Amazing Worlds of Timbre
Timbre and Orchestration Blog | Timbre Stories
Amazing Worlds of Timbre
By Anonymous Timbral Dreamer
September 14th, 2022
Once upon a time, a little kid started playing a two-stringed bowed instrument. Having already learned the piano for some time, pitch and rhythm were not much of a problem. What intrigued them about this however, is the ease and number of ways they could make the sound of the instrument change. Way easier than on the piano! That excited the little kid more than you could ever imagine. Without knowing, this little kid on a hot tropical island stumbled upon the fascinating world of timbre, not knowing there was a word related to this exciting phenomenon.
The little kid continued playing in the orchestra, and had great fun. But this little kid was also competitive and did love showing off at times. So they worked really hard to make sure the conductor noticed them and gave them solo parts in the orchestra. But what could a little kid do to make their sound stand out from the other little kids playing (hopefully) exactly the same notes? The little kid thought long and hard, and decided, it was how they shaped the sounds that came out of their instrument. So the little kid spent hours trying to get sounds that they liked, out of these same notes other little kids were also playing. Then the little kid realized, it was not just the sound of the body of the notes. It was also how the note started, and ended, and the silences in between. It was the amount of pressure on the fingers, the speed on the bow, and many many other things. It was also how the little kid breathed as they thought about the music, it was how they imagined the sound to be, before it ever came out of the instrument.
Even though the little kid loved showing off, they did enjoy playing together with others in the orchestra as well. In fact, the best memories this little kid has a child were all those times making wondrous sounds together with about fifty other little kids. Those times playing together with others, the little kid had to make their sound fit in together with all those other little kids. All those little kids had to make sure they do similar things, breathe in similar spots, at the same rate, so that the sounds they created could be alike. These little kids also learnt that there were many things one could do with a note. You could make it bouncy, you could make it flat. You could make it fly up in the air, or you could make it splat. (And I promise that's all the rhyming I'm going to do here).
So this is the story of a little kid's introduction to timbre, without even knowing the term for it. This fascination to the amazing world of timbre has never left the little kid, even as they grew up to become not so little anymore.