Klarinet Archive - Posting 000295.txt from 1997/06

From: SDM@-----. Morrow)
Subj: Re: Pitch of tuning notes
Date: Wed, 18 Jun 1997 13:20:08 -0400

>Ed Lacy wrote:
>It seems entirely possible that the availability of electronic tuners has
>caused a general decline in aural acuity. For too many musicians, it is
>too easy and too tempting to play pitches into the tuner, and assume that
>if they can get the needle to "zero out," they are in tune, and will be in
>tune in an ensemble.

All this type of tuning proves is that, if you LISTEN, then you are
CAPABLE of producing a pitch that is in tune; it does NOT mean that your
instrument is in tune! When I tune a wind instrument, I adjust the
instrument so that I can comfortably lip either up or down to hit the
tuning pitches. Then I LISTEN while I play and adjust accordingly (this is
when playing in ensembles with "untunable" instruments, like pianos and
triangles!); when tuning with other tunable instruments, I make sure that
I am in tune with the tuning note when I am playing comfortably. Of
course, this only means that I am more or less in tune with THAT NOTE:
listening is one of the most important parts of playing! I suppose the
assumption is that if EVERYE in the ensemble tunes this way, you're all
basically centered "in tune" and can adjust accordingly to each other.

-Scott
(Sorry for this being so late: I am INCREDIBLY behind on my e-mail!)

Scott D. Morrow
Department of Biochemistry
School of Hygiene and Public Health
Johns Hopkins University
(410) 955-3631

SDM@-----.edu