[Dixielandjazz] Tuning, not strings

[Larry Walton Entertainment]

I spent a lot of time in military marching bands and tuning is a 
constant problem.

Current wisdom suggests tuning to the tuba player but it's all about 
consensus.  It's like voting.  Whatever the group decides on is the 
correct pitch.  This is usually done by instinct and is pretty automatic 
in good players.  Personally I would pick the clarinet because he has 
very little tuning range as compared to all other instruments.

So far as tuning on the fly while marching is concerned I think that the 
reasons for this are many but often has to do with temperature.  Horns 
like 70 degrees.  They don't like 40 or 90 degrees.  Many parades are in 
cold temps and the instruments will change a lot after several minutes 
of playing.  If it's a large group It's very difficult to tune the whole 
group and not let someone's horn get cold.

I would think that outside horn players, especially if it were below 60 
degrees, would be tuning on the fly constantly.  Unfortunately they 
don't and that's why street and marching bands sound so badly out of tune.
Larry Walton
St. Louis
Barrie Walter Marshall wrote:
> Talking about tuning, on the odd occasion when I have been playing 
> with bands when they tune up the 2 brass players tune to each other 
> and not the piano or the clarinet, I think the trombone tunes to Bb 
> when the slide is fully in but should they not tune to the piano or 
> clarinet.
>
> I was playing a parade with a New Orleans Marching band and we had a 
> dept clarinet player of many years experiance and had an army musician 
> for many years, whern we tuned up he said, its a misake we will all be 
> out of tune, tune as you march, is their some wisdom in this randome 
> remark?
>
> Barrie
>
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