How to Make the Right Sound - About Tone Color

How do I make the right sound?

How do I sound like the big symphony players I hear? 

Do I need special equipment? A huge body? Big lung capacity?
These are some of the most vexing problems in learning to play.

How do we know what sound to make when it is different to me than it is to the audience?

If you sit next to a horn player on stage and listen to them then move to the audience you will be amazed at how different it sounds. If you move around the hall it will sound different in every spot.

Then what sound is ‘right?’

What Influences Your Sound

• Your body, throat and mouth
• The mouthpiece
• The leadpipe
• The cylindrical section
• The bell branch
• Your right hand
• Your clothes
• The room
• The listener’s ear and the listener’s brain

It’s affected by what other sounds are being made and the textures of the surfaces of the room.

So what does matter

• The sound is clear and in tune.
• Volume and pitch are generally brick shaped yet conform to the phrase
• The air is being controlled from around and below the belly button

That’s about it.

Airy and fuzzy sounds don’t travel far so they shouldn’t worry you too much, as long as you are breathing correctly and the notes are shaped correctly.

Tone Color

A much more important concept for us to pay attention to is tone color.  Think of it as how bright and shiny or warm and dull your sound is.

It’s great to be able to change tone color while making music, but for these exercises try to keep a clear, bright tone color at all times.

In Exercise #1 the goal is to try to get all the notes to have the same tone color as the first note. If you play the three note pattern and the third note has a different tone color then something is changing that doesn’t need to change or that note is out of tune and that makes the color change. In any case it indicates that something is moving that doesn’t need to.

A great way to get a feel for breathing from Place #6 is to practice decrescendos without letting the tone color change. If the sound gets dark and dull as you get quiet then you are not doing it right. If you keep the tone bright and straight while decrescendoing.

What will make tone color change when doing the exercises

• Shallow breathing, controlled from too high up
• The air support sagging, especially at the end of notes
• Excessive movement of the jaw
• Movement in the tongue near the molars
• Tension in the tongue or cheeks

It can be difficult to tell when we are playing. It helps to have another player listen to figure what might be causing a problem.

Being able to control your tone color is a huge part of Left Coast Horn Playing. We work on it every day.

In General

We are in no way saying that this is how you should always sound but for these drills it helps to keep a bright shiny sound because that’s when the air is used most efficiently.

These exercises are to gain strength, efficiency and control, not to define a playing style. That is separate.

It’s easy to hear a bad tone color. Almost always the root of the problem is controlling the breath too high, making it weak and wobbly.