Does 3rd position sound "different" or is it me???
Mon, 08/29/2016 - 05:25
Hey Dave. I've always observed that third position playing had a different sound quality or timbre (is that the word) than second position. It's not just the fact that "home" is on a different hole or that the three draw is a mystery there.
I mean the sound quality is jazzier sounding. More like that of a saxophone perhaps. Very hard to describe. I was just wondering if there's some musical phenomenon going on there that I wasn't aware of. Thanks
Hello Paul. If you introduce no bending when playing in 3rd Position you get the Dorian Mode. Relative to the Major Mode (Ionian) there is a lowered 3rd (5 draw in 3rd Position for example) and lowered 7th (7+). When you play this 4 5+ 5 6+ 6 7 7+ 8 you can hear this scale. Players can choose to emphasis these lowered notes, or avoid them, this is the player's prerogative. Minor (Aeolian Mode), which also has a lowered 6th, is more common than Dorian (our ears are used to hearing this). When listening to 3rd Position the non-lowered 6th (Major 6th) is what give it its more jazzy sound to most people's ears.
I hope this helped a little. If you're not already doing so, make sure to go through the Music Theory Studies... Study 2 is focused on defining positions, and the later theory and Improvising Studies reinforce that lesson.