ranger42 wrote:thanks, but i was more curious as to people's personal preference and input.
umannyt wrote:some people even tune by ear and not with the aid of an external instrument.
taikonoatama wrote:"some people even tune by ear" ???
It might be just the people I play with, but I don't know a single player who tunes by anything but their ear, and even then only to relative pitch, really, the approximate intervals being more important than absolute pitch. Have yet to see a pitch fork broken out at rumba .
Mind you, I'm on the more folkloric side of things, where there aren't typically other melodic instruments to worry about. I can see where that could be more of an issue in that context, or perhaps in a recording situation.
Curious just how many of you regularly tune to specific pitch (with the help of a tuner or other instrument)? And in what context? I can see how when you're just learning, and especially if you've never played a melodic instrument before, it'd be useful to learn what the typically-used intervals should sound like (though everyone already knows them from songs ... "Here comes the bride..." (ugh), but you just know those intervals after awhile, right?
umannyt wrote:I acknowledge that you're just being facetious--I think. When I said that "some people even tune by ear" I think you know that I really meant using one's "inner ear or hearing". I did qualify my phrase by adding "not with the aid of an external instrument".
umannyt wrote:Actually, it's tuning from memory--from the brain itself.
umannyt wrote:Some of my earliest learning conga videos, such as those by Rolando Soto, Glen Caruba, Richie "Gajate" Garcia, Raul Rekow, etc., all taught tuning 1, 2 or 3 drums to specific pitches. With 1 drum, you tune the Quinto or Conga to a "C"; with 2 drums, you add a Conga or Tumba that's tuned to an "A" (4th below) or "G" (5th below); with 3 drums, the Tumba can be tuned to an "G" with the Conga tuned in between, say an "A".
taikonoatama wrote:Well, when you say "some people even tune by ear," the nuance of the wording is that it makes it seem like it's very unusual, when in fact (at least in my circle) it's the norm. That's what I was referring to.
taikonoatama wrote:And I say they're all WRONG!
Seriously, doesn't make any sense to me. (Unless, of course, these suggested tunings were just that - suggestions.)
taikonoatama wrote:The fact is that some drums sound awful tuned to these notes. Their sweet spots are at different frequencies than these. Seems crazy to force a drum to play at a given pitch that it can't handle, the result being it sounds like an oil can or a piece of cardboard (but hey, it's tuned to the tuning recommended by Raul Rekow, etc.).
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