Klarinet Archive - Posting 001019.txt from 1998/05

From: George Kidder <gkidder@-----.edu>
Subj: [kl] Re: intonation in large groups
Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 06:51:44 -0400

I play with a town band in the summer. The director carefully tunes
everyone in the band using his tuner EXCEPT the clarinets! Guess he feals
we are either hopeless or so flexible that it isn't worth the effort.
Probably both are true.

>Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 23:29:15 CST
>To: klarinet@-----.org
>From: "Diane Karius, Ph.D." <dikarius@-----.edu>
>Subject: intonation in large groups
>
>Help! Having searched the archives of both Klarinet & the community
>band mailing list and come up with nothing directly applicable,
>I'm going to toss this question out and see if anyone has any good
>ideas:
>
>Does anyone have some constructive suggestions regarding how to
>improve intonation in a large community band setting (both within the
>clarinet section and across the whole band)? As a side question - I
>find that I cannot get sharp enough to match everyone else's pitch,
>although I am sharp compared to A440. In the short term,
>should I try some shorter barrels, even though the barrel I have now
>works well both for intonation and sound.
> I belong to a large community band which suffers from BAD
>intonation (really sharp). As much as I hate to admit it, the
>clarinet section (of which I am section leader) is among the more
>serious of the offenders, and even worse, there are significant
>intonation problems among the first clarinets. The band director has
>talked to me about it - regarding the whole band as well as the
>section. She's as frustrated as I am and wants me to help. We both
>know that the problem is two-fold - the failure to tune properly to
>the tuning note (the tendency is to try and adjust the embouchure
>rather than pulling out/pushing in) and then the failure to adjust
>tuning as we play and warm up (hence ending up seriously sharp).
>When I can, I am telling other clarinet players (using my tuner to
>show them) if they are sharp/flat but that has had little effect yet
>- as far as I can tell they just aren't in the habit of listening to
>(or really hearing) the tuning note, since they can't tell that they
>are 20 cents or more sharp to the tuning note. I'll confess to
>treading fairly lightly here because there is a little bit of a
>problem in politics - there was some resentment when I moved into the
>firsts since I was the new kid on the block and wasn't even a music
>major (our section leaders are typically music major/band
>directors/pros).
>Sorry this went on so long, but if anyone has some good advice my
>ears and our conductor would really appreciate it.
>TIA!
>
>Diane R. Karius, Ph.D.
>Department of Physiology
>University of Health Sciences
>2105 Independence Ave.
>Kansas City, MO 64124
>email: dikarius@-----.EDU

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