Klarinet Archive - Posting 000727.txt from 1999/03

From: "Frederick S. Sterns" <fssterns@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Intonation questions
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 10:10:04 -0500

Another brief commentary on a recent post quoted here...

>>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.

...this should be, to use the trite phrase, a "no brainer!"

Given the inherent flaws in a clarinet, or bass clarinet's scale, I don't
understand why even experienced musicians spend minutes in front of an
expensive tuner trying to get a "perfect" concert A or Bb. I suppose this
would be useful if the part contained *only* A's or Bb's [:-)] but not
otherwise.

Listening and adjusting, in my view, is the *only* way to make the
intonation right and I will even argue that you can tune better by placing
your barrel or tuning slide initially at the place where you're close to A
when the horn is warmed up...and then adjusting to the other instruments
during the first 32 or 64 bars of the music being played.

{If anyone considers my comments trivial or a waste of bandwidth, I
apologize. Just returned from a one month absence in far away places and
have this compulsion to dive into the clarinet/music thing with a passion.]
Fred Sterns

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