Klarinet Archive - Posting 000209.txt from 1996/10

From: Tom Labadorf <Labadorf@-----.com>
Subj: Re: tuning, devices & instinct
Date: Tue, 8 Oct 1996 22:38:39 -0400

Tuning is a very complicated issue, and it is hard to know exactly where to
start when talking about it. In discussing instinct and intonation, we might
want to talk about the many different scales that have developed around the
world - as in such remote places as the Amazon jungle or Africa.
Ethnomusicalogist have flushed out an amazing amount of different tunings
that may sound awkward to us, but second nature to natives. Where does
instinct fit here? I believe our pitch references are carefully taught us
through the music we hear as children.

You could say that Western scales (i.e., major, minor and its variations)
were developed using the harmonic series of open ended instruments such as
brass or (closed ended) strings. (I'm only guessing about this.) You can
look back to some of the first documentations of scale formulas perhaps the
earliest most significant being the Pythagoreal (sic?) scale. This scale was
based on tuning pure intervals such as the major and minor thirds, fourth and
fifth, etc. This was the scale of choice for a long time until the organ
became a promindant instrument in the church. You see, since the Pythagorean
scale was based on eliminating beats, every interval had to be altered in
order to make the beats go away. The organ has no immediately servicable
pitches, so there was a problem that had to be dealt with. As a result,
different tempered scales and even elaborate keyboards were invented to allow
the organs and other keyboard instruments to join in with singers. In a
nutshell, that is why the mean tempered and a few varieties of just tempered
scales were invented. Eventually, as music became more complicated, these
scales didn't make sence and a huge compromise was struck with the invention
of the equal tempered scale, the standard we use today in traditional Western
music, and the scale our Korg-clone tuners are tuned to.

Studies have shown that modern musicians who play instruments with servicable
pitches still tune to just intonation. Using the meter on the tuner will do
little to show us how in tune we are. For the most part, I agree with Brian
Wilcher's position in reference to using A-440 as our pitch standard. (This
is a different issue which, I believe, deserves a separate string of its own)
I also quote here from Brian's message:

-----------
"Many of factors can influence the pitch which
produced at any time including reed strength/placement, temperature,
humidity, your physical condition, etc."
-----------

Absolutely! But there are other factors as well. Which interval are you
playing? If you are playing a third above another note, then you will have
to tune your note differently than the equal tempered reference from the
tuner. Even the fourth and fifth are not pure in equal temperment.

Here's another factor: Which composer are you playing? Composers from all
periods going into the 20th century were very much aware of temperments and
intonation. (For example, the last chord in the first movement of Brahms
E-flat Sonata. Brahms wrote this beautifully voiced chord giving the
clarinet the third and *not* doubling it in the piano. This way, the
clarinetist could tune that third lower than equal temperment to make it
sound in tune.) If you are playing music of Arnold Schoeberg or Paul
Hindemith, you must play equal temperment.

To add to the complication, add in the variables of out of tune harmonics and
large chords with extensions, and you get a mind boggling complex of
difference tones that could make nothing sound in tune.

(As an aside, we also learn on this list from Luuk van Buul that drinking
mass quantities of beer is also a variable. Not only does belching CO2 lower
the pitch of the clarinet by a quarter tone, it also provides us with a
higher tolerance for out-of-tuneness.)

This is not to say that tuners are useless. On the contrary. We must
maintain our A-440 reference and tuners are our best tool to practice this.
And for the sake of tuning, use the tuner's feature that provides a pitch
for us to tune against. As an exercise, try playing a slow etude with the
tuner set to sound the tonic of the etude, or play major scales against the
tonic. The results can be very interesting.

Tom L.
Clarinetist, U. S. Coast Guard Band
Adjunct Instructor, Connecticut College, New London CT
Labadorf@-----.com