....is it to make sure the ensemble plays in tune? Is it possible for an amateur band or orchestra to play beautifully in tune? Hmmm, well my high school band played really rock solid in tune, I still have recordings so it's not just my fading memory. The junior high band that the same teacher led also played really well in tune. Those kids could barely finger Bb, but they could play in tune. These were just a lot of average farm kids, no rocket scientist kids, so I'd have to say that adults, even those with limited skills on the instrument ought to be able to do it too, given the proper situation. The thing is, that teacher spent quite a lot of time tuning chords, you're low, you're high etc. and he had a good ear and he'd get the chords to ring right. Once you heard things IN tune enough times, you started to get the knack of how to play in tune on your own. In pretty much every amateur ensemble, and even quite a few high paying gigs I've ever played in, there are quite a number of people who don't know how to play in tune. I'd say that makes it pretty much impossible for those who do know how, to successfully play in tune because there aren't enough others to play in tune with. At that point, the only person who can really make it work is the conductor. Many conductors don't know how to tune a chord and so they just say something like "that's out of tune, fix it", or "that's out of tune, could we have another A". Of course that usually just makes it worse. Or they tell somebody to play sharper or flatter, but they usually tell them to go the wrong direction, making it much worse. If the players knew what to do , they would have played in tune already. So there you go. If I played out of tune, it was the conductor's fault!
- Steve Mumford _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
