Klarinet Archive - Posting 000866.txt from 1996/02

From: Karl Krelove <KClarinet@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: tuning with strings
Date: Thu, 29 Feb 1996 19:04:42 -0500

On Feb. 25, Tom Labadorf wrote:
>... 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?

Definitely, I've had similar experiences, not only with octaves and
multiple octaves, but with unisons as well. I think (with no scientific
evidence at all) that you are exactly right about overtones conflicting even
when the fundamental pitches are physically in tune. String vibrato also gets
involved in the problem, I've found. String players (from what I've always
heard - I'm married to a violist and my three kids have all been studying
violin with skilled violin teachers) vibrate downward from the actual pitch.
I generally don't use vibrato, so I am actually out of tune all the time the
string instrument is below the top of its vibrato. If I try to add vibrato of
my own, it only complicates the problem. And most "classical" clarinet
players I've heard using vibrato tend to go above as well as below the pitch,
anyway. Also, as a string player plays higher on the fingerboard, finger
movements (including the back-and-forth rolling used to produce vibrato)
result in large pitch changes, so the same vibrating motion up high on the E
string will produce a larger pitch fluctuation than the same motion in first
position on the G string. All you can do with all this going against you is
create an illusion of being in tune, one which I doubt would ever be
confirmed by an oscilliscope.
Besides, string players just don't get it when you say "I can't make my C#
go any higher." They are used to just moving their finger up on the string
<BigGrin>.