 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Dick
Date: 2004-09-03 18:49
I have been enjoying this board for some time, but this is my first posting. I hope someone can help with this mystery.
I have been doing a fair amount of reading regarding musical temperament and tuning, and it has been intriguing, but it seems that most references relate primarily to piano-type instruments or non-fretted strings. Does anyone here know about the temperament of woodwinds? I presume that the modern clarinet is tuned in equal temperament in the chalumeau register, but then what happens when we move up? Since we overblow a 12th, rather than an octave, how do we ever play in tune with other instruments? Is it just that the intonation is fuzzy enough that we unconsciously adjust for the small variations, or do we have to rely on foot tapping to drown out the discord? I can see how instruments like flutes, oboes, etc, could remain in tune throughout their ranges, but I am puzzled about the clarinet.
And how about brass instruments with valves or keys? It seems that they would have to be based on perfect temperament, but then how can they play in tune with, say, a piano?
Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks.
Dick
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2004-09-03 19:28
Hi Dick,
May I be the first to welcome you to the BB as a poster. There is an excellent book that begins to provide several of the answers that you seek. It is called Clarinet Acoustics and it was written by O. Lee Gibson. If you have a university close by that has a music program, check the school's library forst.
And here is a website that is the mother lode!
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/clarinetacoustics.html
These should get you started and the links provided are the very best academic thinking on a variety of related issue.
HRL
Post Edited (2004-09-03 19:34)
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Author: William
Date: 2004-09-03 21:09
Very basically, intonation on the clarinet is best achieved by the L&L method. That is, Listen and Lip. No clarinet is perfectly in tune--they all have to be PLAYED in tune. The answer really is more complex than this, but eventually, a good ear is what it all comes down to. Welcome aboard the BB.
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Author: David Peacham
Date: 2004-09-04 10:47
I can answer this with respect to brass instruments.
A natural (i.e. valveless) trumpet or horn plays the notes of the harmonic series. These are in exact integer ratios, hence are in just intonation, not in equal temperament.
Well, in theory they are. In practice there are deviations from this ideal, which are different for every individual instrument.
Once you add valves, it gets even worse.
The first valve adds enough tubing to lower the pitch by a tone. So you get the notes of a harmonic series a tone lower than before. You can adjust the valve slide to make that tone a little bit narrow or a little bit wide, as you like.
Similarly, the second valve adds enough tubing to lower the pitch by a semitone.
So first and second valves together lower the pitch by a minor third? Not so fast....
In order to lower the pitch by a tone, you have to add, not a certain number of millimeters, but a certain ratio. For a semitone, you need to add the square root of that ratio (in equal temperament, anyway). So using both valves together does not add enough tubing.
Therefore the player tunes the valve slides so that the first valve on its own is slightly flat, as is the second valve on its own, but the two valves used together are slightly sharp. The third valve is rarely used on its own, so he tunes that to be in tune when used with the first valve. Then second-and-third-together is flat, and all-three-valves is sharp.
Further corrections can be made with the lip. Also the horn player can alter the pitch by the position of the right hand in the bell. The trumpet player can alter it by a mechanism that allows him to change the setting of the third valve slide as he plays - like a tiny trombone.
The trombone, of course, has none of these problems, and is always perfectly in tune(!)
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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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