Re: Re: Re: What is this?


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TubeNet BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by AW on March 03, 2003 at 23:18:31:

In Reply to: Re: Re: What is this? posted by Rick Denney on February 28, 2003 at 11:34:15:

I always wondered about this tuba. Are 12 lengths of valve tubing enough for "perfect" intonation. On the tubas I'm familiar with, it is frequently necessary to use a different fingering (or slide pull/push) for the same note an octave up or down. It's all that business of nodes moving around. Perhaps one would need 12*N lengths of valve tubing, where N is the number of octaves range we wish to play. Of course, we need to keep in mind that the different resonances (note positions) of a brass instrument do not follow the equally tempered scale.

But this begs the question of the real pitches we use (or should use) in ensemble playing. To tune harmonies accurately, we have to deviate from equal temperament. And, the amount and direction of the deviation will depend on what degree of the scale is being played, or what interval within a chord is being played.

After we have finished figuring out all of these compensations, etc., we are going to need some hundreds of valve tubing lengths, and a valve computer to figure out exactly what length of tubing to add to the instrument for any particular note. It's enough to make one switch to trombone!

Cheers,
Allen Walker
(lipping it into tune, and sometimes tweaking with a slide)



Follow Ups: