 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Filipe
Date: 2001-09-15 22:46
how do you guys tune in a orchestra?? OK the other day i saw (heard)the orchestra tuning in A. that's the only note you guys tune on?? or do you go back stage and tune it with the tuner, and THEN play A to see if everybody's in tune, right? if not how????
(please email me at fil246@yahoo.com)
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Author: Kyle Jubenville
Date: 2001-09-16 00:23
Well there are many discrepencies about which note to actually tune too. They tune to the pitch of A at 440 mhz usually. This tuning note is typically given by the Oboe Player because oboes are actually built to play a A at 440 mhz. They aren't in tune in a lot of the other notes sometimes..but that note is usually dead on. and they tune on A because it is a open string for all stringed instruments(meaning no fingers have to be put down on the string to play it). People generally warm up and then the tuning note is given and it doens't really matter what Pitch you are playing at just so long as eveyone is in tune with each other. that is the whole purpose of tuning. lol ok, I am done rambling now :-) hope that made sense.
God Bless
Kyle
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2001-09-16 01:32
Kyle Jubenville wrote:
>
> They tune to the pitch of A at 440 mhz
> usually.
A=440 Hz. Not megahertz ;^)
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Author: IHL
Date: 2001-09-16 05:32
440 mhz would be ultrasound, or if not, extremly painful
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2001-09-16 12:52
When I'm playing with a group with questionable tuning I lip it up. If that makes it worse I lip down. If both make it worse then I know I am doing the best I can and it is time somebody else did something.
I believe that huge efforts at tuning a group before playing are largely a waste of time except for the first note. The pitch changes with bore temperature and volume changes (and extremes of the instrument's range for the inexperienced) are huge if they are not compensated for by the player, more so on some instruments than others.
If I tune a cold flute, playing a mid-range note self-consciously softly, and am later playing full blast in the top octave on a warm instrument the pitch can now be 1/2 a semitone sharp unless I adjust.
To tune on one note before starting encourages the complacent attitude, "I am in tune and therefore will be for the rest of the piece". In reality tuning is a note by note, careful listening exercise with constant adjustment, largely done by the player rather than by adjusting the instrument. I only adjust the instrument when my required 'player' adjustments are sufficiently extreme that they are uncomfortable.
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Author: John Scorgie
Date: 2001-09-17 17:14
Filipe --
Gordon's post above is worth careful and repeated reading. Especially note the concepts "adjust" and "compensate". He speaks from experience, and he speaks the truth.
The reason that an orchestra tunes to the oboe is tradition, nothing else.
In the past the oboe player would have a tuning fork(s) for the proper pitch for that particular orchestra (A440, A442 or whatever). The oboe player would tune his or her oboe to the tuning fork, and then play that pitch for the other members of the orchestra.
Also in the past the larger schools plus most colleges and universities used these monster tuners, either StroboConn or Peterson. That was all we had. Many schools still use one of these devices.
Today most musicians (even oboe players) use these neat little battery powered tuners which can be carried in a pocket, adjusted for any reasonable reference pitch, and will show you via a pointer or LEDs whether your pitch is sharp or flat on each note of your clarinet.
I bought a little Seiko tuner for about $30. The QuikTune is even smaller and less money. There may be other good brands.
If I were a school music teacher I would require the students to work with a tuner until they identify the sharp and flat notes on their clarinets, and then I would show them how to utliize lipping or fake fingerings to adjust pitch accordingly.
I would also enlarge and print out the last paragraph of Gordon's post above and tape it on the wall of the school band or orchestra room.
Let us know of your progress.
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Author: Wes
Date: 2001-12-30 07:05
Having given the A on my oboe for many years to orchestras, this is what I do. I always have an electronic tuner on the stand as the orchestra deserves a dead-on A 440. With a stable good reed, it will ring out an accurate A anyhow. Sometimes an amateur conductor will ask for an A 442 because they think that is what some major symphonies use. Some groups tend to play a little above 440 even though they tune at 440. I always do what they ask for but my oboe likes to hang around the 440 neighborhood if I pay attention to it. Then the next time, I go back to 440, but I try not to argue with conductors.
In case the batteries wear out(hardly ever with the $20 Korg CA20), I carry A and Bb tuning forks in my case to twang in my ear before giving the note.
Some groups tune very well on the A but play quite out of tune. This can be fixed somewhat by each person working with a tuner at home to discover the character of his/her instrument and his/her playing of it. Some of these groups play much more out of tune at the beginning of the rehearsal than at the end.
Some very competent groups really don't change anything when they tune up but automatically play where their instrument tunes the best and where they percieve the tuning to be best. Violin players often tune up before they leave home and again before they sit down. Good Luck!!
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