Klarinet Archive - Posting 000614.txt from 1999/03
From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Intonation questions
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 03:02:07 -0500
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On Wed, 10 Mar 1999, Craig D. Butcher wrote:
> I am within a few cents basically up and down with one or two
> exceptions, which I can attribute to embrochure and so forth, but with
> the open G and the A (not to mention the Bflat) the tuner shows me as
> being up to 20 cents high, and yet I mostly hear it as actually flat,
> especially in comparison with other music, even playing along with the
> computer.
A few basic questions:
(1) How old are you
(2) How long have you been playing clarinet
(3) How long have you taken private lessons
My initial suspicion, based on the information you've provided,
is that the tuner is correct, and your ear is indeed still biased
toward the tuning ratios to which you became accustomed on your
old instrument. More significantly, however, is the possibility
that, in addition to the previous issues, you have also not yet
fully developed the ability to focus your air stream in certain
registers of the instrument. The throat tones are particularly
applicable in this case. If true, this explains how you can
"feel" that the notes are flat, yet the tuner detects them to
be sharp. An air stream that is not optimally focused on the
throat tones is prone to result in a "flabby" tone, which could
very easily be mistaken for "flat", whether it is in reality
sharp, flat, or dead center on your tuner. This phenomenon is
less easily detectable in other registers of the instrument, be-
cause the lower chalumeau and clarion registers offer more resist-
ance and do not reveal embouchure and air inadequaces in as sharp
relief as the throat tones do by default. There is much less
resistance in the throat tones, requiring a well-developed
embouchure and a fully-supported well-focused air stream. No
pinching allowed! This applies equally to the altissimo regist-
er, which is (of course) just the throat register in disguise.
Neil
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