Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2015-02-26 23:34
Kara...I had another thought tangentially alluded to above.
Make sure who ever tries your clarinet, especially if its someone from the store it was purchased from, is not using a mouthpiece designed for A=442, and then showing you on a tuner that he or she is in perfect tune where A=440.
As you may know, the prior is a version of the concert "A" pitch played ever so slightly sharper. Many orchestras tune to A=442, IMHO, in a futile attempt to sound brighter that "the other guys," but that's a discussion for another bboard thread.
Accordingly, mouthpiece makers like Vandoren often make the same mouthpiece for both of these scales. And playing your clarinet at A=440 with an A=442 mouthpiece is reflective of a problem, more than a solution.
While it my be a temporary solution, what if you ever encounter a group that plays closer to A=442? Switching mouthpiece will no longer address that. Barrels you use will have to become especially shorter to deal with this sharpness on what might potentially be an inherently flat instrument.
If the store tries this without open disclosure of same, IMHO they are stupid or worse snake oil salesmen.
|
|