Klarinet Archive - Posting 000034.txt from 2001/03

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Strange clarinet, finding key/pitch?
Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2001 06:57:35 -0500

At 08:31 PM 3/1/2001 -0500, Eric Mumpower wrote:
> > My guess is that is it a HIGH pitch Bb.
>
>An interesting guess, and one that had't occurred to me. (I don't think I
>had realized that high pitch might be so far above modern pitch.) Can anyone
>tell me what frequency A was used in high-pitch instruments? A little web
>searching suggests 462.5Hz, but there's not a lot of consensus out there.

One of the main reasons they came up with the A=440 standard is that there
WAS no standard pitch. They tuned all over the place, varying by
location. Some places used A=452, but if you traveled to another place you
might find another pitch altogether! Very tough on itinerant
musicians. Yours is probably set up to play wherever "home" pitch was to
the owner.

>(* This clarinet was sold in an odd old 3-clarinet case with two other
>longer clarinets of identical keywork, S/N J1xx and K4xx, which after a bit
>of testing I find are definitely modern-pitch A and Bb instruments,
>respectively.)

This is consistent with my guess. Since this instrument was owned during
the transition to standard pitch, the owner probably still needed the high
pitch instrument to play with some groups (bands, most likely, whose old
instruments could not be retuned), while the Low Pitch set was for playing
with organizations that had adopted the new standard (orchestras, whose
string players would have relatively little trouble adjusting). By the
way, the other two date to 1895 and 1896, respectively, so all three were
probably bought at about the same time, likely by a professional. All this
is speculation, but EDUCATED speculation.

Bill Hausmann bhausmann1@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://homepages.go.com/~zoot14/zoot14.html
Essexville, MI 48732 ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

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