General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories.

---

[ Follow Ups ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ General Asylum ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

Let me tell you a little story.

Posted by markrohr (P) on February 16, 2007 at 10:23:04

In Reply to: Re: Misconceptions. posted by unclestu52 on February 15, 2007 at 11:19:36:

A few years ago an orchestra I play with was rehearsing, and we happened to have a substitute tuba player. His intonation was not good, and it sounded it, so the principal trombonist had the section stay during break to go over some passages with an eye to improving the section's intonation.

Well, the guy wasn't doing all that well, and after trying to tune one chord the principal asked him to raise his pitch on his note. He said words to the effect of "I shouldn't do that, the tuner says I'm right!" The fella had an electronic tuner on his stand.

You play into an electronic tuner and center the meter every time, that's the same thing as having absolute pitch: you're "right" every time.

Well, the principal trombonist erupted, something I had never ever seen him do: "Take that tuner off the stand and don't let me see it again!" Never seen him so angry.

You see, pitch is relative, not absolute. There's a passage in Nutcracker where I play a repeated note several times in a row, while the rest of the section changes harmony with each one. I need to move my note for each change, because its function in the chord changes each time. It's an E, but not an "absolute" E. Weird, huh?

But that's the reality of playing in tune. Playing in tune is a skill set that anyone can learn, though it takes a lot of experience playing with others to develop it to the degree necessary to be a professional. It also takes a knowledge of harmony, an ability to hear and understand the harmony just by listening, knowing what function your pitch has in that harmony, knowledge of how the harmonic series shows its pitch tendencies on your instrument, and the ability to listen critically--among several other things.

Sitting in the practice room and nailing the pitch on the tuner every time does you no good, just as having absolute pitch does you no good. I imagine it must be neat to have, but it has no practical value in playing in tune.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Signature Sound

[ Signature Sound Lounge ]

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---