I hope this doesn't offend any of you...
No disrespect is intended and all below is my opinion only...
I dislike tuners. They are too static, and too slow in response. By
the time they are registering D+25 cents, your pitch is actually
elsewhere. They can be useful for warmup I guess. But ultimately
they are a distraction and a false crutch. I suppose they're "useful"
in that they will tell you if your pitch is consistently flat or
consistently sharp. Otherwise, pretty useless, imo.
It's much better to make a CD or tape with a known good pitch source
doing patterns or whatever you're trying to learn and match it by
ear. Seriously. If you really want to play exactly, get a
synthesizer or computer or a get a friend who has these things and
make tapes or CDs, then try to match the pitch by ear. You can try
variations on tunings that way too.
Ultimately we all have to learn to play by ear, or play badly.
Music is an aural art. <PERIOD>
If you want to learn something about your sound and you like visual
feedback, get a copy of SoundView (for Mac, I don't know what to
recommend for PCs) or some similar shareware/freeware spectrogram
program, and use it to create a "waterfall spectrum" display. It
shows frequency on one axis, amplitude on another and then time is
displayed on the z axis, as though the sound was moving away from
you, towards the back of the screen. That's kind of useful. You can
see the minute pitch fluctuations that playing actually involves
unfold in time, and you can see the harmonics of the tone rise and
fall in strength as you play.
With SoundView, if you record a piece and run it through the program,
and in a certain mode, you will be able to get precise frequency
readings of all components using the cursor.
You can get SoundView and a bunch of other cool music software for Mac at
http://shoko.calarts.edu/~tre/CompMusMac/.
I recommend Soundview, you'll really learn a lot about your sound
from a dynamic point of view by watching the display.
It looks like there are a couple of freeware spectrum analysis
programs for PC at
http://shoko.calarts.edu/~bcassidy/CompMusPC/
I can't recommend them cause I haven't tried them, but if you have a
PC and a soundcard and mic they might be worth a look.
Our art is about listening first, and imagining playing second, and
playing third, and teaching and notating fourth, maybe?
Anyway, a last word about pitch from your resident microtonalist and
electro-acoustic improvisation experimentalist. It's sad to see
people trying to conform to 12-tone equal temprement all the time
when there is no evidence the music is about that at all.
There's certainly no reason to think that the folks who were playing Kyorei
500-700 years ago cared about A-440 or A-442, or the 12th root of 2.
It's not that Japanese music sounds flat, it's that it has some
variety in interval sizes, thank the ancestors!
In the real world, a major second can come in many different sizes/shadings.
I like the wide major 2nd, 233 cents for some major 2nds in some
pieces, and a narrow major 2nd, say 175 cents, for some others. If
you were really to take a honkyoku piece played by a great master,
and closely examine all the Ds and all the Cs and all the Eflats
played throughout the piece, you'd find that pitch was quite
variable. Extremely so. Within a single performance, from one
performance to another, and from one teacher to another.
Pitch is an expressive parameter, and part of a complex perceptual
whole, not some grid like yardage on a football field.
Finally, the full complexity of harmonic and melodic implications of
most musical works are reduced by playing them in a completely fixed
tuning, in my opinion.
Learn to play by ear. Sing the pieces.
Play with a recording, play with the radio, play with CDs, but learn
to play by ear.
Ro 10 minutes a day will NOT do it, without listening. strive to
improve your listening, and your aural imagination.
hope this doesn't set off a big flame war,
I'm not in any way trying to dis' anyone!
but damn...tuners!
best to all,
joel
>
>Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2003 17:59:02 -0500
>From: Patterson Clark <clarkp@washpost.com>
>To: Shakuhachi@communication.ucsd.edu
>Subject: RE: Tuners
>Message-ID:
><OF2CCE2FD6.E2696607-ON85256DE9.0079B320-85256DE9.007E1827@washpost.com>
>
>Thanks to everyone who recommended their favorite tuner.
>Playing with a tuner is a humbling experience, like having a tireless
>teacher in my face, giving a thumbs up or down to every note--a shiny
>mirror for tonal sloppiness.
>It's distracting, and diverts my focus from aspects that sometimes seem
>more important.
>Or is tonal accuracy most important? Maybe more so when playing with Koto?
>Patterson
>
>------------------------------
>
>Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2003 18:11:06 EST
>From: Dcammaro@aol.com
>To: Shakuhachi@communication.ucsd.edu
>Subject: Re: Tuners
>Message-ID: <1ea.142d363b.2cf53b8a@aol.com>
>
>I occasionally use a tuner while warming up. Rarely for any extended period
>of time. I have found the more I practice good technique the more
>consistent my
>sound has become.
>
>I know one world class performer/teacher who has said he prefers to play flat
>and you should never use a tuner.
>
>To a westerners ear flat is bad. But some Japanese music just grates against
>my nerves because of how flat it sounds.
>
>All the Best
>Dominic
>
>------------------------------
>
>End of shakuhachi V1 #461
>*************************
>_____________________________________________
>
>List subscription information is at:
> http://communication.ucsd.edu/shaku/listsub.html
--Joel Taylor
New Email Address: joel.g.taylor@comcast.net _____________________________________________
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