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Re: tuning concert "a" a disaster

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2013-06-06 03:03

If this was a solo piece with piano, I can't see why the clarinetist couldn't tune to any pitch he or she wanted. Although I would tend to distrust throat Bb as a tuning note despite the logic of your explanation because it's not necessarily in tune even with the notes immediately surrounding it. But I'm sure a case could be made for one of the notes on the left hand making a better tuning note than long B or C.

The trouble, when you tune in an ensemble is that it really is better for everyone to use the same note - ask an oboist to play an A for strings, an F for trumpets and maybe clarinets, a Bb for trombones, etc..., and you may well get more variety than you bargained for. It's true that in an orchestra the tuning on stage is done as a final check and most if not all the players have already tuned backstage to some kind of electronic device. It's also true that whatever tuning is done before the concert begins needs to be adjusted continually by the players individually to compensate for temperature-related changes as well as the position of the player's notes in the musical texture, so the final tuning before the downbeat is only a starting point, whatever note is used.

If the clarinetist's upper clarion notes were noticeably sharp, she should have noticed it and made the needed adjustments on the fly (through embouchure, "voicing," fingers) until she had a chance to re-tune the instrument. The 12ths on some clarinets are simply too wide in the left hand for comfortable adjustment (if B5 and C6 are in tune, E4 and F4 and probably the rest of the instrument will be very flat with such a clarinet), which is a reason to think about choosing to play on a different clarinet.

Karl

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tuning concert "a" a disaster new

clarii

2013-06-06 01:57

Re: tuning concert "a" a disaster new

kdk

2013-06-06 03:03