 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Eina Kari Rajesh
Date: 2014-08-14 19:42
Hi all,
The tuner on my iPhone set to Concert A440 and I played A4 above the middle C and thought that it should show 440Hz to be in tune. But A4 sounded 392 and it reads as perfect and sounds the same to A4 played on another tone generator app.
And what is this A440 or A442 or A4..meant to say.
EKR
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Author: jdbassplayer
Date: 2014-08-14 20:15
The clarinet is a B-flat instrument, meaning that any note you play on the clarinet will be different than what you see on a tuner. The actual pitch that you see on your tuner is commonly referred to as concert pitch. The C scale on you clarinet would be a concert B-flat scale, which is why the clarinet is a B-flat instrument. 392 hertz is concert G, which would be an A on your clarinet. A concert A on your clarinet would be B natural and so on.
When you see A=440 or A=442, that is referring to the different standard pitches that you can have. A=440 means that in the note A there are exactly 440 individual soundwaves per second. Different countries use different standard pitches which is why tuners must have the ability to change their tuning standard.
Hope this helps
Post Edited (2014-08-14 20:20)
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Author: Eina Kari Rajesh
Date: 2014-08-14 20:38
Thanks jdbassplayer,
On a enthu I posted the question, but lately I got that Bflat clarinet sounds a major 2nd lower and changed the settings on tuner and got G392.
Is it that one can hear and recognise a difference of 2Hz (A440 and A442) only on a single note or that hearing an octave higher or lower to feel it, as the frequency doubles or halves.
Is perfect pitch an inborn quality or can be developed, I could only sense the difference of about 20Hz without the help of tuner, knowing that the note I play.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2014-08-14 20:50
The written/played A on a Bb clarinet will sound a tone lower (sounding concert G) compared to a piano, flute, violin, guitar, oboe as they're concert pitch instruments whereas a Bb clarinet is pitched a whole tone lower.
To compensate, the music has to be written a tone higher than concert pitch, so a piece written in concert F Major will be in G Major for Bb clarinet.
But as far as tuners go, you should calibrate your tuner to 440Hz and any note you play as a tuning note should have the needle pointing straight up to be in tune. Pianos are usually tuned to 440Hz, so you need to be sure you're in tune with them.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: BartHx
Date: 2014-08-14 21:21
Your question about perfect pitch is open for debate. The only people I have known with perfect pitch were sisters. Obviously they shared some common genetics, but they also shared a common environment. Without perfect pitch or a tuner, you can tell a 2 Hz difference by comparison to another tone. Two tones that are slightly out of tune with each other will create "beats" (alternating slight louder and softer sound). The slower the beats, the more nearly in tune the two tones are with each other. Those beats are what create dissonance. If the wavelength of the higher tone is an exact fraction of the wavelength of the lower tone, they create what we hear as harmony. I know many people who can identify the accuracy of a tuning note by ear. However, their "perfect pitch" does not extend beyond that one note.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2014-08-14 21:46
While having perfect pitch may be a gift, it can also be a curse as while playing you have to be in tune with what's going on around you rather than ploughing on regardless.
In certain situations (usually down to temperature) you will have to tune sharper or flatter than 440Hz, so when it's cold you'd tune down to around 438Hz or up to 443Hz when it's hot. But only if there aren't any fixed pitch instruments in the group such as pianos, keyboards, tuned percussion, etc. that can't be tuned (or retuned easily), so you'll have to do the best you can to tune to 440Hz in those conditions which can be a challenge.
IRCAM in Paris published a chart with recommended calibrations within certain temperature ranges which all wind ensembles should take on board instead of blindly tuning to 440Hz all the time regardless of the temperature.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2014-08-15 01:52
The first time I experienced the effect of temperature on tuning was when our small group played in a convalescent home where the temperature must have been 90. When I expressed my concern to an more experienced guy he told me to "leave it alone, we're all out of tune and if you correct your tuning it will mess us up".........
Bob Draznik
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Author: afmdoclaw
Date: 2014-08-16 03:32
Perfect pitch is "genetic"
Relative pitch is learned.
PROS AND CONS TO BOTH
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2014-08-16 04:11
Attachment: ircam.jpg (56k)
Attached is the chart.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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