Long time no blog. I really need to make a note to write updates more often!
Yesterday, I was in the Royal Albert Hall in London, to catch the last part of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra's rehearsal of Haydn and Strauss before meeting up with the 7-strong percussion section. The music I heard was quite beautiful and haunting, but that was soon to be replaced with the clashing of cymbals and the pinging of triangles - sometimes several at once!
This often happens when I show instruments to a group of people, and it does amuse me. It's not so bad with triangles, but with cymbals, in a small room, several people all trying them out at once is quite cacophonous and I'm sure each player can't really hear in proper detail the instrument they are checking out. Waiting and taking turns is better, but I can't fault the enthusiasm to hear the sounds!
That said, the Austrians didn't all go at the cymbals together; just the triangles, and just at first. I am very grateful for their feedback and opinions on my work. Every orchestra has its own "house sound". The triangle they currently use is 20-year old stock, no longer produced, found in the back of a dusty music store - the culmination of a long search. It was nice that 3 of my offerings also made the cut - one Brass and two high-carbon Steel hand-forged triangles. Plus a further two, much smaller Bronze ones for operatic works.
Comparing my clash cymbals with theirs was most instructive - and amusing that the pair they considered very bright were considered "really quite dark" by American symphony players back in May. As I said, every orchestra has its own tastes!
So, how can I refine my orchestral cymbals based on such contrasting feedback? Well, there were still common themes coming out - things I hadn't heard in the cymbals myself. Time to train my ears more, maybe pull in some Fourier analysis too. Onwards and upwards!
