Klarinet Archive - Posting 000732.txt from 1996/02

From: Tom Labadorf <Labadorf@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: tuning with strings
Date: Sat, 24 Feb 1996 17:10:36 -0500

Just this week, I had a tuning situation (dare I say problem?) with the first
violinist of a well established string quartet. It was in the Copland Sextet
near the end of the last movement. At this point, the clarinet and 1st
violin parts are two octaves apart in a slow tempo playing half notes. Any
mis-intonation would be painfully obvious.

I must say that before we started to pay real attention to this section, the
violinist was playing very sharp in his higher notes - so sharp that I
couldn't reach his pitch. And this from a very fine musician. However, once
we started to work it out, we both found it difficult to tell if certain
notes were really in tune, I think, mostly because of conflicts in the
clarinet overtones and the actual pitch the violin was playing. Has anyone
else experienced this phenomenon, or are my ears at fault?

I have a question for David Niethamer. David, in response to your post Feb
23:

"Here in the Richmond Symphony we allegedly tune to 442. But the strings
resist going any higher, because of the threat of damage to their instruments
from cranking the strings too tight."

Why does the Richmond Symphony prefer to tune to 442, and who determines this
tuning standard? I heard somewhere that it has to do with the tone of the
entire ensemble. Is this really true, or is it to accomodate the tendancy to
play sharp? In the CG Band, the oboist gives us 440, but the ritual seems
rather farsical since the pitch almost immediately rises above that. I don't
think this is too unusual for most groups. Is the 442 tuning note really an
admission of the sharp tendency?

What's the verdict?

Tom Labadorf
Clarinetist, U.S. Coast Guard Band
Labadorf@-----.com