Klarinet Archive - Posting 000669.txt from 1998/11

From: "Kevin Bowman" <kbowman@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] RE: Concert_A_pitch,_again? -AND- A few cent's worth
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 09:29:23 -0500

Hiroshi Nagatsuma wrote:
> String and vocal people are playing not by equal temperament but by pure
> temperament. Is this right?
> Tuning to the reference pitch 440Hz or 442Hz seems OK.But it seems doubtf=
> ul
> to tune each intervals exactly to the tuner. On the other hand:Flute play=
> ers
> can easily 'bend' intonations.I wonder how by clarinet.

I'm not sure there is a such thing a "pure temperament". Strings and vocals
often are more atuned to "Just temperament", sometimes call "Just
Intonation"
or "JI".

Flute players adjust the intonation of individual notes by adjusting the
"depth" and "width" of the airstream between the lips and the tone hole.
Clarinetist can do this to some degree through voicing (using the tongue
and oral cavity to shape the airstream). Also, clarinetists and saxophonists
can also bend a note downward by "dropping the jaw", though this does
affect the tone and is used mainly in jazz, not "legit" playing (the bend
on the open G at the end of the openning phrase of Rhapsody In Blue requires
a lip bend).

If you are interested in a more in-depth treatment of tuning and
temperaments,
there is a tuning mailing list (to which I belong) that discusses various
alternate tunings and such (like JI, equal temperaments with more than 12
divisions, etc.). They also get into various ethnic tunings.
* To get help about the ListProcessor (subscribing, unsubscribing, getting
*
* archive files, etc.) send mail to listproc@-----.edu with no
*
* subject and the first line blank reading only "HELP" (no quotes,
either).*
Beware - this is heavy stuff! I've been a member for about the past 6 months
and I'm still trying to figure out what they're talking about (I only
recently figured out that 12TET means 12 Tone Equal Temperament).

Kevin Bowman
Clarinet and Saxophone Instructor,
Rochester Conservatory of Music, Rochester, MI
and
Saxophones, Clarinet and Flute,
B-Side Blues Project

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