Klarinet Archive - Posting 000360.txt from 2003/08

From: "Joseph H. Fasel" <jhf@-----.gov>
Subj: Re: [kl] Perfect pitch
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2003 13:55:33 -0400

Indeed. I have a friend who is a wonderful keyboard player (and choral
conductor) with absolute pitch who says that keyboard instruments tuned
to A-415Hz drive her to distraction: "I don't mind transposing, but it
really bothers me when I play an F and an E comes out."

--Joe

On 2003.08.13 09:59 Dan Leeson wrote:
> An interesting pair of postings came across the list in the last hour
> with one maintaining that perfect would be an advantage to clarinet
> players, and the other questioning that assertion.
>
> I am afraid that I have to question that assertion also. In fact, I
> believe that perfect pitch would be a serious inconvenience to anyone
> playing clarinet and then transposing a part on a different clarinet.
> The "what one sees is not what one gets" would seem to me to be a
> considerable pain in the neck.
>
> And should the conductor say, "Take it down a half step," the problem
> magnifies itself.
>
> Except in very rare and specialized cases, perfect pitch could be a
> significant annoyance. Bela Bartok is said to have had perfect pitch
> AND perfect rhythm, the latter being unusally rare. But hearing a work
> done at a change of pitch and below or above what he perceived as the
> "correct" rhythm was said to cause him physical pain.

Joseph H. Fasel, Ph.D. email: jhf@-----.gov
Stockpile-Complex Modeling and Analysis phone: +1 505 667 7158
University of California fax: +1 505 667 2960
Los Alamos National Laboratory post: D-2 MS F609; Los Alamos, NM 87545

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