Klarinet Archive - Posting 000525.txt from 1998/09

From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] tuning: a little off subject now
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 19:03:19 -0400

My wife plays oboe--her grandfather was a piano tuner. Everything else in
this post is "hearsay" and therefore suspect--but it's what they told me.

The reason we tune to the oboe is simple--you can't tune an oboe. Sure,
they can pull the reed a bit (leaving a great big gap in their bore)--but
oboe players really have to futz with the length of their reed. Most of the
good ones try for A=440; if they don't make it, though, they will be off all
night. I know it's a little more complicated than this, but not much. (Any
comments Dr. Lacy?)

The piano is tuned by most tuners (people, not machines) in 5ths. For
whatever reason, the ear likes 5ths to be a little wide. Across 88 keys,
there is a little widening. Of course, it is once again more complicated
than this--but not much.

kjf

-----Original Message-----
From: kbowman@-----.com]
Subject: [kl] tuning: a little off subject now

JW wrote (in part):
[clip]
Most non big-time orchestras I've heard or played with play sharp, because
of bad oboe players, sharp trumpets, etc. Throw in 1st clarinet parts
above the staff, where people almost ALWAYS play sharp, and you effectively
have A@-----. If you think I'm nuts on this one,
get a friend to slowly play a clarinet part above the staff with you on
a properly tuned piano & you'll see that almost everything above the staff
is sharp. This is partly due to most people's habit of tuning to open 'G'
& 3rd space 'C', so as to "make sure I'm not flat", which of course will
mean you'll be sharp in other ranges.
[clip]

A couple of observations:
1. I always wondered why the instrument with possibly the worst tuning
problems (i.e. the oboe) is always used as the reference for tuning
the orchestra. Granted, the oboist presumably gets his/her pitch
from some pitch reference (tuning fork) but why the oboe? Why not
the flute, or violin, or a pitch pipe? Anybody have a reasonable
explanation?

2. I've heard that a properly tuned piano is "stretch" tuned. That is,
the upper portion of the keyboard has wider octaves (meaning the
higher notes actually *are* sharp) and the lower portion has
narrower octaves (also producing somewhat sharper pitches). I don't
know whether this stretch tuning is done linearly over the entire
keyboard or whether it is done in "zones". I also may be entirely
washed up on this one but I'd like to see some comments. Questions:
a) what reference pitch do piano tuners use for the first not they
"touch" (is it a440 or some other note, say, middle C)? b) if
stretch tuning is indeed the norm, what are the parameters for such
tuning?

Kevin Bowman
A lifelong student of all things musical

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