If there is one piece of the brass instrument that gets no respect, but deserves much, it is the water key. Yes, the water key is not called the spit valve. That slang name for it demeans what it does and also how the brass player plays their instrument.
The water key is a relatively simple mechanism, usually similar to the closed pads on a woodwind instrument. The air passes over the hole, but with the spring holding the "pad" closed, it passes by with little disturbance. If it is open (leaking) some of the air will divert out through this opening instead of the bell, making the tone and ease of playing the instrument greatly diminished. This happens because the pad is not covering the hole, or the spring no longer has the tension to keep the pad closed.
Often the pad material is cork or some sort of synthetic rubber, and both work about the same. The cork ones deteriorate quicker, being a natural material, but the synthetic will deform more permanently, making a seal somewhat harder to get until it settles.
The purpose of the water key is to vent the water that collects inside the bore of the instrument. WATER, not spit. The liquid that collects is water. It comes from the humidity inside the breath meeting the colder surface of the metal. It's the same thing as the drops of water on the outside of a cold beverage. When it collects in sufficient quantities, it starts to interrupt the airflow through the instrument. Due to the nature of water, it creates a gurgling affect to the sound, sometimes even a popping noise. Water keys need to be emptied regularly, the frequency is dependent on how "wet a blower" the player is. It is also dependent on how cold the room is the player is in.
In the past decade or so, there have been a few innovations to how water keys work. One of these is a different style called an "Amado" water key, named after the company that started them. They are somewhat harder to explain, as they are a sideways piston that closes the with the side of a piston. I recommend looking them up to see how they sit on the horn. They have no cork or rubber, and are fairly durable. Their primary reason for creation was the idea that the area under the pad is a soldered on piece called a nipple. It acts like the tone hole of a woodwind to give the cork or rubber pad a flat surface to seal. The hole under the nipple is usually smaller than the hole the cork covers, and the theory is that it causes air flow turbulence in this gap, which distorts the sound. While this may be true, the amount of difference these water keys make compared to the traditional water keys is so minimal, if at all, that you would need a spectrum analyzer to truly find a difference. I personally feel that the amount of solder used to hold the bell braces to the bell will have a greater affect on the tone, as that actually will change how well the bell vibrates.
There are other types of water keys, and many others that existed for a short time that didn't work out. Overall, the reason to use one type over another is personal preference. It comes down to which helps you to do the water key's primary job the best. This question is simply, "How well does it help me drain the water from my horn?" If it works for you, it works fine. Any other questions about it are side notes, and if they don't need to change, it won't necessarily help you if you do.
That being said, if you do decide to put on a different type of water key, my only advice is to do it well before any performances. We all have muscle memory about how our instruments work, and if you reach for your water key during a few rest measures at a gig, you need to make sure you have the way your water keys work pre-programed into your hands so you can do it without fumbling. This way you can empty and get back to playing with as little stress or difficulty as possible.
Sunday, December 10, 2017
Sunday, December 3, 2017
Woodwind Tip #6: The Mystery of the Pad, Part 1 (Saxophone)
This one came from a request by a woodwind player, wondering just what makes up pads. I'm going to split this into at least 2 sections, as there's way too much to cover based on different woodwinds to cover in just one post. I'll start with saxophone pads, as they are easier to cover.
Pads became essential for woodwinds once the size of the holes increased beyond the players ability to cover them up with their fingers. This happened for intonation of the notes, as chromatic fingerings weren't really true to pitch without manipulating the air flow in some way to center it, or because the bore size of the instrument meant that the holes were too big and/or too far apart for fingers to work on their own anymore. The pad was born out of necessity, and has evolved to the pads we know now
Despite the variations, there are only two types of pads: Natural or "skin" pads and synthetics. The anatomy of any pad is pretty much the same. There's the backing surface that glues into the key cup, some sort of compressible middle section, and a top surface that meets the tone hole to seal it, which wraps around and glues to the backing surface. In the middle of the top surface, there is usually a hard material to reflect the sound out called a resonator.
For skin pads, the typical line up is a cardboard backing, felt filling, and leather for the surface. For simplicity, I'll refer to the different sections with these general terms. Note the word "typical," There are always exceptions to this formation. Usually the biggest variation for these pads is the surface. Leather, soft feel leather, extra thick leather kangaroo leather (yes, that's right), sheep skin leather, etc. The list goes on and on. The main thing about this surface is that it must seal the tone hole off from leaks when the pad is closed. For the beginner, how the pad "feels" under the fingers when the pad meets the tone hole isn't important, as they don't know what they're feeling for. As they progress, they'll start to notice how spongy or firm they prefer their pads. Yes, there is some credence to the idea that how soft a pad is will affect the tone, as the pad surface is hit by the sound waves and has to go around the pads to get away from the instrument, absorbing some of the sound before it travels away from the saxophone. However, this is dealt with greatly by the resonator, so the affect of this is usually only noticeable through scientific measuring (meaning the difference at that point is beyond the average human ear's ability to hear it).
The felt layer is usually made of some sort of wool felt, either woven or pressed. The difference between them goes into the subject above about firmness of pad. generally woven felt is firmer. Another upside of firmness here is that the pads themselves wear out slower, as the firmer materials are more resilient. However, the less firm the felt, the easier it is to keep a seal, as the felt will accommodate changes in humidity and temperature more easily with minimal affect on the playability. It's the trade off players have to make.
One of there areas with least variation is the backing. It's almost always cardboard. It offeres a nice textured surface for the glue to adhere to, helping hold the pad into the key cup. It's other function is to give the leather a surface to glue onto as well, so there are not ragged edges of leather to come up and cause problems. There isn't a huge problem with cardboard, and I've seen some pads offered with metal on the back. I was even taught how to cut away the cardboard and soak the glue into the felt directly. This firms up the felt, increasing it's firmness. For 99% of players, this part of the pad doesn't matter that much, and it really shouldn't.
Synthetic pads are just that. The materials are all machine made, usually made from plastics and metals. While they are an option, their main advantage is they are unaffected by weather changes. They will wear out like other pads, dependent on use. They are an option for anyone, but are usually a bit more expensive than their natural counter parts.
The resonator is it's own special thing. Like stated above, it's job is to help reflect the tone away from the pad once the key is open. Otherwise the air is pointing directly at the pad, and some of the sound will be absorbed directly into the pad itself. However, there are as many resonator styles as there are pad styles, maybe even more. Plus, each type of resonator can be put on any type of skin pad. Plastic dome, plastic flatt, metal dome, star shaped metal, accordion star shaped, it goes on and on. They do affect the sound, but no one can agree how. In blind tests, they could tell there were different resonators, but no one could agree how they changed the sound.
So, what does all this mean to you, the player or the parent of the young player. If you or yours is a beginner, there's not much point in going high end. Your technician will know this most likely from the level your saxophone and/or player is at. If they have a student model sax, they don't have a reason to put on high end pads. Also, if it's a high end saxophone, but the player is a beginner (yes, I've seen it happen) they still won't put high end pads on it unless requested to for special circumstances. As the store has to buy the pads first, they probably won't recommend high end for anyone that doesn't need them.
If you are at the intermediate level, Talk with the technician about what they recommend. They'll have questions for you about what you play (jazz, chamber, solo, group, etc), what kind of sound you currently have and also what you want to change it to. There are many other questions, but these will start them figuring out what to try. Note I said "try". Every player is different, so the tone they get from the exact same setup as someone else will be different. It will take some experimentation, and the best thing you can do is record yourself and listen back to it to see how it sounds from the front. What the player hears and what the audience hears are wildly different.
In the next woodwind post, I'll get into the other members of the woodwind family, as the pads for these are wildly different.
Pads became essential for woodwinds once the size of the holes increased beyond the players ability to cover them up with their fingers. This happened for intonation of the notes, as chromatic fingerings weren't really true to pitch without manipulating the air flow in some way to center it, or because the bore size of the instrument meant that the holes were too big and/or too far apart for fingers to work on their own anymore. The pad was born out of necessity, and has evolved to the pads we know now
Despite the variations, there are only two types of pads: Natural or "skin" pads and synthetics. The anatomy of any pad is pretty much the same. There's the backing surface that glues into the key cup, some sort of compressible middle section, and a top surface that meets the tone hole to seal it, which wraps around and glues to the backing surface. In the middle of the top surface, there is usually a hard material to reflect the sound out called a resonator.
For skin pads, the typical line up is a cardboard backing, felt filling, and leather for the surface. For simplicity, I'll refer to the different sections with these general terms. Note the word "typical," There are always exceptions to this formation. Usually the biggest variation for these pads is the surface. Leather, soft feel leather, extra thick leather kangaroo leather (yes, that's right), sheep skin leather, etc. The list goes on and on. The main thing about this surface is that it must seal the tone hole off from leaks when the pad is closed. For the beginner, how the pad "feels" under the fingers when the pad meets the tone hole isn't important, as they don't know what they're feeling for. As they progress, they'll start to notice how spongy or firm they prefer their pads. Yes, there is some credence to the idea that how soft a pad is will affect the tone, as the pad surface is hit by the sound waves and has to go around the pads to get away from the instrument, absorbing some of the sound before it travels away from the saxophone. However, this is dealt with greatly by the resonator, so the affect of this is usually only noticeable through scientific measuring (meaning the difference at that point is beyond the average human ear's ability to hear it).
The felt layer is usually made of some sort of wool felt, either woven or pressed. The difference between them goes into the subject above about firmness of pad. generally woven felt is firmer. Another upside of firmness here is that the pads themselves wear out slower, as the firmer materials are more resilient. However, the less firm the felt, the easier it is to keep a seal, as the felt will accommodate changes in humidity and temperature more easily with minimal affect on the playability. It's the trade off players have to make.
One of there areas with least variation is the backing. It's almost always cardboard. It offeres a nice textured surface for the glue to adhere to, helping hold the pad into the key cup. It's other function is to give the leather a surface to glue onto as well, so there are not ragged edges of leather to come up and cause problems. There isn't a huge problem with cardboard, and I've seen some pads offered with metal on the back. I was even taught how to cut away the cardboard and soak the glue into the felt directly. This firms up the felt, increasing it's firmness. For 99% of players, this part of the pad doesn't matter that much, and it really shouldn't.
Synthetic pads are just that. The materials are all machine made, usually made from plastics and metals. While they are an option, their main advantage is they are unaffected by weather changes. They will wear out like other pads, dependent on use. They are an option for anyone, but are usually a bit more expensive than their natural counter parts.
The resonator is it's own special thing. Like stated above, it's job is to help reflect the tone away from the pad once the key is open. Otherwise the air is pointing directly at the pad, and some of the sound will be absorbed directly into the pad itself. However, there are as many resonator styles as there are pad styles, maybe even more. Plus, each type of resonator can be put on any type of skin pad. Plastic dome, plastic flatt, metal dome, star shaped metal, accordion star shaped, it goes on and on. They do affect the sound, but no one can agree how. In blind tests, they could tell there were different resonators, but no one could agree how they changed the sound.
So, what does all this mean to you, the player or the parent of the young player. If you or yours is a beginner, there's not much point in going high end. Your technician will know this most likely from the level your saxophone and/or player is at. If they have a student model sax, they don't have a reason to put on high end pads. Also, if it's a high end saxophone, but the player is a beginner (yes, I've seen it happen) they still won't put high end pads on it unless requested to for special circumstances. As the store has to buy the pads first, they probably won't recommend high end for anyone that doesn't need them.
If you are at the intermediate level, Talk with the technician about what they recommend. They'll have questions for you about what you play (jazz, chamber, solo, group, etc), what kind of sound you currently have and also what you want to change it to. There are many other questions, but these will start them figuring out what to try. Note I said "try". Every player is different, so the tone they get from the exact same setup as someone else will be different. It will take some experimentation, and the best thing you can do is record yourself and listen back to it to see how it sounds from the front. What the player hears and what the audience hears are wildly different.
In the next woodwind post, I'll get into the other members of the woodwind family, as the pads for these are wildly different.
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