Klarinet Archive - Posting 000101.txt from 2010/11

From: Richard D Bush <rbushidioglot@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] RES: Orchestral Pitch
Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2010 10:23:01 -0500


On Nov 11, 2010, at 2:38 AM, Diego Casadei wrote:

kurtheisig@-----.net wrote:
>
> Band directors: Try an experiment. Tune your bands to 439 for one
> month. I bet you never go back.

Not with modern instruments. My clarinets play in tune, when they are
cold, at 442 Hz with a 66 mm barrel (the "normal" size is 65 mm for
them). As soon as they warm up, I need to add roughly another
millimeter.

I can play at 440 Hz, but start feeling unbalance between "throat" tunes
and "all closed" notes. Indeed, whatever we do with the barrel, the
holes stay in the same place. Hence, for me 440 Hz is a problem. Going
down will only make the situation worst.

Hence, if you want people to play more relaxed also in the acute ranges,
you really need to provide them with different instruments.

BTW, having 442 Hz as reference is also a problem for singers, so that I
really don't understand why we moved up to this reference. Apart from
the fact that shortening an instrument is much more difficult than
adjusting the positioning of the barrel, so that the producers prefer to
stay on (their) safe side.

Cheers,
Diego

--

Diego Casadei
__________________________________________________________
Physics Department, CERN
New York University bld. 32, S-A19
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New York, NY 10003 Mailbox J28310
USA Switzerland
office: +1-212-998-7675 office: +41-22-767-6809
mobile: +39-347-1460488 mobile: +41-76-213-5376
http://cern.ch/casadei/ Diego.Casadei@-----.ch
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