Klarinet Archive - Posting 000193.txt from 2005/10

From: Nancy Buckman <eefer@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Upward Creeping pitch
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2005 14:19:37 -0400

At 09:17 AM 10/21/2005, you wrote:
>Come on, Joe. What are standards for, anyway? Among the questions
>you've left out are, "Can manufacturers rely on making instruments for a
>standard pitch?" and "Can musicians take their instruments from one
>performing organization to another?".

I was going to stay out of this fray, mainly because I am hot under the
collar at the moment about this very subject. But here's my take. I was
called to sub for a friend in another orchestra who is sick. I took the
shortest (63mm) barrel I own and the longest (67mm), knowing just how
orchestras can be about pitch, especially community ones. This particular
orchestra is a semi-pro community orchestra and I was to be paid. After
the orchestra tuned, we started rehearsal (Polovetsian Dances) and I was
called on the carpet for being flat. I informed the conductor that I had a
tuner attached to my instrument and the shortest barrel that I owned on my
clarinet and that I could not bring my pitch any higher. I also told him I
was 17 cents sharp on the tuner with the short barrel. I then asked what
he wished me to do. He suggested that I better find a way to fix the
problem. So I did. I packed up and left. I have invested thousands of
dollars now in barrels, to suit people who won't play at a semblance of
standard pitch, and I refuse to invest any more. It costs a string player
nothing to slide their fingers back towards the nut. Why should I foot the
bill for their laziness (and the conductor's "God complex" )?

Nancy

Nancy Buckman
Principal Clarinet / Orchestra AACC
eefer@-----.net

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