Klarinet Archive - Posting 000585.txt from 2003/03

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: [kl] Pitch of throat notes
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2003 16:57:22 -0500

Deidre Calcaro said:

> This may be a problem everyone has, but is there a way to flatten the
> throat tones?
>
> I recently bought myself a pocket tuner (cheap and useful!!), and
> tested my intonation on every note. Since I haven't played with an
> ensemble in so long, I expected my intonation to be terrible.
> Surprisingly, it was normal. The low notes tended to be a little flat.
> Above high "C," many notes were sharp if I wasn't careful to use good
> breath support rather than biting. Everything else was in tune.
>
> The throat tones (even with the fingering modifications I'd learned
> from Ted Oien when I studied with him briefly in college) were really
> sharp, to the point that I couldn't even compensate with my
> embouchure. Is there a way to fix that?

Yes. The notes G, G#, A and Bb aren't independent of each other, but
they have almost no effect on the rest of the instrument.

Therefore you can have them where you want them.

Excellent players have differed about the optimum placement of these
notes. Some like them sharpish, and use embouchure and other techniques
to put them in tune, claiming that the quality of the notes is thereby
improved. Others, not.

Anyhow, the way to tune them has been rehearsed here before. You can
use Blutak, wax or nail-varnish. You remove in sequence Ab, A, and the
top LH rod assembly. Then you put any of the listed substances in
sequence into the little hole that vents the G, the Ab hole, and finally
the A hole.

A certain degree of reassembly is required in order to judge the matter.
You don't want to end up with an unacceptably flat Bb.

A useful tip is that substance placed in the top of a hole -- the
mouthpiece side rather than the bell side -- is most effective. It
both reduces the size and lowers the position of the hole, minimising
the amount of substance required for a given lowering of pitch.

It is silly to be reluctant to experiment in this way. You need to
develop a technique, but nothing you do is irreversible. And you may
learn something.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE http://classicalplus.gmn.com/artists
tel/fax 01865 553339

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