Klarinet Archive - Posting 000202.txt from 2005/10

From: Adam Michlin <amichlin@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Upward Creeping pitch
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2005 17:10:19 -0400

Now, if only best tones were cashable at the bank...

The life of a freelance musician is such that you can show up a thousand
times on time and if you miss one gig, even due to the most unforeseeable
reasons, you hear about it for years afterwards. Talking back during
rehearsal to the conductor (*especially* when the conductor is wrong) or
walking out of a rehearsal, that gets talked about for decades. Like it or
not, such gossip can make or break a freelance career.

-Adam

At 04:51 PM 10/22/2005, Gary Truesdail wrote:
>Good for you Nancy!!! Best tones are not when you have to pinch upward to
>the max just to get in tune.
>
>GaryT
>
>Nancy Buckman wrote:
>>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" )?

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