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Thread: Bell Position When Soloing

  1. #1

    Bell Position When Soloing

    I was just wondering what everybody thought about their bell position when they solo.

    Lately I've been trying to basically shove my bell in the audience's face for clarity's sake but I've seen a lot of player's these days playing with their bodies facing the audience and their bells either sideways or straight up.

    What say you?

    -John

  2. Bell Position When Soloing

    some of that may have to do with the horn. For example when i play a wilson its more angled from my body, and also has more of a forward bias than when i play a yamaha or my besson FWIW


  3. Bell Position When Soloing

    I stand with my body virtually flush to the audience/music stand slightly to my left, but that's because I am happy with the angle of my bell while standing that way. Earlier on, before I moved my horn to that position, I felt I had to angle a little to get the bell out to the audience. Problem with this is my back would be somewhat turned away from my accompanist when playing with piano.

  4. Bell Position When Soloing

    This is an interesting question. I think it depends on your preference. Usually, I play with my bell facing the audience so that they get the full sound. On the flip side, it is important to consider that performing also has a visual component. An audience member's impression of your playing can change depending on whether they see your face or not.

    I also think that this is something performers should be flexible with depending on the situation. In a small recital hall, it probably isn't necessary for the audience to get a face full of euphonium. In that sort of intimate setting, it would probably be nice for them to see the performer's face. When soloing with a 100 piece orchestra in a huge concert hall, I think most would tend to point the bell out to get as much projection as possible.

  5. #5

    Bell Position When Soloing

    The answers so far are good, but I will add one more consideration. Whatever your "all else being equal" method of pointing the bell, you need to consider the possible reflective surfaces around you.

    For example, in the hall we used at the Coast Guard Academy, the ceiling above the front of the stage came down at about a 45-degree angle for 10 feet or so. That means if you stand in a normal manner with the horn roughly parallel to the front of the stage, the bell points right up at that hard reflective surface, and the sound will bounce down directly at the audience. But it is not only your rich tone that gets reflected; any fuzz, pops, etc. that find their way out the bell will be bounced down really efficiently. This is because those are higher frequencies and are well-reflected by a hard surface. Higher frequencies need a direct path to be heard well, while lower frequencies do not (as much). So in this hall, I always rotated slightly counter-clockwise so my bell pointed somewhat into the hall and missed that 45-degree surface.

    You might also have hard surfaces on your right side, which would encourage you to point front a bit more. Think church & stained glass, for example.

    I tried once in a recital to point more toward to back of the stage, thinking it would mellow the sound (which fit the piece I was playing). Well, it did mellow out the sound, but it also took away too much clarity, even for the lyrical piece I was doing at the time.

    Any time you have the chance, ask someone to go out into the hall and listen as you try different passages while pointing different directions. You might start to get a feel for what works best for your playing.

    Also, the larger the bell, the more diffuse the sound (in general). Meaning if you play a big euphonium with a 12" bell, you might benefit more from pointing a bit more toward the audience. A smaller bell might get away with (or benefit from) not pointing out quite as much.

    Dave Werden (ASCAP)
    Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
    Adams Artist (Adams E3)
    Alliance Mouthpiece (DC3)
    YouTube: dwerden
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  6. Bell Position When Soloing

    I certainly second Mr. Werden's advice.

    Especially in churches, my experience is to try to stand under the dome as much as possible, even my Besson International sounds like a Sterling Virtuoso then ...




  7. #7
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    Bell Position When Soloing

    If playing with a piano accompanist, I'm concerned more with being able to make eye contact with him or her. If front of the band, I stand on the director's left and angled slightly inward so the bell does point out to the audience.

    It makes sense to consider the ceiling and it's reflective surface and/or angle. I'm playing this Sunday in church - but thankfully the ceiling is very high at about 50', so the angle or reflection isn't a problem.

    First Presbyterian Church, North Palm Beach, FL
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    Rick Floyd
    Miraphone 5050 - Warburton BJ / RF mpc
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    "Always play with a good tone, never louder than lovely, never softer than supported." - author unknown.
    Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches
    El Cumbanchero (Raphael Hernandez, arr. Naohiro Iwai)
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  8. #8

    Bell Position When Soloing

    I think reiterating most folk......

    I stand in front of the band by the priciple cornet and soprano (traditional band set up) to the conductors left & aim my bell out towards the center of the audience / largest upward space. So I'm 45 degrees between the audience and the conductor so I can keep an eye on him!

    YD
    Current Euphs:
    York Eminence
    Boosey & Hawkes Sovereign (Round Stamp/ Globe)
    Boosey & Hawkes Imperial
    Plus an attic of old classics in various states of repair!
    Previous Euphs:

    Besson Prestige (German)
    Geneva Symphony
    Wilson 2900 with Eminence leadpipe
    Sterling Virtuoso (300 mm heavy red brass bell)
    Cortios 167 II
    'Gob Iron': Doug Elliott Euph 104 I 9s (plus a few others!)


  9. Bell Position When Soloing

    some of that may have to do with the horn. For example when i play a wilson its more angled from my body, and also has more of a forward bias than when i play a yamaha or my besson FWIW


  10. Bell Position When Soloing

    Dave makes a very good point... it is very important to consider the reflective surfaces around you, angle yourself properly so that you are working with the acoustics of whatever performance space you're in, etc... But, I generally tend to go along with what Rick said. When I solo the biggest thing that I usually consider is my angle and line of sight in relation to my accompanist or conductor. With a piano I stand usually just slightly outside of the crook of the piano so that my accompanist is seated to my right. The disadvantage to this is that my bell is usually pointing a little bit away from the audience, but the good thing is that my accompanist is in my line of sight so it helps my accompanist and I communicate better (this is my least favorite way to stand when performing solo, it probably doesn't sound as good as it could from the audience's perspective). When performing solo with any type of ensemble, I stand to the conductor's left and generally facing towards him/her. With this setup my bell is pointing right at the audience (which i really like) and it is very easy to communicate with the conductor.

    Performing solo in churches (especially churches that have lots of reverb) can be an entirely different animal. If your church has a lot of reverb then I might suggest to try and keep the bell as much towards the audience as possible. I say this because I think that with a lot of reverb you need to try help the audience to be hear your sound as soon as it come out of your bell instead of experiencing your sound a second or two later as it reverbs back to them (which can very easily happen if your bell is pointing behind the altar or pointing too high up into the dome). If the audience experiences the sound too late in the reverb then it can sound fuzzy, blended together, articulations will be lost, etc.
    Here's an example of what I did during a dress rehearsal and then fixed in time for the recital...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxOBmHMSMm8

    This video is from the dress rehearsal a day or two before a recital that I played a year or two ago at the church in Massachusetts where I was employed for a number of years. While I was mostly happy with the warmth and general quality of my sound in the church, I changed the angle of the piano and the angle at which I was standing AFTER watching this video a few times (wish I knew before...) so that the audience could experience my sound a little more directly and have a bit more clarity than what you are hearing in the video.
    Thats just my two cents (it might be more like a quarter from the lenght of this post... haha)
    Gregory E. Lopes
    Euphonium player
    US Navy Band Great Lakes
    US Navy Music Program, 2009-Present

    Besson Prestige 2052

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