Klarinet Archive - Posting 000624.txt from 1999/03

From: "Michael J. Lu" <MJL@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Intonation questions
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 03:02:17 -0500

Being 16, and a student, I can see a cause for this. I find that regular
band classes in school no longer rely on ears, but the machine. Not only
this, but in the days where schools are going to the maximum number of
classes in the minimum number of minutes, one cannot tune every day, because
it consumes too much time.

I have constantly tried to rely more on ears than eyes, and to be honest, my
lack of training when I was at a younger age, and even less training now is
making this a hard task, so I move back toward the machine. The last time
where the band I played in did not even use an electronic metronome, much
less a tuner was in the 6th grade (and we were playing High School/College
level music mind you), but there was never any effort made to teach us to
use our ears, just the conductor/teacher saying if we were flat or sharp.

While I am not even close to a professional level, my point is that this
reliance on the machine and not the organic hardware we all have is starting
from day one.

-Michael J. Lu
MJL@-----.com
ICQ: 2380127 (Grinner)

===
"Don't suck, blow."
-Mike Snell, my Band Director

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Phil Shapiro [mailto:pshapiro@-----.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 1999 8:14 PM
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: Re: [kl] Intonation questions
>
>
> OK,
>
> I know that I'm going to get alot of heat for this but...
>
> It is my firm opinion that once you've gotten an idea of your
> instruments tendencies, via your tuner's indicator, you should never use
> that feature again.  Over the last 25 years I have seen a decline pitch
> accuracy amongst PROFESSIONALS that directly follows tuner use.
>
> To be blunt, if you're using the needle you aren't using your ears. 
> Plain and simple.  I can count on one hand the number of wind players I
> know who can function without the "electronic ear".  It has become so
> pervasive that people don't check pitch with each other any more. 
> Whenever I voice a pitch concern to my fellow players, out come the
> machines.  That's not a good sign.  We don't play with the tuners
> sitting on our stands always on.  At least not yet.
>
> I don't mean this to be tacky in any way, but this is a problem mainly
> for professionals.  If you don't play regularly, or don't play in a
> group that has a stable pitch center, then tuning without mechanical
> assistance can be difficult.  But it's not impossible.  With a little
> practice the human ear, in most cases, can easily hear differences of 2
> vibrations per second.  Acuity of 1 and 0.5 vibrations per second are
> not uncommon.
>
> I don't discourage my students from owning tuners, but I teach them how
> to use one properly and monitor the way they use them.  Once we
> determine the instrument's pitch tendencies, and identify (and correct
> if possible) any bad notes, we stop using the needle.  Usually 2
> lessons, 3 tops.  Then we have the tuner play pitches and we play scales
> to them, both directions, learning the sound of the intervals as they go
> in and out of tune.  Then, I get nasty and slightly mis-adjust the
> tuner.  He-He.
>
> I didn't mean to get off on a diatribe, but reading all these posts
> about how many cents here, and how many cents there and what the
> tempering is....That's all useless in real life.  All of that analytical
> stuff goes right out of the window when you get a harp in the pit, or
> the soloist tunes high for better projection, or the gorilla stagehand
> slams the Steinway into a wall, or (gulp) you're accompanying a guitar
> concerto.  You have to play in tune and that's all there is to it.  And
> for that you need trained ears, not trained eyes.
>
> Soapboxfully yours,
> -Phil
>
>

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