Klarinet Archive - Posting 000666.txt from 2003/03

From: Richard Bush <rbushidioglot@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Tuning rings, pulling out and so on
Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 22:22:13 -0500

Tony's advice to get an expert to come in and coach your clarinet
section is EXCELLENT. How would the band director feel about this?

Tony's suggestion that the tuning problems are more complex than just
making pulls at the barrel is, indeed touching the tip of the iceberg.

Hope you got the PDF tuning chart blank I sent you, Barb. If you were
to do charting on every member of the band's clarinet section, you will
come to realize that there are many different problems. Some will have
to do with key heights (regulation), some will be mouthpiece/reed
issues, and some will be player issues. Sorting all of these things out
will take the collective commitment and cooperation of all members of
the section, the band director and any such expert you might be able to
enlist. It will take a lot of time and effort. Improved tuning will
gradually emerge. It will all be worth it and all will learn something
in the process.

On Sunday, March 16, 2003, at 05:17 PM, Tony Pay wrote:

> On Sun, 16 Mar 2003 18:37:53 -0600, muse@-----.net said:
>
>>>
>>> Because clearly, there is no 'should'.
>>>
>>> Tony
>>> --
>>
>> My director seems very irate with the clarinets pulling out at any
>> place other than the barrel. How does one, such as myself who hasn't
>> studied the clarinet in detail as a professional musician might,
>> contradict such a person based on "it sounds better this way"?
>
> It's difficult to talk this in the abstract. There are many things
> that
> contribute to defective intonation on the clarinet that cannot be
> addressed by doing such things as pulling out -- or by using a shorter
> barrel, if you need to go in the opposite direction.
>
> Despite what others have said, on this sort of level I don't find it
> unequivocal that pulling out at the mouthpiece gives significantly
> better results than what your director says you 'should' do. Many good
> players pull out at the barrel, when they pull out at all. In my view,
> his insistence in this regard is less worrying than what it seems to
> indicate about his attitude in general. But that might be a wrong
> assumption on my part.
>
>> Or get the section, or persons in the section with a particular
>> intonation problem, to try new tuning adjustments? A lot of us in
>> this band are 'returnees' to our given instruments and the clarinet
>> section this year, save a few, is not very strong as a unit. Some
>> sort of shift in thinking regarding tuning, I think would help (as a
>> starter). But without the support of the band leader how do we
>> accomplish this?
>
> Can you get an expert clarinet player to coach your section? My own
> experience of dealing with groups of clarinet players is that you need
> to say different things to different people when dealing with their
> intonation problems. Some of those things are to do with equipment,
> some to do with choice of reeds, some to do with technical aspects of
> instrument address, and almost all to do with listening and awareness.
>
> Whether you pull out at mouthpiece or barrel is the least of your
> worries, I'd say.
>
>> maybe i should just grin and bear it?
>
> Nah. Keep being concerned:-)
>
> Tony
> --
> _________ Tony Pay
> |ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
> | |ay Oxford OX2 6RE
> http://classicalplus.gmn.com/artists
> tel/fax 01865 553339
>
> ... "Bother", said Pooh, as the pin fell out the grenade
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
Richard Bush
Maker of 'BasSonic' bassoon reeds
760 Robins Avenue
Ogden, UT 84404
(801) 393-7265
IDRS member
ICA member
rbushidioglot@-----.com

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