janney@unm-cvax.UUCP (03/12/84)
Several recent articles have implied that, whereas singers and string
instruments can easily play natural scales, wind instruments favor
the even-tempered scale. At least in the case of woodwinds, this is
not true.
There are tuning problems inherent in the design of woodwind
instruments. For instance, on the clarinet, which supposedly overblows
by a twelfth, the actual interval varies depending on the length of the
air column. For notes that use the whole length of the instrument the
interval is wider than a twelfth: for notes that only involve the upper
part of the instrument, the interval is less than a twelfth.
Any woodwind instrument, however well made, is the result of many
compromises between tuning conflicts and has many notes that sound out of
tune. The player must make adjustments to correct for these. In general,
the size of these adjustments far outweighs the differences between the
even-tempered scale and more natural scales. These adjustments are made
by ear during the performance and not according to some fixed standard
(this may be changing now that solid state electronic tuners are widely
available).
I don't know much about brass instruments, but I suspect their
situation is similar. And a trombone can play any kind of scale.
Haven't bought a Korg yet, but I'm thinking about it.
Jim Janney
{parsec,ucbvax,gatech}!unmvax!unm-cvax!janney
{purdue,lbl-csam,cmcl2,csu-cs}!lanl-a!unm-cvax!janneysdh@rabbit.UUCP (S. Hawley) (03/13/84)
I've been studying the trumpet for about 9 years now. After my 5th year I started to develop decent tone in playing, but the major conquest that I have yet to overcome is intonation. Even though a B-flat trumpet is supposedly the easiest trumpet to play in tune, it is still very, very hard to get the intonation perfect. The major adjustments are made by the use of the slides connected to the valves while playing. Minor adjustments are tough to make with any degree of accuracy with slides. This is done by 'bending' the note with your lips. I find that in professional groups the accent is not on the rhythms or such but rather on being able to listen to each other to adjust the intonation while playing. I was in an elite all-state ensemble two years ago, and I remember spending most of the rehearsal playing passages over and over just to get them in tune. One drawback of trumpets is that as you play louder the sound tends to go flat. In my case, My higher register tends to go way sharp which can sound pretty raunchy if I'm playing in octaves. "Life.. don't talk to me about life" -Marvin Steve Hawley <allegra,alice>!rabbit!sdh