Klarinet Archive - Posting 000000.txt from 1998/12

From: reedman@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Martin Pergler on Why i can't play in tune
Date: Tue, 1 Dec 1998 02:45:50 -0500

Martin,

What a succint and excellent article! Your explanations were very
clear
and the informationwas well researched.

I only have a few comments.

You commented on the policy of principal winds listenting to each
other and the section members then adjusting to the principals. This is
something that I think falls more under the category of musical sociology.
It's what I call the politics of intonation. It is a very flawed way of
tuning and I think that you will find in most of the better orchestras that
good intonation is generated from the bottom up and not the top down. For
this reason it is essential that any good wind section have an
exceptionally stong bassoon section and that the 2nd basson has the ability
to keep the pitch down - which is difficult in the low register.

The only other comment I would like to make is that despite all of the
"good" reasons for faulty intonation, a talented group of experienced and
highly trained musicians can play with exceptional intonation.

My best frame of reference is the San Francisco Symphony. In that wind
section intonation is *easy* because everyone listens. Everyone also works
conciously toward good intonation, but at some point it becomes merely an
element that serves the music. At these moments we become one with the
music and the instrument and we are no longer clarinetists, we are
vocalists with auxilliary vocal chords.

Clark w Fobes

Clark W Fobes
Web Page http://www.sneezy.org/clark_fobes

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