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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000090.txt from 2007/06
From: "Ed B. Flowers" <flowerse@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [DR-L] RE: doublereed Digest 16 Jun 2007 21:01:02 -0000 Issue
Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2007 12:25:37 -0400
Keith,
You've just agreed with what I said in another letter, that your LeBlanc
was more in tune than a Buffet. I've never played a Wurlitzer Schmidt
Reform Boehm (a mouthful). How do the tones of the Buffets, LeBlancs and
Wurlitzers compare?
Are they still making LeBlancs? I heard that their factory burned down a
couple of years ago. Did they stay in business?
The sharp Es on flutes and oboes isn't just a matter of equal
temperament--these notes are WAY sharp.
I think the clarinet is better in tune and more tonally stable that any
double reed. This is probably because it's a more modern woodwind. I
played the same Buffet for five years in high school, and the whole time
I had it pulled out about 1/8th of an inch and it was always as much in
tune as it could get--very stable.
The flute is a different story. It's very easy to lip into tune if
you're a good player--very little physical effort involved. In the '70s
the Cooper scale also made flute scales more in tune than before. But,
curiously, I play a Powell made, by hand, in 1927, and it is the most
in-tune flute I've ever played. Verne Q. Powell was simply a genius
flute maker and took the care to make this one in tune, and it has the
most beautiful silvery tone I've ever heard--in all registers.
The amateurs I play with aren't interested in the tuning exercises that
you mention, although some of my coaches have tried to get us to do
these exercises. I'm now beginning to get some professionals mixed into
my groups, so maybe, in the future, I'll get some of the interval tuning
experience you're talking about.
Edward B. Flowers (ob, EH)
New York City
Keith Bowen wrote:
> Ed
>
> I recently changed from Leblanc Concerto clarinets (very similar to Buffets,
> whatever they say) to Wurlitzer Schmidt Reform Boehm. My Leblancs were very
> well in tune but the Wurlitzers are much better. I play with both
> professionals and amateurs, who mostly have Buffets. With the pros, we are
> very well in tune, because they adjust. However the amateurs tend to play in
> the middle of the note, and there are certain notes that clash, as Buffets
> and Leblancs are less well in tune. So for clarinets at least, what you say
> is not correct.
>
> Having said that, no wind instruments are, or should be, equal temperament,
> and adjustments are always required to play in tune. No note is fixed; it
> depends on the harmonic context.
>
> If anyone doubts this they should do this exercise with another. Both play
> C. Then player 2 holds C, player 1 plays G, and they tune to a perfect fifth
> (no beats). Player 1 back to C. Then player 1 up to B, again tune the
> seventh till it is beatless. Then player 2 moves back up to the G (as close
> as possible the same one s/he played before). Player 1 then should adjust to
> get the third in tune. The difference is quite large and easily perceptible.
>
> The reason is that beat-free tuning is what we aim for in an ensemble, the
> the seventh of the tonic (I) is a different pitch from the third of the
> dominant (V).
>
> As for "dark tone"... I just refer you to the Klarinet list archives ...
>
> Keith Bowen
>
>
>
>
>
>> Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2007 13:18:18 -0400
>>
> To: doublereed@-----.org
> From: "Ed B. Flowers" <flowerse@-----.net>
> Subject: Re: [DR-L] Re: 21 yr old Elizabeth Koch, Curtis dropout=ASO
> Principal
> Oboe
> Message-ID: <46741B5A.9000408@-----.net>
>
>
>> Barbara,
>>
>
>
>> A fascinating conjecture.
>>
>
>
>> I though all of us Loree players were supposed to be instinctively
>>
> lipping the notes in tune. Lipping notes in tune is also necessary on
> dark-toned Buffet clarininets. Apparently out-of-tune scales are the
> price that you pay for better tone. The in-tune oboes and clarinets that
> I've played didn't have nearly as nice a tone.
>
> Edward B. Flowers
>
>
>
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> For personal help: email doublereed-owner@-----.org
> Doublereed is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org
>
>
>
>
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