Klarinet Archive - Posting 000792.txt from 2002/04

From: George Kidder <gkidder@-----.org>
Subj: [kl] Temperament
Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 00:17:05 -0400

I have been wondering lately about the identification of various keys as
"bright" or "somber", etc., as applied to music in which the basic pitches
are set by a tempered instrument such as a piano. For instance, when it
was suggested that my chorus sing one number written in Eb (3 b's) up a
step in E (4 #'s), it was objected that this would make it sound "brighter"
which was not wanted with this work. The accompaniment is to be piano
alone, and it seems to me that a "well tempered" piano should sound the
same in any key. That is, if we played the piece in Eb and recorded it,
and then recorded it in E and slowed down the tape until the E was an Eb,
you shouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Am I right about this? It seems to me that this has something to do with
clarinets, which, although we have some flexibility in pitch, are based on
the root pitch of the instrument (Bb. A. Eb, or whatever) and, leaving
alone the mechanical difficulties of playing in remote keys, would tend to
be "better in tune" in their root pitches. Therefore, there would be some
differences in pitch accuracy between a Bb and an A clarinet playing in the
same concert key, leaving aside all of the other differences which may go
to color tone.

Comments?

George Kidder
Bar Harbor, ME

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