Instruments are designed and tuned to a specific pitch. The pitch is the point of reference and each note is tuned in a specific proportion related to the tuning tone. The standard pitch in Europe is 442/443Hz, in the US and England 440Hz at 20 Celsius or 68-70F

There are certain things to keep in mind:
The general pitch of an instrument will depend on and can be altered with :



1. The length and bore of the Barrel. The longer the barrel, the lower the pitch.

2. temperature of the room as well as the instrument. The warmer they are the higher the pitch.

3. The airspeed of the player. The airspeed depends also on the lip pressure applied to the reed. A typical classical player will use more airspeed and a closer mouthpiece which results in a higher pitch. A traditional jazz or folk player will use an open mouthpiece and less lip pressure, which lowers the pitch. A beginner will usually also have less airspeed and pitches flat.

4. The length and bore of the mouthpiece. There is usually not enough data available to know which dimensions they have. You need to try them and see how they work. A flat mouthpiece could be played with a shorter barrel and vise versa.




5. Tuning rings They can be placed between the different parts of the clarinet. When they are placed between the barrel and the top-joint all notes will be lowered. If they are placed between the top and lower joint, only the right-hand notes will be flattened.

All of the above methods will have an influence on the whole instrument. If you would like to improve the intonation of a particular tone, the instrument needs to be tuned. read more
.

Clarinets are supplied with one and sometimes two barrels. The length of the barrel has a significant influence on the pitch. An instrument pitch can be altered by about 2 Hz without too many problems. The change of barrel length will always have a bigger influence on the tones closer to the barrel than for the notes further away. It can be a good idea to combine a different barrel with an intonation ring.

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