Re: Re: Re: Re: A better tuba?


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Posted by Rick Denney on December 31, 2001 at 11:15:39:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: A better tuba? posted by Chuck(G) on December 30, 2001 at 16:27:06:

Especially since most sopranos have such a wide vibrato that precise pitch is a fantasy anyway. I still wonder if vibrato was invented to cover up intonation problems.

The tuning issue for singers became much more clear to me upon hearing a wonderful renaissance group that sang without vibrato (except as occasional ornamentation). Their chords resonated beautifully, and created a sound that magnified within the hall in ways most choral groups don't achieve. They naturally tuned each chord they sang for maximum resonance. Most good brass quintets do the same.

Ever hear brass quintet music played on a synthesizer? The pitches of the synthesizer are equally tempered and perfectly in tune (and, with good digital sampling and proper amplification, they sound pretty good, too), but the chords are dead. The same music played well by a real quintet will create resonant sympathy that just doesn't happen with the synthesizer. They are manually tuning the chords to maximize resonance.

It sounds to me like the researchers whose work you are recalling needed to observe better musicians.

Rick "whose ears tell a different story" Denney


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