Re: recorder pirch bends

Hi David,

Thanks, glad you could hear the effect!

I think one notices the E as flat with respect to the e in the lower octaves.
Also of course flat relative to accompaniment if practicing with a pianist.

Often the high E in these pieces is a major third of a c major chord, so the
j.i. version is fine.

So perhaps the thing to do is to adjust the lower octaves rather than the other
way round.

For example, that is how it is used in a piece by
C.P.E. Bach I'm practicing, that I could never really do before because
of a high register E in it. Playing it as it comes, and
the lower ones (and the B of the g major chord) flat in j.i. intonation
sounds really nice and sweet. (May be some other Es in it too - the middle
two pages have fallen out of the book and I can't find them today, and it
is a while since I last tried it).

However, if one goes up to it by fifths as C G D A E then it is noticeably
flat.

Quite a nice exercise to hear the effect of the 81/80 comma in practice.

Just the one fifth is enough actually - for instance it won't work so well
as the E in a piece in A, at its usual pitch, and with the other notes at
their usual pitches.

However, now, with the pitch bending technique I can bend the e up in
pitch and get it in pitch, so it will be possible to play A minor
pieces etc as well.

An eighth of a tone pitch bend up or down is practical, but can't get
anywhere near a quarter tone at present (but, it's early days...).

BTW if you try the technique of blowing across the mouthpiece, then
first try will just give an idea of the direction of the effect.
By changing the way one does it (perhaps the angle of the breath
and maybe other things, but not sure what the other ingredients
are exactly) one can get a fair bit sharper than the
first try, and then do the same while blowing normally.

I think perhaps the fingering I gave for E as 5/4 in lower register for
descant is a bit too flat, and I was probably raising it in pitch.
- if you breath all the notes in same way, then I think you just need to
shade the 7th hole a bit for it.

In fact, fingering I gave it is flatter than the one for the 6/5
minor third for the hexany!

Clearly one needs to watch out for this pitch bending once learnt,
when devising fingerings.

Sorry about that,...

Robert