 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: HANGARDUDE
Date: 2014-02-01 22:03
I'd like to ask how easy or hard is it to tune from A442 down A440 on large instruments such as the bass clarinet?
Josh
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2014-02-01 17:51
Easy. Eight Cents. Pull the neck a bit, and it'll be a question of ad hoc tuning. (You should listen to your band mates anyway, and fine tune accordingly)
--
Ben
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Author: rmk54
Date: 2014-02-01 22:57
Again, I must disagree.
I'm sure you can alter some notes by pulling out, but you will not have a consistent scale, especially in the middle of the staff.
Remember that for a good clarinet tone you should always be near the top of the pitch. Loosening your embouchure will only result in an unfocussed, fuzzy tone.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2014-02-02 00:09
442Hz isn't massively sharp compared to 440Hz and doesn't require much adjustment to bring down to pitch, so you'll be fine. I doubt many will even notice if some notes are off by around 1-2Hz anyway.
If you consider most flutes are built to 442Hz and if the player is using their ears and has made the necessary adjustments of the headjoint cork and pulled the headjoint out sufficiently, then all their 8ves will be in tune with one another.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2014-02-01 19:26
tune by your ears, not by the tuner. Every instrument has notes that are off a bit, and then there's the issue of just and even and well-tempered intonation. Insisting on "your" tuning is far far worse than the occasional lipping up or down. You're a team player on bass - play with the team, make compromises, help it "hum".
(I often find myself pulling out or shoving in mid-concert as my instrument warmed itself out of tune compared to other voices. For me, it's part of being a musician and not a mere player)
--
Ben
Post Edited (2014-02-02 00:28)
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Author: ebonite
Date: 2014-02-02 02:28
My Selmer bass clarinet is designed to play at A442, and plays at that pitch with the tuning slide pulled out approx 5mm. But I play it at A440, with the tuning slide pulled out about 10mm, and the tuning is very good throughout the whole range.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2014-02-02 00:25
My F. Arthur Uebel Oehler-system bass clarinet, as received, was tuned to somewhere around A-443. Lengthening the neck about 5 mm to get the overall pitch down to 440 made the throat A and G# too low, so I had to relocate those toneholes slightly higher on the instrument. Now it all plays perfectly at 440.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2014-02-02 10:35
>> I'm sure you can alter some notes by pulling out, but you will not have a consistent scale, especially in the middle of the staff. <<
Can you clarify how you would play in tune when you have to play both (e.g.) 440 and 442?
>> Lengthening the neck about 5 mm to get the overall pitch down to 440 made the throat A and G# too low <<
Completely understandable, though I often have to open the neck by more than that just because of tuning cahnges from different weather and/or when the clarinet warms up while playing.
Does anyone (referring mostly to the first quote) really play only at one very specific pitch and unable to use their instrument reliably for different tuning? What do you do when it's colder/hotter?
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Author: ebonite
Date: 2014-02-02 15:36
>
> Does anyone (referring mostly to the first quote) really play
> only at one very specific pitch and unable to use their
> instrument reliably for different tuning? What do you do when
> it's colder/hotter?
I don't keep the tuning slide constantly at 10mm, but I start with it pushed in further before it is warmed up. Also, in different temperatures, I have used nearly the whole of the tuning slide's range. I have played with the slide pushed nearly all the way in (for a performance of Mahler 1 in a freezing cold cathedral), and I have also played it with the slide nearly all the way out (in an August heat wave). The two-piece neck that you find on selmer and buffet basses allows a lot of flexibility.
BTW, if necessary, I adjust the throat notes by either adding extra fingers, or opening a venting key as appropriate.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2014-02-03 00:31
I've been a professional bass clarinet player all my life. It's not much of a problem pushing the neck it a bit to bring the pitch up to 442. No bass clarinet is perfectly in tune to begin with so a good player is already making adjustments as they play. The main problem would be if your break notes are already sharp, as they are on many of the older models, it will make them more difficult to play in tune so that could be a problem or if your throat tones are already sharp it will make them too sharp. There's always an adjustment to be made when you pull out or push in. You just have to learn to adjust.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2014-02-03 01:17
per the sharp throat notes - I brought those on my Artley/Bundy bass down to an acceptable level by glueing cork crescents in the upper part of the A and Ab tone hole chimneys. No significant problems with stuffiness etc.
--
Ben
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2014-02-03 04:48
>> I don't keep the tuning slide constantly at 10mm... <<
Just to clarify, my "question" was for someone like rmk54 or anyone else who implies that it's almost impossible to be flexible. I play mainly bass clarinet and often have to tune to 440-441-442 and occasionally something else e.g. with an instrument that has a slightly higher or lower fixed tuning that can't be changed. Sometimes it's easier and sometimes harder, but an instrument that can play e.g. 440 but make it almost impossible to play anything else in tune, would be useless to me. Though I haven't actually found an instrument like that... any bass clarinet that I've played and considered to have "good intonation" would allow doing that.
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