Klarinet Archive - Posting 000881.txt from 1997/05

From: Adam Pease <apease@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Pitch of tuning notes
Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 16:24:33 -0400

Last year I posted a bit on this topic. The last note of one of the
Muczynski flute and clarinet duos is long, soft and high. My flutist and I
were careful to tune the fundamental and we double checked it with a tuner.
There was however, a terrible high frequency buzz which we could not get
rid of. It seems that one or more of the partials were terribly out of
tune. I have since had a similar experience playing clarinet duos. I was
playing an older Selmer, the other clarinetist a new Buffet. If clarinet
partials tend to be flat, how about the other wind instruments? Is this
tendency true of all clarinets? Is there any way for players to alter the
pitch of their partials without altering the fundamental?

Adam

>The partials of a piano string are not in the perfect mathematical
>relationship that most people assume. They tend to run sharp.
>Presumably this is due to the strings not being infinitely thin and
>flexible. When you tune an octave you make it as beatless as
>possible. ie. match the first partial of the lower note to the
>fundamental of the upper, the third partial of the lower to the 1st of
>the upper etc.

>I'm sure the same thing happens with other instruments. A unison
>sounds in tune when most of the partial are in tune with each other.
>I believe a clarinet has partials which tend to run flat. So, when
>playing a unison with a piano that sounds in tune, the fundamental of
>the clarinet could be sharper than that of the piano.