Re: Re: Raising pitch of a euph slighly


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Posted by Urbie Watrous on March 27, 2003 at 18:46:56:

In Reply to: Re: Raising pitch of a euph slighly posted by Chuck(G) on March 27, 2003 at 11:56:01:

Chuck,

Thanks for at least giving ONE serious answer to my question! ;)

I took out the tuner, and -- after warming up on trombone, to calibrate my ear and check its own pitch -- warmed and checked the euph for pitch. As much as I hate to admit that it might be the Indian rather than the arrow, the euph really isn't off at all, or at least not by much. Well, the one partial I was having trouble with (the D above middle C -- that partial is normally a little flat) might have been a few cents flat, but not a lot. It really is tough to get centered with the tuner. Also, one other variable that I find a little fascinating is that I'm at 7,000 feet (Flagstaff, AZ). Do you know if elevation (and low air pressure) has any effect on sound propagation and pitch perception? I've always had a very good sense of absolute pitch -- to within a couple of Hz, anyway -- but up here, somehow, I always thought my horns were 'way sharp. I had my trombone tuning slide pulled at least an inch, maybe an inch and a half. Checking with the tuner, though, I found that it's 'way flat that way, and the correct pitch must be close to a quarter tone higher than I thought. Making it, of course, even harder to tune the horn --I'm trying to get the tone centered by feel, but also letting my ear tell me where B-flat is "supposed" to be, only to find out that that's wrong, when I look at the tuner! Anyone know if pitch is affected by high altitude?

So maybe it's (at least partly) me, and not the horn -- shocking! Anyhow, based on this testing, I'm certainly not going to be in any great hurry to cut up the horn. I might try experimenting with the mouthpiece, though, to see what happens if I shave a little off and get it 1/4 or 1/2" further into the receiver, and just shorten the airway a hair that way. Heck, it's an old-ish mouthpiece anyway; a little rough and worn -- I could use a new 6-1/2AL as it is.

In any case, thanks for the help.

Urb



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