Klarinet Archive - Posting 000192.txt from 2004/11

From: orm1ondtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
Subj: Re: [kl] Clarinets
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2004 01:10:01 -0500

Gary Van Cott wrote:

> When you play a written C on any clarinet,
> the pitch [called "concert pitch"] of the note
> that sounds is the [name] of the instrument.
> [snip] I have heard (on the flute list) that
> some folk instruments (like tin whistles) use a
> different convention based on the
> [instrument's lowest note].

Yes, that's true.

Kimi, musical terminology can be aggravating for a beginner because
almost no musical definition applies to all musical situations.

For example, "allegro" once referred to a mood, not to a tempo. Now
it's used as a tempo marking. And there was a time when composers did
not agree whether "allegretto" was faster or slower than "allegro".
Hence, depending on how interested your daughter becomes in the details
of music, she'll need to study musical history in addition to looking up
words in a modern dictionary. When she sees something on a piece of
sheet music, she may need to take into account who wrote it and when the
person lived and perhaps even in which country the person lived or to
which school of music the person professed allegiance.

And it gets worse. Eventually your daughter will need to face up to
the fact that "C" is a different pitch depending on the situation, both
because there are different conventions for pitch (such as whether A=440
or some other pitch) and also there are different 'temperments" which
divide the octave into differently-sized intervals.

....but music is still fun even if you don't get into these details.

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