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 Which Barrel is 440?
Author: Scott 
Date:   2005-07-08 14:25

If you buy a clarinet with 2 barrels - 1 longer than the other, which one is tuned to 440 and which one is 442?

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 Re: Which Barrel is 440?
Author: Tyler 
Date:   2005-07-08 14:44

DEPENDS

on: barrel lengths; clarinet/mpc. combo; shape of your oral cavity; temperature in the room; your playing tendencies; etc.

What you should do is try them both with a tuner in front of you (borrow one if you have to). Seiko tuners/metronomes can tune from 440 to 445 and maybe even go a little below 440, I forget.

My guess would be that the longer barrel is for A440 and the shorter is for A442 but like I said, it depends.

-Tyler

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 Re: Which Barrel is 440?
Author: Alseg 
Date:   2005-07-08 15:32

Both
And Neither


Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-





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 Re: Which Barrel is 440?
Author: DavidBlumberg 
Date:   2005-07-08 16:17

66mm is the "standard length" for Bb Clarinets pitched at A440.

So if one is 64 that would be the "short one" and would be at 442 (around that).

Or, you could have one at 66 and one at 67 so the short one would be the 440 or around there (could be 442 is that's what your clarinet needed to be in pitch).

Idealy you don't want to pull out at all to be in tune, but that isn't always possible. That's what "tuning rings" are for.



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 Re: Which Barrel is 440?
Author: BobD 
Date:   2005-07-08 21:16

I'm inclined to agree with Alseq...."both and neither". My personal feeling has been that barrels are not "tuned" ...in the strictest technical sense...to a specific pitch but are offered so that the player can be assisted to tune the clarinet to his requirements. My impression of an "ideal" situation is that a given barrel ...all the way in...will "play" in tune when the clarinet is cold and that as it warms up a slight pull out of the barrel will keep the horn in tune. All other things being normal.....which they seldom are. David's above is probably an accurate assessment a good deal of the time.

Bob Draznik

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 Re: Which Barrel is 440?
Author: Liquorice 
Date:   2005-07-08 21:30

David wrote: "Idealy you don't want to pull out at all to be in tune, but that isn't always possible."

I disagree. I think it's ideal to be "in tune" when pulled out at least a millimetre. That way you can always push in if you have to play a fortissimo low F, or have to pick up a cold clarinet when changing from another instrument.

Regarding tuning rings I haven't found that they make any improvement in tuning or resonance comapared to when you pull out without the tuning rings. In fact, my throat notes are better in tune without tuning rings than they are with tuning rings.

We usually use 65mm barrels on Buffet B-flat clarinets to play at A=442. But that is in combination with French mouthpieces which aren't "American pitched". And then we have to pull out a bit once the instrument is warmed up.

But it really all depends on which clarinet and mouthpiece you are using, as well as all the other variables mentioned above.

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 Re: Which Barrel is 440?
Author: RosewoodClarinet 
Date:   2005-07-09 00:12

Some mouthpiece are designed to play at certain pitch. Some are for 440, 441, or 442 or even higher. And, embouchure and style of playing affect intonation as well, I think. So, we cannot give a definite answer for you unless you could tell us which mouthpiece you play.

The first thing is checking your intonation with tuner, though.

RosewoodClarinet

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