 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Wayne Thompson
Date: 2003-01-28 02:46
See my note of a few weeks ago, Buffet Festival Flexibility http://www.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=100826&t=100826.
I asked if Festivals were considered more flexible than R-13's, and I also mentioned that my new horn was generally sharp, but seemed flat at the upper chalumeau D and E. Well, for the sake of completeness, this is my current conclusion: the horn might have minor peculiarities, but I need to play on it a lot more before I do anything. Good players have played even, in tune, scales on it, yet I play some notes flat. I've played on my old Evette Schaeffer for 42 years; I will need some time to get used to the new Festival. The tuning issues are somehow mine, though I might need to address some of the overall sharpness with a different mouthpiece someday. As for flexibility, some of you have reminded me that Francoise has described the Festival as more flexible. I understand that the tone holes have a taper (becoming larger closer to the bore?) and have more undercutting. Certainly is is more flexible than my old clarinet, and that is contributing to my bemusement about it.
I love having a new horn. This process of shopping and buying, and now learning to play, a new professional clarinet is a blast. I should say that, more than ever, it all seems more an art than a science. Some folks on this board and on the list have said that they have tried many, many horns before finding a satisfactory one. I wonder if someone could be too scientific and particular, if it might be better to just pick one, and then return to the problem of playing it as well as possible. This goes along with the discussion of the factors that should eliminate a possible purchase immediately. See the thread: 'Observations during R-13 trials' http://www.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=102296&t=102296 I wonder if others get confused in the trying out of new horns, as I did, and inadvertently compensate for tuning issues, or allow old habits to create tuning issues where there may be none.
Wayne Thompson
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Peter
Date: 2003-01-28 04:07
Hi Wayne,
If this is a brand new horn, you may not want to do this with it, but as long as you reminded me of this, I'll put it here and maybe it could be of help to someone else with difficult tuning issues due to erratically tuned tone holes.
I have played and owned some old clarinets once used by professional orchestral musicians, and learned one or two tricks they used to balance the instrument's tuning capabilities that, apparently, worked well.
If you have a clarinet that has some notes that play flat, and some that play sharp making it difficult to tune by way of the barrel, remember that if you reduce the size of a tone hole, it will play a flatter note and, if enlarged, it will play a sharper note. (Did I say that right? Anybody?)
What some of these old timers used to do was to glue a small, thin piece of material inside tone holes that played too sharp to reduce the diameter, therefore making the note flatter. (I've seen everything from lackered-over leather to tinfoil inside some of these holes. The trick is for the "filler" to be of a non-absorbent nature.)
It's time consuming, and someone like the Brannens, or David(?) Spiegelthal can actually tune it for you in a more permanent sort of way, but if you want to experiment, and tune the individual notes to your specific way of playing, you can experiment with this.
You can actually even do it with something easy to work with, like small, thin strips of masking tape which you can apply in layers. Masking tape won't last very long, but it will, eventually, be easier to remove than glue and leave little or no residue.
The idea is to make the sharper notes flat enough to match the ones that are already flat, or too flat, therefore enabling you to tune "across" the board" by way of the barrel.
It's time consuming and you have to do it all in front of a tuner, but it can be a fun project and you can end up with a more tunable instrument.
There is a Cuesnon(sp?) presently owned by someone I know in South Miami, that allegedly belonged to someone who use to play for a local symphony orchestra, that has so much stuff glued to the inside of some tone holes that it's surprising it played!
But play it did, and, believe it or not, in fine tune all the way across the registers with the barrel pulled about one millimeter.
I would not advise you to try to enlarge any tone holes. That's much better left to real professionals.
Congratulations on your new instrument and enjoy it!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Rene
Date: 2003-01-28 05:35
Doesn't enlarging a tone hole make the tone sharper, because effective bore length decreases? Then it would suffice to make the hole smaller or larger only on the top side. Just a curious question.
Rene
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Wayne Thompson
Date: 2003-01-28 05:58
Peter, thanks for an interesting note. It makes sense, that this sort of think could be done to the degree you describe.
But for myself, I didn't explain clearly. For now, the major problem is me, not the clarinet. I think the difference between it and what I have been used to has fooled me. I need to play scales and listen to intervals!
WT
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Peter
Date: 2003-01-28 16:24
Rene,
Unless you are a trained technician with excellent skills or the instrument is a real junker, I wouldn't try to enlarge a tone hole myself.
Wayne,
You're welcome. I really didn't think you'd want to do it, either way, especially with that horn, but as long as you reminded me of the thing, which I hadn't thought about in years, I just spewed forth with it. (As usual?)
Peter
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Eddie
Date: 2003-01-28 18:05
If the instrument has flat notes and isn't brand new, make sure the tone holes don't have any debris or dirt in them. I brought my throat B-flat up 25 cents (!!) by cleaning out some gunk that had somehow eluded previous removal attempts.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
