Klarinet Archive - Posting 000812.txt from 1997/12

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: Music question (not clarinet related)
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 1997 03:56:35 -0500

String ensembles and choirs have different "home pitches", to create a
vague but possibly useful term; stringed intruments have the pitches of
their open strings to keep them in line, but tend to play in a modified
"Pythagorean" temperament based on these pitches when left to themselves.
Choirs (especially if unaccompanied) only have the memories of those
members with some
degree of absolute pitch. Amateur choral singers at least tend to rely a
lot on relating their pitch to the current tonic; this is why enharmonic
modulations frequently sound drastic in choral music. There is a good
example in the Faure Requiem, which I'm sure anyone who's sung this work
can bring to mind.
Hence, string ensembles and choirs are likely to render the same written
notes using what are essentially different concepts of temperament.
Roger Shilcock

On Tue, 16 Dec 1997, Jacqueline Eastwood wrote:

> Date: Tue, 16 Dec 1997 12:59:04 -0700 (MST)
> From: Jacqueline Eastwood <eastwooj@-----.EDU>
> Reply-To: klarinet@-----.us
> To: klarinet <klarinet@-----.us>
> Subject: Re: Music question (not clarinet related)
>
> On Mon, 15 Dec 1997, Mark Charette wrote:
>
> > I've never played in a band or orchestra (other than electric band)
> > so I have no experience in the string instruments. Thus, this
> > question.
> >
> > In Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings", the violins at the top of
> > chords sound slightly flat to my ears, giving the chords a
> > plaintive sound, even when the minors and minor 7ths (and
> > minor 9ths and major 4ths I think) resolve. It's a beautiful
> > sound, and is used as an effect all over orchestral music with
> > massed strings. Barber's Adagio just holds them for a long time,
> > letting you really hear the effect. Listening to the transcription
> > for chorus that Barber wrote ("Agnus Dei"), the effect just isn't
> > there, even though the chords are the same. I only seem to
> > hear this in massed string parts.
> >
> > Is that particular sound due to:
> > The upper partials on a violin being slightly flat?
> > The effect of vibrato averaging lower than the fundamental
> > note?
> > Something I know nothing about (most probable :^)
> >
> > Or is it just me?
> >
> > I'm sure this is an easy one for all you "real" players out there!
> > --
> > Mark Charette, Webmaster - http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet
> > Web/Personal - charette@-----.org
> > Business - charette@-----.com
> > "There's already an educational TV channel - it's called 'off'."
> > Lily Henderson, age 11
> >
> Hmmm.....very interesting! My orchestral experience has always been that
> the first violins, most prominently the concertmaster, will play slightly
> sharp. This is supposedly so they can hear themselves over the tutti of
> the full orchestra (especially true for the concertmaster, who perhaps
> should be able to hear himself). However, in my opinion, all it does is
> serve to drive up the pitch. Tough when you're in a cold pit with cold
> horns. Perhaps someone else knows more about this than I do -- in fact,
> I'm SURE someone does!
>
>
> Jacqueline Eastwood
> University of Arizona/Arizona Opera Orchestra
> eastwooj@-----.edu
>
>