Anyway, standing in the way of acceptance are the facts that musicians
have
highly developed myths and legends about their playing setups and are
notoriously slow to accept change. In that respect, instrumentalists'
belief systems can give any organized religion a run for its money.
<<<
I know very well one of the better professional clarinet players
around, and she tells me that the new composite clarinets are very
good but not quite equal yet.
In the music world, we are trained to hear. One of the hardest things
to do is to honestly hear yourself as others do. Our aural concept of
what we ought to be sounding like at that moment is so strong that it
often overrides what sounds we are actually producing. You can play
with this problem/issue simply by recording your voice and listening
to the playback. I don't need to say more...
So, in the music world, hearing is believing, just like seeing is
believing for everyone else. The problem is that hearing, I hazard to
guess even more so than seeing, is an issue of what we want to hear,
not what we really hear. Just at this moment, were you aware of your
office's air conditioning, of outside traffic, or, do you notice it
now because I mention it?
Certainly audiophiles with their mysticisms about cabling and speakers
lose me, but then I have the excuse that the typical professional
musician has the worst sound system in town!
How to quantify sounds impassionately, what harmonics to pay attention
to, especially given the change of timbre over short periods of time,
is very difficult. Though, I have used a computer based spectrum
analyzer with my students from time to time. It can quickly show the
results of too much mouthpiece pressure, pinched embouchure, and the
like, before it becomes easily discernable to the ear. The same is
true in real performance - you can tell just before a note is cracked
that it is going to happen by the change in tone.
As to Monette trumpets, you know he got his start in Salem Oregon.
Back in those days you could walk into his shop and play with his
creations. He had a tuba that was stretched out straight, so that
when you played it, the delayed sound made you jump. He had a trumpet
that was so paper thin you could stick your finger through it. It
really came alive somewhere far above high C...