Klarinet Archive - Posting 000214.txt from 1999/02

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Pitch standards (Was: perfect pitch)
Date: Fri, 5 Feb 1999 13:27:01 -0500

Dave Renaud wrote,

> If the pitch really does get up to 448 at times, are they having clarinets
made exclusively for that region? A combination of different clarinet plus
shorter barrel?>

Hmmm.... Old clarinets marked H (for "high pitch") that were made in the USA
are usually a=456 Hz (most orchestras) or sometimes a=457 (Steinway's pitch
for piano tuning). However, European instruments marked "high pitch" are
often as low as a@-----. Early 20th
century clarinets of high enough quality and in good enough condition to be
professionally playable aren't that easy to find, but maybe they're worth
searching out, because right now prices on vintage "high pitch" clarinets are
considerably lower than prices on vintage "low pitch" clarinets.

However, I think it's only a matter of time before singers and violinists call
a halt to rising pitch, as they did earlier this century. According to my
violinist husband, it's usually solo violinists who put the pitch on the "Up"
escalator to begin with, but when pitch gets too high, cranking the strings so
tightly can damage the valuable old fiddles unless they're -- ouch --
modified. Singers get even more upset when the stratosphere lifts to the
point where they can't reach their notes any more without wrecking their vocal
cords.

On the alt.music.saxophone newsgroup, there's a most interesting message from
Trevor Barnes, posted Feb. 4, 1999, under the heading "Pitch standards," where
he gives a lengthy chart of pitch standards hither and thither from 1511 (as
measured on surviving wind instruments, including pipe organs) to the present.
He doesn't say where the chart came from.

Lelia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You can play sharp in tune and you can play flat in tune."
--Ornette Coleman, quoted in Williams, _The Jazz Tradition_ (1970)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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