 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: DougR
Date: 2016-06-14 20:58
I've heard the phrase a lot, and just realized I don't have a clue. What does it mean?
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Author: jthole
Date: 2016-06-14 21:48
No idea ... guess that it's sharp, or has "flexible intonation" like they say about old American saxophones?
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2016-06-14 23:00
Pitchy is NOT a good term if you are talking about a singer (behind their back). It means they are not hitting the right notes all the time (like Taylor Swift if you've ever heard her live).
So I would never use that phrase. If a horn is "pitchy," you move on to the next horn.
...............Paul Aviles
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2016-06-14 23:25
"Pitchy" is a British expression and, as Paul Aviles says, it means, "off-pitch." When Mel B (a former Spice Girl) uses the term as a judge on "America's Got Talent," she generally uses the term for a performance that's pretty much of an all-round disaster and sounds as if she's making an effort to tell the truth without sounding cruel. Usually she says something like, "Well, it sounded a bit pitchy, but..." and then she tries to say something nice. Her effort to qualify "pitchy" makes clear that pitchiness is not a good thing!
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: Wes
Date: 2016-06-15 01:27
"It is better to be sharp than out of tune!"
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Author: derf5585
Date: 2016-06-15 04:23
Your Audio Guide to Idol: 'Pitchy' Explained
http://www.people.com/people/package/americanidol2007/article/0,,20007868_20015200,00.html
fsbsde@yahoo.com
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2016-06-15 12:58
I'm sure Mel B has perfect pitch.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2016-06-15 18:49
"Nice horn, but a little pitchy."
My take finds this remark context sensitive:
In a clarinet context this refers to an instrument that has design flaws that make some of its notes too far out of tune than should be expected of a solid clarinet: which itself will not, without player adjustment, play perfectly in tune anyway.
"Nice horn, but a little pitchy" is what the guy/gal you paid to come along and try clarinets for you before you buy them might say after playing an instrument, especially up against a tuner--or to simply justify why you paid them to tag along. (I'm not against informed opinions on clarinet purchases/rentals, especially costly ones, I think they're important.)
It's what you say to the salesman of a good instrument to try to negotiate price down, or if it's true. It's what one player says when they try another player's setup and either believe what they say, or are trying to psych out the other player (or both), especially if the instrument was just picked.
If you say, "that was pitchy," without reference to the instrument, it implies intonation problems with the artist.
If you say, "nice horn, but a little pitchy," as an adjucator of others, you're a jerk unless you're in the know, have tried the instrument, played it relatively in tune with minimal artist adjustment necessary compared to other clarinets, and are sitting in judgement of the artist's ability to hear their play and/or adjust to it.
If you're a school music teacher, who knows all his rentals like the back of his hand, and knows the instrument you got stinks as it regards intonation, and knows that the player knows that, and knows that the player knows that YOU know that---he/she might be saying in some convoluted way that "it's not you, it's your lousy instrument."
If your a jazz instructor, you might refer to the clarinet player's instrument as their "horn," and may be commenting on their well executed improv., barring their ability to keep it in tune/key.
If your an advanced repair tech familiar with tone hole adjustment, from filling in to undercutting, it's what you say to a solid player after listening to them, whose instrument you feel you can make better. It's best communicated by the tech when all parties know that tech and player are both really advanced, so it only pokes holes (no pun) at the instrument and the tech's ability to address its issues with repair rather than artistry.
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Author: dorjepismo ★2017
Date: 2016-06-15 19:05
Nice to know. It sounded sort of like it might refer to a clarinet made out of pine.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2016-06-15 19:46
One way a clarinet itself might sound pitchy: extremely wide twelfths, common to beginner clarinets, where the clarion is sharp while the chalumeau is flat. On my first clarinet, a 1957 wooden Conn Director sold as an intermediate instrument at the time (bought new for me by my dad when I was a beginner), I bit like a crocodile to lip the chalumeau way up. When I bought a used Buffet R-13 as a middle-aged adult, the bad habit of biting lower notes was hard to break!
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: derf5585
Date: 2016-06-16 00:41
"Nice to know. It sounded sort of like it might refer to a clarinet made out of pine"
Does it have to do with pine tar so the perfect pitchy can be hit by the batter?
fsbsde@yahoo.com
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Author: DougR
Date: 2016-06-16 12:57
thanks everybody! Dave, appreciate the nuances! You clearly know the term and hang with those who do.
I always have a little discomfort listening to Al Cohn; when he plays with Zoot he doesn't necessarily sound out of tune with Zoot, and he always had a great blend in a section, but when he plays solos on his own, the horn sounds (to ME, and maybe to me only) out of tune with itself. That's what I would have called 'pitchy,' but thanks for the amplification.
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