moqi pre-concert booklet 19apr draft

sync

a pre-concert booklet (4mins)

默 契

曾经有一位指挥想让我们从442改成“正统”的 来调 音…但是他很快就发觉这太难了，422已是根深蒂固的 常规，加上乐队里定音的乐器都以习惯了442。 玩了近二十年的华乐，我有幸请调音师来给各种笙调 音的机会一共有两次。笙不常调音并不是因为它不容 易跑音，更多是因为实在太难、太麻烦、太贵了。但 讽刺的是，每次表演用来调音的参考却是高音笙的A 调。其实演奏前的调音也是有些讽刺—表演本就因该 先调好音、适应好场地，在开始前的这几十秒更多是 为了形式和一种心理作用。 调音有时追求的是音准，有时追求的是音调统一。试 想用来调音的笙却是最少调音的乐器之一，这过程更 似人云亦云，和准确性的关联有限。这举动更多是一 种非正式的表演—一个乐团示意团结、统一的机会； 一个让观众知道表演即将开始的信号。

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the concert pitch is a standardised pitch that orchestras and ensembles tune to, it is cued by the sheng in Chinese Orchestras.

Handel played at A= 423hz.

Mozart played at A=422hz.

singers struggled to match the accompanying orchestras’ inflated pitches in pursuit of a brighter sound; I suspect that the 442hz convention in Chinese music might be to counter the more mellow and soft sounds of some chinese instruments.

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a compromise between the favourite of eighteenth century composers, and the more brilliant pitch by instrument makers.

tuning and pitching has been viewed as an empirical quality, however most times tuning are done by ear or experience, relative to another sound or one’s memory.

A brief history of the concert pitch — we don’t talk about it, but concert pitch* on books are 440 hertz, yet in my years it has always been 442 hertz. two more works better, producing something brighter. two more works better because it’s familiar. back in the days in the western world, concert pitch was a different matter, A4 is here today as a unifying endeavour.

Organs in germany were going at 337 to 567, while Handel^ and Mozart# were in their own haven.

When halls got bigger, the audiences needed something louder.

Instruments got better, with strings stretched tighter, and woodwind pitched higher — pitches inflated till vocals were dire.+ 435hz became quite a popular standard, in France and London, but not in room temperature. an international conference in 1939,° made pitches 440hz in one night. a compromise between the favourite of eighteenth-century composers, and the more brilliant pitch by nineteenth-century instrument makers. is this a stylistic preference or an absolute matter?˙

那靠拢和抱团又有多少是表演性和具有讽刺色彩的呢？