 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bigno16
Date: 2004-05-09 16:45
I'm curious...how exactly does one get a better sense of pitch and intonation? Unless something is badly out of tune, I can't tell the difference between a note being out of tune, sharp, flat, or whatnot. Does everyone have these problems? Is a lot of it hereditary? Is there anything I can do to improve my sense of pitch and intonation? I wish I was able to tell these things more clearly, especially since I do play in a concert band often and it also would be extremely helpful in auditions, to be able to tell when I'm playing off-pitch, so that I could fix it. Any advice is appreciated!
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-05-09 18:06
In your ensemble, find someone to listen to, always. Someone who is playing the same thing you are. If you're not at the top of your section, that person should be in the chair one above you. Otherwise, listen to another part in the ensemble. Listen to them and try to completely match them. Fit your sound inside theirs. In most cases, if you can clearly hear yourself play, you are either a) playing too loud, or b) playing out of tune. Experiment as you play with different methods to make yourself flatter or sharper, and see when you begin to get sucked into the texture rather than sticking out.
As far as auditions go, pitch is a bit harder, since you don't have the context of the ensemble, and the discrepancies between just and equal temperament make it difficult to determine a "definite" pitch for any given note. This is made even trickier if you're playing with a piano. Good ensemble listening, to me, is the best way to help in this area as well.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: davor
Date: 2004-05-09 18:15
Buy yourself a tuner, and see how the things work with embouchure, reeds, pressing the alternative keys etc.
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Author: clarinerd
Date: 2004-05-09 19:25
Join a choir! I was lucky enough to attend a public high school that offered something like 10 different singing groups. I was in as many as I could be (minus the women's choir and quartet). Singing in a small chamber choir is the best way to get a sense of intonation and blend and tone as well. Singing teaches you to hear a pitch or interval before you produce it. Applying this to clarinet is extremely helpful.
Mark
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Author: RAMman
Date: 2004-05-09 21:08
This advice is all good.
My advice is to play second in an orchestra as much as possible. Playing second is an art that it not taught often, and I think it should be.
Whatever your principal does, they're never wrong (!?!) in terms of intonation (it's you job to match them...), so your ear will begin to distinguish what you need to do to match them. Good second players aren't always particularly great clarinet players, but they are fantastic listeners.
You also learn when you're likely to be out of tune before you get there. 2nd clarinets always seem to get the major 3rd of a chord, so need to keep them low for example.
I'm interested by the idea of principal players latching on to one other specific part in the orchestra. Personally I think you need to broaden that a little. Pilots would call it a 'mental air picture', being aware of every mountain, aircraft, SCUD missle and terrorist (sorry) around them. You need to be listening to everything, even if you don't notice you're doing it.
Danny.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-05-10 00:26
Ah, perhaps I wasn't clear. When I said find someone to listen to, always, I meant that at any given time throughout the piece, you should know who you are listening to. This may stay the same for minutes at a time or change every few beats. It can even sometimes be multiple people. But if you are just putting notes out there without your ear directed somewhere, you're more likely to be out of tune.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Burt
Date: 2004-05-10 00:36
Have you experienced "beats" when you and one other person are playing the same note? The faster the beats, the further out of tune you two are. You don't know if you're flatter or sharper until you lip the note flat or sharp and observe whether the beats get faster or slower.
If you can get the beats as slow as one per second, you're usually in good shape. For middle B on a Bb clarinet (440cps), that's about 4 cents of error, which is better than most groups can manage.
If I play a note and hear a fast sequence of beats, I know the other person is playing out of tune!
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2004-05-10 10:57
Hi,
Actually, there are two situations here. One is pitch and the other is intonation. In the case of pitch, I believe that you are asking about matching a specific frequency like A 440. Only a tuner (or in the old days, a tuning fork) will help you there unless you have perfect pitch and since I do not have it, I do not know how "fine" the tolerance for acurate pitch really exists.
In the case of of intonation, one can play well with others (match pitch or play in tune) and if the model pitch is inaccurate, you may have not accomplished much as all are not on pitch.
IMHO, both pitch and intonation must be attacked as separate items.
HRL
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