 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: davyd
Date: 2011-11-23 04:25
Recently, some of the community ensembles I play in have taken a novel approach to the tuning ritual that begins each rehearsal.
In orchestra, the oboist gives a Bb for winds and brass, and an A for strings. In concert band, the oboist gives a Bb for brass and an A for woodwinds. Bear in mind: both ensembles are made up of amateurs, with a wide range of abilities (and disabilities).
I'm supposing that the thinking here is to provide the respective instrument families with a tuning note more suited for them. No doubt there's some benefit to that; in particular, I'm informed that A440 is not a good note for valved brass. But does that benefit outweigh the fact that different sections have tuned to different pitches?
Is bitonal tuing a creative idea? Or is it totally stupid? Or somewhere in between? Your thoughts, please!
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2011-11-23 04:54
In that situation, I'd say it's a placebo that someone has convinced themselves on. Intonation varies so much based on the context and the individual characteristics of the ranges of each instrument that I see little benefit to such an activity.
It might give a bit of an edge if the instruments do indeed all find those to be more amicable respective tuning notes. Don't expect the effect to last more than a few minutes, though, due to changing temperatures, later adjustments to match harmonic context, and a myriad other factors.
Additionally, especially in amateur groups (though also in some more seasoned ensembles), I more often than not see tuning done as something more out of tradition than effectiveness. Everyone plays an A, some people push in or pull out, and you move on, whether or not the group was actually in tune. Even in situations where one player holds a note and each player down the line takes turns playing along with that player to match pitch, I've heard countless times someone play 5-10 cents off, give a satisfied nod, and move on to the next player. The tuning note serves primarily to weed out anything that's WAY out of whack.
So, I'm not saying that it can't be effective, just that it seems to me an attempt to tweak a tiny aspect of a process that has a huge amount of variance, and any benefit is likely to be lost in the margin of error.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2011-11-23 10:23
From a band perspective it does give SOME comfort to those (stupid trumpet players) who are more comfortable HEARING their fundamental.
The idea of tuning is that ALL gear to the same number of vibrations, so there is no guarantee that is the case if even the same person gives the two separate pitches BUT......... I think the comfort can add SECURITY, which is always a good thing.
...................Paul Aviles
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Author: BartHx
Date: 2011-11-23 16:52
The purpose of tuning is not to get everyone in tune with each other over the entire range of their instruments. It is to get everyone close enough to be able to match tuning as you play through the composition. No instrument is going to be totally in tune even with itself, let alone the other instruments in the ensemble or within the context of the composition. Tuning is not something you do at the beginning and then forget about. It is something that should be going on constantly. You tune as a group in order to be close enough to make the necessary corrections as you play. Exactly which note you use to accomplish that is not critical (so long as it is not one that you know has tuning problems on your instrument). Since tuning is likely to change as you play, I use the tuning note in three octaves to check how my tuning is trending under the existing conditions.
No matter what note(s) you use to tune, the key is to listen, listen, listen.
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Author: Wes
Date: 2011-11-23 17:24
As an oboe player, I've given thousands of A's in orchestras of all kinds, but never have been asked to give a Bb in an orchestra. Lately, it appears that it is hip to give a Bb for the brass in a band and an A for the woodwinds. A Bb is sufficient in a band and the A is not necessary. The trumpets will still play their high notes sharp even with a great resume.
It has also become hip to tune the whole band to a tuba. If the tuba has a tuner in front of him this is ok, but to tune a band to an out-of-tune tuba is not a good idea. Bands have traditionally tuned to the first clarinet player.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2011-11-23 17:25
These days nearly every oboist has a tuner on his/her music stand and lips whatever pitch is being used to be in tune with A440. So, assuming your oboist is referring to a tuner, it's likely that the tuning notes will get everyone as close to each others' overall pitch as tuning with a single note would. There are some band directors who insist brass tune to B-flat, clarinets (and maybe flutes) to F (written G) and saxes to yet something else (I forget off-hand what it is) for reasons I've never really considered very good. The best you get in any large ensemble is close. Then players' ears need to take over.
Mass tuning is, I've always thought, more critical among string sections because those instruments can be much farther out of tune to start with than any wind instrument (hence the use of A in the first place - there are only two open strings, D and A, that are common to all four of the standard orchestral string instruments, and I guess of the two someone back in history decided A was for some reason better to start from).
Karl
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