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Re: 440Hz mouthpiece on 442Hz tuning

Author: Jarmo Hyvakko
Date: 2020-07-13 10:17

There are basically two ways of changing the mouthpiece tuning: the overall length of the mouthpiece and the shape of the tone chamber. The overall length means the length of the tube-like portion of the inside that is below the tone chamber. That is easily fixed: use a shorter barrel. The more complicated thing is the tone chamber. There are numerous things that effect on both sound colour and intonation: the shape of the baffle (the wall opposite the mouthpiece window) and the side walls, are they straight (normal) or slightly round, parallel to each other both sideways and/or up-down or are they "v-shaped". Then in intonationcases: find a different mouthpiece.

Both things have an effect in the scale of the clarinet. Usually more in the short end of the tube. In the good-ole-days at least buffet used to make different instruments to 440 and 442 pitches. Nowadays instrument makers just provide two barrels in different lengths. My buffet a-clarinet (440) has some 1,5mm longer right hand joint than the 442 instrument of that era. It plays fine in 442 with a barrel of slightly more open bore and a tuning hole in the bell.

Jarmo Hyvakko, Principal Clarinet, Tampere Philharmonic, Finland

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440Hz mouthpiece on 442Hz tuning new

Jimis4klar

2020-07-11 15:42