 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: David Peacham
Date: 2003-08-25 19:34
I am learning the 1st movement of the Saint-Saens sonata and tried playing along to the recording by Walter Boeykens and Robert Groslot.
I normally play at A=440, but thought the recording might well be at A=442 or even sharper.
Not so. It was way flatter. I had to pull the barrel out a good eighth-inch more than usual, and lip like fury to try to get it in tune. (OK, I know I should have pulled out the middle joint too).
I don't have this problem when playing along to other recordings, so it isn't my pitch or my CD player that's at fault.
Does anyone know what pitch is normally used in Belgium? He wasn't playing an old instrument - the picture shows an perfectly ordinary Boehm clarinet.
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If there are so many people on this board unwilling or unable to have a civil and balanced discussion about important issues, then I shan't bother to post here any more.
To the great relief of many of you, no doubt.
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2003-08-25 22:32
Pitch in Belgium is A=442. Don't know why Boeykens's recording is so high? He plays a Buffet clarinet and Vandoren mouthpiece.
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2003-08-25 23:40
This might more likely be attributed to strangeness in the recording/editing/mastering process rather than unusual pitch.
What type recording? CD? Unlikely DDD, I'd say. And if it is DDD, then please ignore everything I just wrote. 
Regards,
John
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Author: diz
Date: 2003-08-26 00:48
I'd wouldn't be surprise if your CD player might just be playing back slightly out of pitch - mine does and it cost me a fortune, much to my vexation. Have you tested its pitch on other CDs?
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Author: David Peacham
Date: 2003-08-26 06:48
Liquorice - no, the recording is too _low_ in pitch. Too high would have surprised me less.
John - the recording is ADD. Seems to date back to 1982.
diz - the CD player is fine. I play along to other recordings, including accompaniment disks for grade exams, and the pitch is just fine. I went straight from the Boeykens's version of the 2nd movement of the sonata to an accompaniment disk of the same piece, and had to push the clarinet in to its normal A=440 setting again.
Maybe it is common for older recordings to be at odd pitches. I haven't tried enough older recordings to know.
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If there are so many people on this board unwilling or unable to have a civil and balanced discussion about important issues, then I shan't bother to post here any more.
To the great relief of many of you, no doubt.
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Author: sdr
Date: 2003-08-26 12:07
If you have access to a reasonably modern Mac computer, you can use a spectacular piece of software, "Amazing Slow Downer, " by Roni Music (<www.ronimusic.com>). You can insert a CD in your computer drive and IN REAL TIME adjust the pitch and tempo up and down. Pitch and tempo can be adjusted INDEPENDENTLY. Its an amazing bit of digital signal processing and fabulous for learning pieces by ear or playing along.
-sdr
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Author: bobmester
Date: 2003-08-28 16:15
Amazing Slow Downer is a fantastic program, I use it on Win XP Pro. I recommend it highly. It slows down speed without changing pitch and it changes pitch without affecting speed or both!. Very inexpensive.
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2003-08-28 16:30
On an ADD recording, likely an off-speed mag tape machine somewhere in that analog path was the cause of this problem. It's unusual, but obviously it does happen.
Aside from software solutions, Eventide offers dedicated hardware that will fix this in real time and do other fascinating things, such as self-harmonization.
Regards,
John
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