drive & direction to the music.