 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2007-11-03 22:41
(this is not about making your clarinet faster)
I noticed that our director likes to tune us to a mid-staff C (or a concert Bb). I find this wrong in a way that it puts too much weight on the lower joint notes, and sometimes the throat notes are quite noticeably out of whack. Wouldn't it be better to tune say to a top-of staff F or a below-staff Bb (clarinet - not concert - pitch) as a compromise? So a C might be a bit flat but the throat A might only be a bit sharp that way. What note are you tuned into?
Then...I recently acquired a Mazzeo Bundy for yucky weather gigs. I had to shorten the barrel a bit to get it up to 442. Now the throat A is hellish sharp (even I with my forgiving hearing notice it) while the other notes - being farther away from the barrel - are quite reasonably in tune. Anyhow - how do I bring that A down? It's not about the odd sixteenth A, it's about looooooooong As (it's a yucky weather gig, remember?). Fingerings? Fill up the hole? Sue Selmer?
--
Ben
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Author: Koo Young Chung
Date: 2007-11-04 00:06
You can put some electrical tapes (you may need more than one layer)
under the A key so that the A and Ab pads are lower when it's open.
Post Edited (2007-11-05 03:23)
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2007-11-04 00:23
That's generally the note I've used in band settings. I've been in situations where the director also recommends playing the ones up and down an octave as well, which I find works pretty well. If it's up to me, I play the middle one first to get a feel of the note, then the high one to tune the barrel, the low one to tune the middle joint, and the middle one again to see where it all ended up (or, if we're tuning with a B, to tune the bell).
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2007-11-04 01:14
if you take off the A key, you can put a layer of electrical tape in the top half of A and Ab hole to bring it down.
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Author: davidsampson
Date: 2007-11-04 05:17
Our band tunes to F, open G for clarinet's. I don't like it, as its not a very stable note, but it works well enough. If we are spending lots of time tuning (every now and then our BD will decide to spend half and hour or so tuning on a dozen different notes, and checking everyones individual pitch) we will also check clarinet c's, in and below the staff.
I once heard that the best way to tune a clarinet is to tune open G to get the barrel length, then middle C or on-the-staff G to get the middle joint set, then long B to get the bell in the right place. This has worked very well for me, but obviously you are at your conductors whim as to how the band tunes.
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Author: redwine
Date: 2007-11-04 10:29
Hello,
When I tune in an ensemble, I start with the pitch that is given by the oboe (or whatever instrument gives it), then quietly move on to a 4th above, then the 5th, then the octave, then a major second. I listen to the relationships of those notes against the fundamental pitch given. If you do this quietly enough, your director probably won't hear and thus won't care.
Ben Redwine, DMA
owner, RJ Music Group
Assistant Professor, The Catholic University of America
Selmer Paris artist
www.rjmusicgroup.com
www.redwinejazz.com
www.reedwizard.com
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Author: BobD
Date: 2007-11-04 13:31
Tuning Bb instruments to "mid staff C" was (is?) common for concert bands in my experience.
Bob Draznik
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Author: rtmyth
Date: 2007-11-04 14:38
Open G for barrel, then mid G for middle joint. Both notes approached by slurring from two notes away. Ambient 70 F. For other temperatures the instrument will not be as in tune with itself.
richard smith
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Author: grifffinity
Date: 2007-11-04 17:17
Quote:
Tuning Bb instruments to "mid staff C" was (is?) common for concert bands in my experience.
I do participate in a local community band, and we always tune to concert Bb. The only issue is that some of the less experienced members of the clarinet section don't understand how to tune their instruments or that one note in tune does not equal all notes in tune.
In our last concert, we had a transcribed chorale work where the clarinet section played in the chalumea register. The throat tones were horribly out of tune, although our collective Concert Bb's were generally "in tune". I suggested we tune to Concert F (open G), and WOW - it was an illumination. Just bad....20 different takes on the pitch of F. Part of the problem is some people were pulling out of the barrell to tune their Concert Bb, which just made the throat tones horribly flat.
In orchestra, I do subscribe to Ben Redwine's tuning method as he illustrated in the post above. I find intonations in concert band a different kind of beast - something about trying to tune with 20 clarinets is much harder than tuning a wind octet in orchestra.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-11-04 17:45
Too many players will only 'tune' to the one note (concert mid-stave Bb) with complete disregard for the tuning on the rest of the instrument, then plough on thinking because that note is in tune, the rest are. And more often than not, they aren't.
Then there are many band directors that don't know how woodwinds work (so they have no idea how to remedy any situation) as they're usually brass players. And there are plenty of woodwind players that don't know what to do in any given situation either, and also those that don't want to know if anyone advises them as they already know everything, except how to play the thing.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-11-04 21:22
Yep, make tuning and resonance fingerings an important part of your normal technique.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: ChrisArcand
Date: 2007-11-05 01:11
Cripes people.
"Too many players will only 'tune' to the one note (concert mid-stave Bb) with complete disregard for the tuning on the rest of the instrument, then plough on thinking because that note is in tune, the rest are. And more often than not, they aren't. "
Thank you.
Face it folks, the clarinet is acoustically a crap instrument; it's unique problems and variety of tonal and pitch-related issues are part of why we love it so much.
In other words, you best be tuning broken chords, perfect intervals, and all that good stuff when you hear that one tuning note, whatever it is.
In other words, get some relative pitch.
CA
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Author: pelo_ensortijado
Date: 2007-11-05 11:52
most youth-bands and -orchestras here tune to concert A. which is imho the worst note to tune by. the B is NEVER in tune to the rest. so when they tune, everything else is most often high!! :P
i prefer mr redwines method! :D
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