Klarinet Archive - Posting 000363.txt from 1995/02

From: Ronald Atienza <RATIENZA@-----.EDU>
Subj: Blown mouthpiece pitch
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 1995 10:53:47 -0500

Hello all,

I was thinking about my clarinet education the other night during a
performance intermission and I thought I'd ask the cognoscenti on the
list their opinions......

When I started clarinet lessons, my first teacher ( as well as my
teachers at North Texas) taught me that the mouthpiece and reed, when
blown alone, should produce a C above the staff. However, when I
first started taking college level lessons at the U. of Hawaii, my
teacher there told me "no, C is too high, it should be an A." I
had to relearn all my blowing and voicing concepts, but then I
switched back to a C pitch when I made the move to Denton.

The clarinet professor at Hawaii is an Eastman grad, so I thought
that this was some East Coast kind of philosophy ( and at the time, I
didn't feel like arguing). But every method book I've come across
and the teachers/students I've talked to concur on the "C" blown
pitch.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the subject? Is there one proper
mouthpiece pitch for optimum results or are there conflicting opinions
( which I suspect is really the case)

Until later,