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tuning concert "a" a disaster

Author: clarii
Date: 2013-06-06 01:57

i attended a freshman university workshop recently. the student tuned carefully to concert "a". the composition she played was in b-flat major. the throat tones and upper register were very noticeably sharp. i"m thinking why didn't she pull out and tune to b-flat instead. HERESY! you say.
for 200 years clarinetist have probably tuned to concert "a" after they got invited to play with a string orchestra. we use 7,8,9 fingers to tune to the longest note on the clarinet. our friends the oboes, flutes and bassoons tune to "a" also using only 2 fingers of the left hand.
some say we've tuned to third line "b" because it's in the middle of the range of the clarinet. the assumption must be that "b' is the best note to tune for all the clarinet notes. what nonsense!!! we got ourselves anchored to the most stable note on the clarinet and far removed from the the upper joint unstable notes.
the tuning of the clarinet is disproportional. pulling out or in the barrel effects the top joint far more than the lower joint. probably 3-1. tuning to 3rd line "b" is a disaster waiting to happen. "b'" is slightly flat(think low "e"). so naturally the upper joint will be inherently sharp.
tuning to third line b-flat in my example by pulling out the barrel will noticeably greatly help the throat tones and upper register. but more importantly it will effect the lower joint notes very little. that's because of the disproportionate tuning of the clarinet.
it's time we buried concert "a". instead we should come to our senses and tune to any note-using electronic tuner calibrated to perfect half steps-that will assist our tuning. we should join our oboe,flute and bassoon friends and tune far more with notes of the upper joint. also tune to the key we are playing.
we play far more with the piano than strings. orchestra players probably tune back stage as well.
enough christian suffering guys. anyway why haven't you readers spoken up about this nonsense before!!! paul king u. of michigan 64, n.z.

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tuning concert "a" a disaster new

clarii

2013-06-06 01:57