Klarinet Archive - Posting 000580.txt from 2001/08

From: Jim Bartram <jbartram@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: James Sclater on horn pitches
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 14:26:00 -0400

At 10:54 AM 8/31/01 -0700, Dan Leeson wrote:
>
>If I remember correctly, there was even a clarinet in which you
>substituted one joint for one of a greater length to change the pitch of
>the instrument, but it was never successful.
>

It was not unusual in the mid-eighteenth century for flutes to be made with
multiple center-joints ("corps de rechange") to accomodate different pitch
levels. Quantz discusses them in Chapter 1, section 9 of "Essay of a Method of
Playing the Transverse Flute", published originally in 1752. He complains that
"...the pitch to which we tune is so varied that a different tuning or
prevailing pitch has been introduced not only in every country, but in almost
every province and city, while even at the same place the harpsichord is tuned
high at one time, low at another, by careless tuners." The use of
interchangeable joints apparently persisted for some time, until pitches became
more generally standardized.

Even today, makers of historical replicas of flutes and recorders often provide
the option of different joints, this time to accomodate playing at the now
relatively standard set of baroque and classical pitches -- A=392 ("French"),
A=415 ("Baroque"), A=430 ("Classical"), and A=440 (or should it be A=442 these
days?!). Usually, these instruments play well at all the pitches supported by
the maker.

Regards,

--Jim

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