Klarinet Archive - Posting 000642.txt from 1999/03

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] Intonation questions
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 12:02:45 -0500

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I suspect wrong perception of pitch of the throat notes is related to
their peculiar tonal spectra. I perceive my G#/A/B flat on both
instruments as flat - on my A clarinet they're certainly all sharp
without adjustment, and on the B flat the A is sharp and the B flat is
remarkably well in tune with my usual complicated fingering intended to
improve the tone.
Roger S.

On Wed, 10 Mar 1999, Craig D. Butcher wrote:

> Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1999 14:45:24 -0500
> From: "Craig D. Butcher" <cbutcher@-----.edu>
> Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: [kl] Intonation questions
>
> I recently bought a new R-13, replacing a thirty year old student
> clarinet. The difference is truly amazing, and I am pretty much in tune
> now, but I noted some odd behavior with both instruments, my ears, and
> a new Seiko chromatic tuner I bought.
>
> 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.
>
> The tuner is OK because it reads test tones I generate using MIDI
> software etc. exactly where I'd expect them to be.
>
> I have heard suggestions that:
>
> 1. I am so used to the intonation quirks of the other instrument that I
> am still trying to compensate for this, or still hearing it, and messing
> myself up.
>
> 2. My ears expect to hear slightly different intervals rather than the
> "just temperment" intervals the tuner expects (there's a discussion
> about this in the Clarinet Pages somewhere, I forget exactly where,
> pretty interesting). Yet the computer agrees with the tuner and I hear
> that as in tune.
>
> 3. Could it be that these notes on the clarinet are generating two or
> three other fundamentals and/or harmonics which combine to yeild a false
> "sharp" that the tuner detects but that the ear hears as flat?
>
> 4. I have noticed a tendency on my part to think that I sound better
> sharp than flat; that is, if I am flat, I don't like the sound, but if I
> am sharp, I seem happier that way. Is this normal or am I perverse?
>
> BTW, after using this a while I intend to take it to someone who really
> knows his stuff and have it gone over, but I'd like to give it a couple
> of months (warranty, etc in case of cracking or some other matter). I
> suspect a little regulation could help even though it plays and sounds
> very nice in general right now.
>
> I know mouthpieces and barrels can make a difference. I got a new
> VanDoren B46 MP after trying a number of various stock MP's and am using
> the 66 mm barrel that came with the instrument. Again, I am very
> uniform all the way up and down, except very slightly flat on the low F
> (about 5 cents). I know also that embrochure and weariness make a
> difference too, and how hard I am concentrating on tone or on other
> elements.
>
> Any expert opinion or advice would be appreciated!
>
>

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