Klarinet Archive - Posting 000526.txt from 2001/04

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Highest Clarinet Notes -- ReReReVisited
Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2001 18:38:10 -0400

At 10:53 AM 4/22/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>Bilwright wrote:
>
><<<A4 @-----.>>>
>
>As George Gershwin said, "It Ain't Necessarily So!" There are many ways of
>designating the octaves. There is the Helmholz method, the American Bureau
>of Standards method, and others. For a good reference, look at "The
>Acoustical Foundations of Music" by John Backus, published by W. W. Norton.
>
>I've been on a very long campaign to get woodwind players to standardize our
>octave designation. In this method, the lowest C on the instrument is C1,
>and the octave from that note to the next highest note is C1, C#1, D1, etc.
>The next octave is C2, C#2, etc. Any notes below the lowest C are called
>the "O" (zero) octave. Thus, the usual lowest note on the clarinet is E0.
>Middle C (written) is C1. The altissimo G with which many fingering charts
>end is G3. The super-altissimo note which Benny Goodman played and which
>has been under discussion is D4.
>
>Middle C is C1 on the flute, oboe, clarinet and saxophone. That's
>convenient. (It is C3 on the bassoon.)
>
>Does anyone see any benefits to this system? (Note: I didn't invent it
>-the first use I ever saw of this method was in a doctoral dissertation at
>the University of Michigan written by Paul Lehman. I don't where he might
>have gotten it.)

It only makes sense if you tie it to a single common point, e.g., middle C
on the piano = C1 (or C0), so that, regardless of what instrument is being
referred to, the actual sounded octave is the same.

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!

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org