In the old psychoanalytical jargon, that Greek term meant investing emotion in an object or person. I imagine it's not much used currently, but it's perfectly appropriate to the feelings that artists have about their material and equipment. Photographers love a certain camera, cooks love a certain pan, and musicians love their instruments.
When I open my flute case or saxophone case, I feel a surge of cathexis. I cherish my instruments. Recently I was having setup trouble with my baritone saxophone. I was using a Berg Larsen mouthpiece that I like, and Berg Larsen mouthpieces are definitely among the cooler mouthpieces to be using, but I was having trouble finding the right reeds for it.
Like most people who have been playing sax or clarinet for a while, I have built up a collection of mouthpieces, always seeking the one that will make my playing sound best, and I've had the Berg Larsen mouthpiece for a while. But I have also been using a few other ones, including a metal Bari mouthpiece, that I can't control, but which I keep trying, hoping that I can make it work, because there's something promising about it. It gives me a very live tone, but I can't play consistently on it in all the registers of the instrument. I keep thinking that my embouchure and breathing will mature, and then I'll be able to use that mouthpiece, but it hasn't happened, and, realistically, I doubt that it will.
Among my mouthpieces is a Hite, which has always played nicely for me, but which, somehow, I have never felt cathexis for. Yet the other day I tried it again, having given up on the Berg Larsen for a while, and it played the best of all with the reeds I have. So, why don't I love that mouthpiece the way I love my baritone saxophone?
I don't know. But cathexis or not, I keep coming back to that mouthpiece, so I'll stick with it and learn to love it.
When I open my flute case or saxophone case, I feel a surge of cathexis. I cherish my instruments. Recently I was having setup trouble with my baritone saxophone. I was using a Berg Larsen mouthpiece that I like, and Berg Larsen mouthpieces are definitely among the cooler mouthpieces to be using, but I was having trouble finding the right reeds for it.
Like most people who have been playing sax or clarinet for a while, I have built up a collection of mouthpieces, always seeking the one that will make my playing sound best, and I've had the Berg Larsen mouthpiece for a while. But I have also been using a few other ones, including a metal Bari mouthpiece, that I can't control, but which I keep trying, hoping that I can make it work, because there's something promising about it. It gives me a very live tone, but I can't play consistently on it in all the registers of the instrument. I keep thinking that my embouchure and breathing will mature, and then I'll be able to use that mouthpiece, but it hasn't happened, and, realistically, I doubt that it will.
Among my mouthpieces is a Hite, which has always played nicely for me, but which, somehow, I have never felt cathexis for. Yet the other day I tried it again, having given up on the Berg Larsen for a while, and it played the best of all with the reeds I have. So, why don't I love that mouthpiece the way I love my baritone saxophone?
I don't know. But cathexis or not, I keep coming back to that mouthpiece, so I'll stick with it and learn to love it.
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