Klarinet Archive - Posting 000369.txt from 1997/01

From: Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.NET>
Subj: Re: Pitch recognition A or Bb
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 1997 10:37:41 -0500

David Blumberg writes:

>I wasn't trying to show off, sorry if it came out that way. I don't have
>perfect pitch, but do have a very strong sense of relative pitch. I can
>tell what note is being played with what fingering (A or Bb Clarinet, not
>whether you are fingering forked F# or regular) for the most part. I
>studied piano tuning also (elective), and that further helped my pitch
>sense. When you change notes, each one has its own acoustical character.
>I wouldn't begin to try telling whether it is a Buffet, Yamaha, or LeBlank
>(I know I misspelled it).
>I wonder what % of players can tell what note is being played on Clarinet
>without perfect pitch. I think there are probably quite a few.

What David says is absolutely correct. Individual notes on the clarinet
have individual acoustical characteristics. Some fingerings are more
acoustically distinguishable than others, and a trained clarinetist can
almost immediately pick out certain notes, especially when played in
context, without any need of perfect pitch.

Imagine for example, somebody playing a C major scale starting in the low
register and going up. As soon as the player crosses from throat A (a very
short-tube fingering) to the long B, virtually all experienced players will
recognize that the player is now on a written B.

The acoustical differences between the throat tones and the long
second-register fingerings are very easily noticeable, but there are more
subtle differences between all the notes. As clarinetists we are very
attuned to these differences.

As an excercise, all you have to do is imagine yourself fingering and
playing the sounds you hear coming from another clarinetist, and you will
soon realize that you recognize most if not all the pitches. By the way,
this is a good way to begin training your own perfect pitch (which anyone
is capable of doing).

-------------------
Jonathan Cohler
cohler@-----.net