Tone quality is one of many things that sets the great musicians apart from the mediocre. Whether playing on a brass or woodwind instrument, improving your tone quality should be one of your highest priorities. A musician can have the best technique in the world, but if their tone quality is poor, no one will want to listen. One of the most telling anecdotal stories related to tone quality is the story of the high school musician, trying out for his all-state honor band, who missed a note or two in his audition yet was still accepted because his tone quality far surpassed that of the other students. The quality of your tone is what defines you as a musician. How do you improve it?
Good tone quality begins with good listening
The first step in developing a good tone is to learn what a good tone really sounds like for your instrument. Buy a CD or two of music being played on your instrument. Find a performer and a style of music that you can relate to and then study what the instrument sounds like when it is being played correctly by that musician. Then turn around and record yourself playing some music. Listen to both and compare the two. Chances are that you will find the tone quality of the professional musician is much more open sounding and focused than yours. Beginning brass players tend to sound very airy or pinched. Beginning woodwind players tend to be more harsh and abrasive. Once you can hear the difference you can start to improve!
Improving Your Tone Quality
The best thing anyone can do is to take lessons from a professional that has played on your instrument for years and has studied with other great musicians. That teacher will be able to pass on to you dozens of tricks and practice techniques to help you find your ideal tone. In the absence of a professional teacher, here are some general statements that can help you improve on your own.
- Use more air! In general, beginners almost never use enough air support. The lack of sufficient air support is one of the most common causes of bad tone quality. On brass instruments you are trying to make your lips vibrate at a certain frequency. There are only two ways to do it, either through pinching the muscles around your lips or by pushing more and faster air through the lips. If you don't use enough air your tone will sound pinched. Use too much air and not enough lip pressure and you will sound airy.
- Use good equipment! For woodwind instruments your mouthpiece and the reed are incredibly important. A cheap mouthpiece will sound... Cheap! A cheap or worn out reed will likewise sound cheap as well. Once you have a good quality mouthpiece and reed, make sure that you have the ligature set correctly. Placing the ligature too high or to low on the mouthpiece can affect your tone quality as well as make it difficult to play.
Chad Criswell - Chad Criswell is a professional educator and freelance technology writer for numerous online and print publications throughout the United ...
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