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Re: phones in rehearsal

Author: JEG ★2017
Date: 2019-05-18 23:45

Reminds me of a scenario I saw too many times in the orchestra I quit last year. The 1st flute turns to the 2nd clarinet and tells him that he is out of tune with her. He immediately pulls out his tuner, plays the note and proclaims that he is in agreement with the tuner. The rehearsal goes on with intonation in the wind section no better than before.

If I was a conductor I would make it a hard and fast rule that nobody other than the 1st oboe would be allowed to have a tuner. Too many people in the amateur ranks use them as crutches to give themselves the illusion that their intonation is good, rather than use them to ear-train. There's a lot you can learn from tuners if you are willing to commit to getting intervals and pitches into your ear and you can learn to better hear what is in tune. Not so much if all you are doing is playing so that the needle on the tuner is pointing straight up.

When I played in the above-mentioned orchestra I played mostly bass clarinet, some saxophone and some clarinet. Things would get tedious due to non-practiced parts and a conductor who was not necessarily in command of his music. Long periods spent listening to the string section being drilled on basic rhythms, etc. made it understandable if somebody would be texting or doing a crossword puzzle. I wouldn't be proud of it but sometimes it's a mental survival strategy. It's another story in a professional situation.

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phones in rehearsal new

Philip Caron

2019-05-15 05:40