Klarinet Archive - Posting 000335.txt from 2004/11

From: GrabnerWG@-----.com
Subj: Re: [kl] pitch standard
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2004 16:28:09 -0500

In a message dated 11/8/2004 7:12:23 AM Central Standard Time,
bhausmann1@-----.net writes:
Some companies are advertising that their student clarinets are now pitched
at 442.

For most of the groups in the Chicago area, if you play at A=440, you are
woefully flat. In the groups I play in, we try to keep the pitch down, but when
we have people who come in from other groups, however, they are almost
always sharp and are anywhere from surprised to indignant that they have to tune
"down".

There is at least one orchestra here with which I will no longer play. The
last time I subbed with them, I was uncomfortably flat, even with my 64 mm
barrels. I was biting through my lip the entire evening. No fun at all.

It was interesting, that any time the conductor mentioned pitch, it was to
tell people that they were flat, never sharp. I guess we get what we ask for?

Walter Grabner
www.clarinetXpress.com
World-class clarinet mouthpieces

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