Module 5: Advanced Techniques and Ensemble
Study Time: 8 Hours Goal: Develop professional control over dynamic, pitch, and perform in a large group (120 blowers).
🌐 Language: 🇰🇷 Korean | 🇹🇼 Traditional Chinese
5.1 Advanced Tone Control
Dynamics (Volume)
- Crescendo/Decrescendo: Practice starting from a whisper (piano) and swelling to a roar (forte), and back.
- Breath Support: Volume comes from air speed, not just lip tension.
Pitch Bending
- The Shofar usually has 2-3 natural notes.
- Lip Slurs: Practice moving smoothly between the low and high notes without breaking the sound.
- Correction: If your pitch is flat, tighten your corners. If sharp, relax slightly.
5.2 Endurance Training
- Muscle Building: The “Pencil Exercise” (holding a pencil with lips only) builds corner muscles.
- Rest Periods: For every minute of playing, rest for a minute.
- Long Tones: The key to endurance. Aim for a 20-second steady Tekiah.
5.3 Ensemble Playing (The 120)
When playing with 120 energetic blowers (like Gideon’s army or the Temple Levites):
- Synchronization: Watch the conductor or the “Ba’al Tekiah” (Leader). Do not start or stop on your own.
- Tuning: Since Shofars are natural horns, they are rarely perfectly in tune.
- Solution: Focus on the rhythm and timbre rather than perfect pitch harmony. The dissonance creates the “shattering” effect.
- Roles:
- Base: Low Rams’ horns providing the drone.
- Tenor: Yemenite horns playing the melody/calls.
- Soprano: Smaller Rams’ horns for high accents.
5.4 Rehearsal Etiquette
- Warm-up: Always warm up individually before the group start.
- Silence: When the conductor speaks, 120 horns must be silent.
- Eye Contact: Keep eyes on the leader, not just the floor.