Author: Dutchy
Date: 2010-02-15 13:56
Playing in an ensemble is very different from playing with a tuner. I have a Korg CA-30 tuner, and I play with it at home, and I playalong with CDs at home, and I am in tune with the tuner and I am in tune with my CDs. But when I get to my ensemble (which is a Trumpet, a Baritone, a Flute, and a Piano playing hymns at my church twice a month), I struggle dreadfully every single note to play in tune with them. Because there are infinite variations in pitch, and the Baritone is quite often occupying his own little personal key signature, and we all have to match the piano, so it's a complete, and complex, technical challenge. I've got good reeds, so the embouchure has to do it all, no doubt about it.
Also, there's the issue of the way (getting into some equal-temperament music theory here) a leading tone sounds sharper than the same note in a descending scale. The classic example, and the bane of my existence, is the B2 natural. Since many hymns are written in the key of C, and so the G7 chord comes up a lot, invariably if I'm on the B, I sound flat, because the leading-tone B, reaching up to, anticipating the C of the chord resolution, has an aching, terrible need to be a few cents sharper than the same B would be if I was playing it as part of a descending scale coming down from the C. And although I can practice it at home, even getting the B to where it's over 20 cents sharper according to the tuner, being almost an actual C, still when I get to that point in the hymn with the ensemble, I'm going to SOUND flat. Even though I and my tuner know that I'm not.
So the point is, practice with the tuner, yes, it's essential. But be aware that just because you're in tune with the tuner at home doesn't automatically guarantee that your outings with an ensemble won't constitute a sudden, massive "hey, how come I'm suddenly flat?!" challenge.
And this is what separates a "musician" from "someone who can play the oboe".
Post Edited (2010-02-16 02:21)
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