Klarinet Archive - Posting 000439.txt from 2005/08

From: Richard Bush <rbushidioglot@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] "Tuning" vs. Intonation
Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 11:07:34 -0400

When I first read Margaret's comments on tuning, I should have
responded. Now, I'm ashamed I haven't come forth before now.

There is a program, a systematic and aural approach to hearing and
learning to play in tune. It is called "Tuneup" by Stephen C. Colley.
Once you've worked with this program you'll realize what folly it is
to base your tuning upon any electronic, tuner that represents equal
temperament tuning. Mr. Colley shouldn't have to toot his own horn on
this one. His program works. It will help string players, wind
players and vocal musicians achieve perfect intonation. Do give it a
try.

Richard Bush

On Aug 23, 2005, at 4:07 PM, Margaret Thornhill wrote:

> A new thread, if you like:
> Here in southern California, it's been an uncharacteristically
> humid summer, and I, my students, and my colleagues have been
> forced to join the rest of the country in struggling with our
> reeds, and therefore ( surprise!),our intonation.
>
> I've been forced to think about this because I coach/conduct two
> groups on the weekend--one, an advanced group, my Los Angeles
> Clarinet Choir, which would describe itself as "semi-professional,"
> the other, a high school group. Both come to rehearsal with their
> personal tuners in hand and the best intentions in the world. The
> students, in particular, with the competitiveness of youth, like to
> use the tuners as an artibtrer: aha! you're wrong, I'm right--see?
> The visual cues of the dial eventually help them get their tuning
> note perfectly together. Nevertheless, the rehearsal
> continues,often with intonation bad as before. The students are
> puzzled; so are some of the mature players, wondering whose scale
> is at fault.
>
> Beyond the out-of-tune scale--which is indeed a problem--it's an
> issue of adjustment and adaptability. In fact, one of the hardest
> points to get across to the conscientious student Korg user is that
> sometimes being "right" is actually "wrong." Consider these "what
> if"situations in which only the ability you have at Matching
> Someone Else's Pitch will save the day:
>
> 1. The Bait-and-Switch Tuning Note
> It's your community/student orchestra. The oboist sounds an A,
> looks dutifully at his tuner, inches it up a notch, and tunes the
> wind section at 440. Yet, once the music starts, everyone sounds
> wrong. Why? The person who gave the tuning is no longer at 440--
> he's sunk back to his original pitch center, where he plays
> habitually, or where his reed du jour wants to play. (This
> situation is a lost cause--last year it was true for every
> rehearsal of the youth orchestra whose clarinets I helped mentor.)
>
> 2. Follow the Leader
> Perhaps you are playing chamber music. The bassoonist is holding a
> long note; you come in later, doubling him at the octave. You sound
> out of tune. Your pitches don't match. You look at your Korg. He is
> sharp (sharper than you!) No matter how much you bug him about this
> in rehearsal, his pitch does not come down. BUT, you are obligated
> to match his pitch, no matter what--because he his pitch came
> before your entrance, and not to do it will make you look terrible.
> Later in the movement, when it happens again, it's especially
> important to tune to him, because this time his note is the root of
> the chord that the entire quintet is playing, and good intonation
> builds from the bottom up.
>
> 3. The Out-of-Tune Dissonance
> You are playing one of the outer voices of a diminished seventh.
> You are not sharp, but the interval sounds wrong: it's too small.
> You voice down (or up, depending on which note you've got) and--
> bingo!- the chord comes into tune, a healthy dissonance.
>
> 4. Usually, they adjust for you, but
> You are playing in unison with a violist. Suddenly, she has a
> sustained note on an open string.
> (not a great idea, but it happens) and surprise, her tuning has
> changed since the beginning of the concert. She can't match you.
> It's up to you to match her.
>
> 5. Exaggerated Accidentals
> You are playing in unison with your cellist in the Brahms trio.
> It's a scalar passage and you find that he is sharper on the 7th
> degree of the scale than you are. Sure he could match you, but
> maybe you need to follow the natural tendency of all good musicians
> to play the leading tone a little higher than the note would be
> otherwise, as your cellist has been trained to do.
>
> I think that we who teach need to find more ways to help our
> students look for auditory as well as visual cues about intonation,
> knowing that it's always more of a process than a fixed entity.
>
> Margaret
>
>
>
>
> Margaret Thornhill, DMA
> Artist/Teacher of Modern and Historical Clarinet
> http://www.margaretthornhill.com
>
>
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