 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: SimC
Date: 2005-08-10 15:55
I read about "the tuning cd" on the flute list, has anyone tried it out? It's supposed to get you listening for the place where the beats stop i.e. when you're in tune. This seems , to me , a better idea than watching a needle on a tuner. Nowhere in the uk seems to advertise it on the web, does anyone know where I'd get a copy? Could you make you're own by playing sine waves on a computer soundcard?
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Author: donald
Date: 2005-08-10 16:27
i wrote one using the Sibelius music writing program, but also some years ago recorded a very good flute player doing slow scales.... this kind of stuff really can improve your intonation as the most important skill is to listen and match, rather than look at a tuner and adjust.....
i had the flute player do this.....
note for two beats, silence for two beats, same note for four beats....
that way- you hear the note, play it in the silence (trying to match the pitch...) then play in unison with the flute.
this way you can clearly hear the note you are about to play and compare it to your own pitch before playing in unison- trains the ears
also, you can leave the tuner going and look at it after you've played the note to confirm your suspicions as to whether you're sharp or flat
i theory you could actually record similar stuff with several different instruments....
hope this was helpful
of course, nothing beats playing with real people- Rosario Mazzeo spent several years playing morning intonation drills with a flute player every morning in the basement of their apartment building.
donald
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Author: clarinets1
Date: 2005-08-10 16:35
my saxophone teacher at college made all of us get the "Tuning CD". it turned out to be a good investment. he would have us all practice scales and thirds with the CD. as we all know saxophones are never really in tune, so working with this CD helped me to learn how to automatically voice pitches up or down. fifteen minutes a day or a couple of scales a week really improved my ear, which also carried over to clarinet. i think it costs around $15, and there may be a website where you can order it.
just my two cents.
~~JK
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Author: Bnatural
Date: 2005-08-10 19:11
I don't have it around at the moment but I think that it was advertised in Sax Journal for a long time and likely there was a webpage... I'll this later if I have a chance to look
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Author: David Peacham
Date: 2005-08-10 19:24
(error, see post below)
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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.
Post Edited (2005-08-10 19:27)
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Author: David Peacham
Date: 2005-08-10 19:26
Like Donald, I have a do-it-yourself version of this, in Mozart (<www.mozart.co.uk>). After a tuning note, and an arpeggio to set the tempo, there's a chromatic scale, followed by the 12 major and 24 minor scales, all over the Bb clarinet's "normal" range from concert D3 to concert F6.
I would attach the Mozart file and a MIDI conversion in case anyone finds it useful, but the BBoard won't let me.
Very easy to do in the notation package of your choice. Of course, it plays back in equal temperament, which may not be what you want.
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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: clarinetwife
Date: 2005-08-10 19:35
David Peacham wrote:
>
Of course, it plays back in equal temperament, which may not be
> what you want.
>
Oh my, ain't that the truth. I believe in using the tuner to get to know the tendencies of the instrument and then put it away for real world ensemble playing. Haven't used the tuning CD, though, so I don't know how it might work to help with listening skills in the practice room.
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-08-10 22:00
Your best bet is to use the tuner in Smartmusic.
It gives you a tone to tune with as well as shows where you are at the same time.
Tune with your ears, then if you need - verify with your eyes.
The tuning cd is an obnioxus midi organ playing 1 note for a few minutes. Then another note for a few minutes.
Grates on the nerves quite quickly.
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Author: SimC
Date: 2005-08-10 22:45
Thanks David you may have just saved me $20+, if it's just a midi organ I can do it myself, though I was interested that some (like JK) found it useful. What is this tuner in smartmusic, hardware or software? I recorded some sine waves in perfect 5ths which I like to play long notes to as you can also put the 3rd in on your instrument. But, as mentioned earlier, what the actual "in tune " you should be striving for is a matter of debate. I have been trying to get a more flexible embouchure for years but I'm never sure if I'm pushing too far or not far enough. The differences should be fairly minimal according to some sources. Has anyone read the articles posted on the web by Soushi (I think that's the spelling) about sax mouthpiece exercises, he believes, and teaches, that your embouchure should be flexible enough to produce a full scale on the mouthpiece alone, no instrument connected. I haven't achieved this yet. Do you think this is also applicable to the clarinet or is the embouchure less dynamic?
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Author: K.B.M
Date: 2005-08-10 22:47
Hey SimC,
I searched for the tuning cd in a search engine, and found that the CD is for sale at: http://www.thetuningcd.com/.
I have never tried the Tuning CD and havn't done much research on it, but it sounds like it could help my tuning problem. Maybe I'll give it a try!
Good luck,
Katie
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-08-11 01:24
"Do you think this is also applicable to the clarinet or is the embouchure less dynamic?"
Yes, of course it is applicable to the Clarinet just as much.
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2005-08-11 12:48
One element abut tuning is working with getting the octaves as close as possible on the clarinet to being in tune and using a tuner to do this. Many players also spend lots of money on tuners but don't understand that it only works for you if you learn to play in tune. Generally most clarinetists have trouble with sharpness so the ear has to be developed when to hear for sharpness by understanding the degrees of the scale by how they should sound....not guessing
I find tuning forks are also very good in that they are an unchanging intensity and allow for blending...most tuning machines have a dreadful sine wave sound that does not allow for blending.
David Dow
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Author: Sylvain
Date: 2005-08-11 14:00
I will have ot look for it but I had a band director who told us about a CD which plays chords for you in which you have to fit.
Very good for playing harmonies and learning how to fit in an unequal tempered scale. Something much more realistic for most musical situation.
Larry Guy's book is on Intonation is a good reference and exercise book to get familiar with intonation. It helped me quite bit...
-S
--
Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>
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