In Rock Camp and Jazz Workshop our music summer camp in Long Island, Bridgehampton, and Lebanon, New Jersey, we focus on what makes a great sound on your instrument. Whether you are a pianist, guitarist, drummer, singer, or whatever your instrument is, your sound is your what makes your music unique to you.
Often times many teachers will focus on the “what.” This is the scale that works over this harmony, and that is something we need to know, but there is something more important than that, your sound. Your sound or your voice on your instrument is what draws the listener closer to the music. It is something unique to you and something that should be developed side by side with learning music techniques, harmony, and rhythm.
So how does one work on one’s sound? For wind instruments, saxophone, flute, trumpet, etc…, you will focus on your breath and embouchure paying attention to things like vibrato, and your approach to how you play the note (legato, staccato). For pianists, guitarists, bassists, and drummers we pay attention to playing without tension, your attack (how you strike the note, thinking like a drummer), the position of your body and how that can change your sound.
Working on one’s sound is a process that takes place over time, and just having that awareness will help you create a sound that is personal and unique to you, a voice that expresses all you have to say in music!
Here are a few examples of musicians with distinct voices on their instruments.