 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Philcoman
Date: 2009-03-25 15:43
My wife, a cellist, wants to tune our piano to 441 because the group she plays with all tune their instruments that way and they invite a pianist from time to time. I'm not at my wife's level of playing, but I also badger folks into accompanying me on piano from time to time. Does anyone know whether I'll need a longer barrel than my 65mm to accomodate that tuning? Right now my clarinet plays wonderfully in tune at 440.
There's no bad answer to this -- if you say no, it makes things easy; if you say yes, I get to try new barrels to my heart's content!
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Author: cxgreen48
Date: 2009-03-25 15:55
441 is higher pitched than 440.
shorter = sharper
longer = flatter
You'll need a SHORTER barrel if you want to play at 441.
I don't think you'll actually need to get another barrel if the clarinet is warmed up enough.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2009-03-25 18:49
Your 65mm barrel is already short enough, and you won't need to do much to play to 441Hz.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2009-03-25 18:55
You should be able to accomodate for 441. Even a different reed might make up the difference.
If not, a tech could shorten the barrel by a mm or 0.5mm
If you are using a Vandoren 13 model mouthpiece, you could switch to a standard one of the same tip/lay.
If all else fails, of course there are those folks only too willing to sell you a new barrel ![[grin]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie5.gif)
allan
Disclaimer...I make and sell custom barrels
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2009-03-25 23:27
Chances are if you warm up for 15-20 minutes, or just blow warm air through your clarinet for a few minutes in a warm room you will play at 441. Most of us have to pull out slightly after a while but if all else fails try a 64 mm barrel. ESP
http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Koo Young Chung
Date: 2009-03-26 04:34
Tuning your piano to 441 hz is a BAD idea.
Without raising the pitch of your piano,piano's upper octaves are already higher than your clarinet because of the (normal) streaching of the piano tuning.
Piano is designed to be tuned at 440.
You shouldn't raise even 1 hz. Think of all the extra tension of all 200 strings. It will ruin your piano.
(I'm a piano tuner.)
Post Edited (2009-03-26 05:46)
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2009-03-26 15:38
What Koo Young Chung said.
What's with fiddlers who always want to tighten up their strings? Does anyone really think that high pitched stringed instruments sound better than "in tune" strings?
Bob Phillips
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2009-03-26 16:50
I once had string players complain that I couldn't 'tune up' to the pitch they were playing at as they all took their tuning from a sharp keyboard which was somewhere around 445Hz. Similarly a concert in a cathedral had the organ tuned to 430Hz or thereabouts and us poor woodwinds had no chance compared to the brass (whose slides were just hanging in there) and strings.
What string players should realise is woodwinds have little leeway in tuning up or down - maybe +/- 3Hz maximum if really pushed, and that's really pushing it. Brass players can flatten their instruments by pulling the slides out as their instruments are built purposely sharp (around 445Hz) with them all in as it's easier to flatten things than to sharpen them.
Then you get flute players who are flat to in tune in the lower register, in tune to increasingly sharp in the upper register as they go up and then painfully sharp to life-threatingly sharp in the altissimo as they don't know how to set the stopper cork to narrow the 8ves.
And then they play piccolo!
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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