So, today was an especially bad rehearsal.
We're playing Beethoven 1, and it starts with two chords in the woodwinds...C Major/minor 7 to F Major (V7-I in F Major...you'll know this sequence from every pop song ever written). Then it does a V7-vi in C Major (also known as a deceptive cadence). Now, when you play a chord, you have to tune based on a system called "just diatonic" tuning or tuning by naturally occuring harmonics. So, the root of the chord (the C in a C Major chord for example) is in tune with a tuner, the third of the chord (an E in a C Major chord...named because it's the third note in a C Major scale) has to 13-17 cents flat (or lower in frequency) and the fifth (a G in a C Major chord) has to be 0-2 cents sharp. Then it sounds in tune and everyone goes home happy.
The oboist has taken it upon herself to play the third roughly 35 cents sharp. Which is like almost half a semitone away from where it needs to be. It would sound bad to every single one of you in TCS land, even with absolutely no musical traning whatsoever. To a musician who has been classically trained, it's sound translates to a migraine.
This would also be less awful if I didn't have to play the E in octaves (means I'm playing an E, but 8 notes higher...the next group of keys on a piano) with the oboist who is playing it 50 cents off.
So I try tuning to her, which is standard practice. It sounds like death.
I try tuning to the rest of the orchestra. It sounds like agony and pain AND death.
So I try to tell her how sharp she is.
She laughs at me and tells me she's CLEARLY bringing it down. From what? An F??!?!
So, at this point, the conductor is about to blow a gasket the rest of the orchestra is literally laughing at us.
Ugh. It's my GPA and reputation on the line. Now everyone is angry, dejected and thinks that I clearly must have no ear.
And yet, the oboist STILL WILL NOT BRING THE PITCH DOWN. There is even a marker on teh tuner showing you where a third goes. It's really not that hard! And then she has the nerve to simultaneously blame it on me AND her reed!
Danny Kaye once said that an oboe is an ill wind that nobody blows right. He wasn't kidding.
Anyone else have dumb and self righteous colleagues they'd like to complain about? If so, here's your chance!
We're playing Beethoven 1, and it starts with two chords in the woodwinds...C Major/minor 7 to F Major (V7-I in F Major...you'll know this sequence from every pop song ever written). Then it does a V7-vi in C Major (also known as a deceptive cadence). Now, when you play a chord, you have to tune based on a system called "just diatonic" tuning or tuning by naturally occuring harmonics. So, the root of the chord (the C in a C Major chord for example) is in tune with a tuner, the third of the chord (an E in a C Major chord...named because it's the third note in a C Major scale) has to 13-17 cents flat (or lower in frequency) and the fifth (a G in a C Major chord) has to be 0-2 cents sharp. Then it sounds in tune and everyone goes home happy.
The oboist has taken it upon herself to play the third roughly 35 cents sharp. Which is like almost half a semitone away from where it needs to be. It would sound bad to every single one of you in TCS land, even with absolutely no musical traning whatsoever. To a musician who has been classically trained, it's sound translates to a migraine.
This would also be less awful if I didn't have to play the E in octaves (means I'm playing an E, but 8 notes higher...the next group of keys on a piano) with the oboist who is playing it 50 cents off.
So I try tuning to her, which is standard practice. It sounds like death.
I try tuning to the rest of the orchestra. It sounds like agony and pain AND death.
So I try to tell her how sharp she is.
She laughs at me and tells me she's CLEARLY bringing it down. From what? An F??!?!
So, at this point, the conductor is about to blow a gasket the rest of the orchestra is literally laughing at us.
Ugh. It's my GPA and reputation on the line. Now everyone is angry, dejected and thinks that I clearly must have no ear.
And yet, the oboist STILL WILL NOT BRING THE PITCH DOWN. There is even a marker on teh tuner showing you where a third goes. It's really not that hard! And then she has the nerve to simultaneously blame it on me AND her reed!
Danny Kaye once said that an oboe is an ill wind that nobody blows right. He wasn't kidding.
Anyone else have dumb and self righteous colleagues they'd like to complain about? If so, here's your chance!
