We use meantone in our ensemble for the singers and instrumentalists, for 17th century music, and I have a series of exercises to quickly get everyone locked in. Concerto Palatino plays exclusively in meantone with singers and instrumentalists--they are the best I have heard at it. Loekie Stardust used a moving tone center, close to "just" in way--they would often end up lower at the end of the piece than they started by using alternate fingerings. Amateur choral groups don't usually specify a tuning, but sometimes they do, depends on the conductor, I can't remember seeing a split key organ with choral groups--it must exist, though-- but I see it with some professional groups.
If you are working in meantone, some of the notes will be out of tune from time to time because the string players are playing other gigs in Valotti or whatever. Whatever! dt At 01:55 PM 2/15/2009, you wrote: >On Sun, Feb 15, 2009, Sean Smith <lutesm...@mac.com> said: > > > > Singers aren't so forced or so, ahem, 'nerdy' and often won't know what > > meantone we use. > >it varies, many of us dont have a clue as to much of much theory; but we >all have ears, and some of us use them, both in play and with voice. > >Singers in small ensembles will adjust individual notes to make good >harmony, sometimes this drfits the tuning of the whole ensemble. When >dissonance is a feature of the music it helps if someone in the group has >a strong internal memory of pitch, but that is not always obtained. > > > From your professional experiences, do choral directers ever explicitly > > choose a specific meantone scale? > >amateur chorist more than pro, but a bit of both. Directors vary, and the >quality of their chorists also vary, mosts directors try to get 'the most' >out of the forces they command, but with a dose of reality as to >expectation. > >As a player I have been asked to tune specific notes (both wind and lute), >and I have seen viols etc similarly treated, I have also played in small >ensembles sans directoire who had members who were sensitive and saw to it >that we made the attempt. > >-- >Dana Emery > > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
