 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: HANGARDUDE
Date: 2013-12-06 07:45
I've playe the clarinet for 5 years, and I just realized not only joints, necks and barrels are tuned to different Hzs, even mouthpieces are tuned in such a manner!
A hypothetical question: I'd like to to know if a A443 mouthpiece is fitted on a A440 setup, will it affect the pitch? If so, in what degree?
Josh
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2013-12-06 10:38
This is one of my favorite questions.
Firstly their are TWO different tunings that we refer to commonly. The first is INTERNAL pitch which is moving from one note to another. For example, you want a half step (moving from "C" to "C#") to be an actual HALF STEP and not something smaller like a quarter tone, or conversely too large to be more like a full step.
Second there is tuning that is sounding a note to a national standard which in our case (for the most part) concert "A" equals four hundred and forty vibrations per second. Fortunately for us most commercially available clarinets in the US are more similar than they are different in this regard. Mouthpiece manufacturers take advantage of this to market mouthpieces as being better for a certain final "pitch standard." What they mean really is that their mouthpiece is either slightly higher (A=442) or slightly lower (A=440) in pitch compared to another mouthpiece. The danger here is two fold. Firstly one might think using a certain mouthpiece will automatically play to a certain national pitch standard (NOT THE CASE). The other is that you may think a lower pitched mouthpiece is automatically better if you tend to play sharp to a tuner (this most definitely NOT THE CASE !!!!)
I would argue that the mouthpieces that produce a slightly higher sound are actually better for the internal pitch of most of our instruments but this is an argument for another thread.
But as some sort of reference for your question, I have used Vandorens that are "standard pitch" (of those the Masters seem to be the highest of sounds amongst them) vs. the so called American pitch 13 Series ("13" for R13) and, for me, I find that pull out as much as a two or three millimeters more for the "standard pitch" mouthpiece.
...................Paul Aviles
Post Edited (2013-12-06 13:16)
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2013-12-06 14:08
Who makes an A443 mouthpiece? I've heard of A442 but not 443. Of course if the clarinet is made to tune to A440 and MP plays sharp it will throw off the pitch a bit because it will play sharp. Most often this can be compensated with a larger barrel but I think it will depend on the instrument. It's possible that one register will tune sharper than another out of proportion because a longer barrel will effect the throat tones more than the bottom of the instrument so you may have to tweak the other parts of the instrument. Different size bores barrels can also effect the pitch of different registers. You can only truly know by trying it.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: cyclopathic
Date: 2013-12-06 15:17
Stephen Fox, "Basic Clarinet Acoustics":
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1.The mouthpiece bore affects both the overall pitch and the balance between the top and bottom of the playing range. It is usually conical (tapering towards the top), more rarely cylindrical.
It is essential to use a mouthpiece with the correct bore size and shape for a given clarinet. A mouthpiece with a bore smaller than ideal will play sharp up to about A in the second register, then flat above that; one with an oversize bore will behave in the opposite way, flat up to the same point and sharp above.(This is rather a moot point when discussing modern equipment from major manufacturers since virtually all mouthpieces currently manufactured have essentially the same bore, within a few tenths of a millimetre at least; it is crucial to consider it, however, when dealing with historical instruments, and clarinets with now-uncommon bore sizes.)
2.The barrel bore affects the tuning of the upper part of the second register and the lower altissimo notes; these are sharpened if the barrel bore is enlarged.The size and shape- cylindrical, reverse taper, compound taper, etc.- of the barrel bore also exert a disproportionally large effect on the playing feel and resistance of the entire range of the instrument.
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