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A440?


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I don't want to start a new thread only for this unrelated point, so I'll note here that I just read at this link that World War II rationing of rubber and gasoline played a role in the decline of the big bands, and that reminded me of how significant transportation costs are as a part of corps' budgets.

Carry on.

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On 2/14/2019 at 12:00 PM, ironlips said:

" Regardless you should always tune your mellos a couple cents sharp. "

Early mellophones (the ones in Kenton's band, and the mid-'60s drum corps iterations which they inspired) were the "Rosemary's Baby" of the brass section. In many instances (particularly in marching bands) they remain so.

It takes great skill and mindfulness to tame one of these beasts. Few actually have.

Which is probably why my father always called them "Smellaphones." Granted, his hearing was a nickle flat all by itself and I'm sure that didn't help matters. He complained once about a mello section being flat and I turned to him and said "verwenden sie ihr gutes ohr, Papa." Translation for the non German speakers "Use your good ear, dad." He also didn't like French Horns. It must  have been a 'Key of F" thing. 

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On 2/14/2019 at 9:41 PM, deftguy said:

Bingo....it was Rachel. 

Who was it is 05? I was marching with Corpsvets that year. I loved the Renegades. Kelly Houpt and I exchanged a few emails and wound up meeting each other at LMS that year and then spoke briefly at finals in the lot before Scojo started warmup's. Fun group of cats.

Oh and to keep it on topic, I generally tune batter side heads to "A" and snare sides to "D" and then adjust from there. 

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13 hours ago, Weaklefthand4ever said:

Who was it is 05? I was marching with Corpsvets that year. I loved the Renegades. Kelly Houpt and I exchanged a few emails and wound up meeting each other at LMS that year and then spoke briefly at finals in the lot before Scojo started warmup's. Fun group of cats.

Oh and to keep it on topic, I generally tune batter side heads to "A" and snare sides to "D" and then adjust from there. 

Greg Gillman was the Drum Major in 05. 

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On 2/13/2019 at 6:16 PM, Hook'emCavies said:

For whatever reason... this gave me flashbacks of a conductor I was not too fond of... oh well.

I am not sure about tuning to A432 generally speaking. Many would hear that like a quarter tone and it might bug the heck out of a lot of folks. But in fairness, I know in the solo clarinet world it is common for soloist to play a little sharp. It makes sense, but for what ever reason it has always bugged me. Might be my OCD, but... gaaah

Let's be precise, when we can: 

Quarter tone would be 25 cents. If we use A440, and compare it to 432, this is the formula for calculating cents difference:

Log2(440/432)*1200 ~ 31.77 cents 😉

important note: Because we took the ratio of the higher note (440) to the lower (432), we'd call the higher one "31.77 cents sharp" in comparison. The cool thing about Logarithms is the Log of the ratio of the reciprocal is the same answer, but negative, thus 

Log2(432/440)*1200 ~ -31.77 cents

signifying that the lower note is "31.77 cents flat" in comparison to the higher.

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On 2/15/2019 at 11:58 AM, N.E. Brigand said:

I don't want to start a new thread only for this unrelated point, so I'll note here that I just read at this link that World War II rationing of rubber and gasoline played a role in the decline of the big bands, and that reminded me of how significant transportation costs are as a part of corps' budgets.

Carry on.

In a simular way: From the moment San Francisco style Common Steam Beer was created by the Anchor Brewing Company in the 1890's, the Concord Blue Devils were predestined to not only win the DCI title for the first time during the bicentennial celebration year of America, but to also win more DCI titles than any other corps. And that reminded me how significant corporate sponsorship can be on helping corps with meal budgets for the members and libations for the staff.

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13 hours ago, Stu said:

In a simular way: From the moment San Francisco style Common Steam Beer was created by the Anchor Brewing Company in the 1890's, the Concord Blue Devils were predestined to not only win the DCI title for the first time during the bicentennial celebration year of America, but to also win more DCI titles than any other corps. And that reminded me how significant corporate sponsorship can be on helping corps with meal budgets for the members and libations for the staff.

This is absolutely spot on analysis, and very Zen, recognizing as it does the interconnection of all things, including mellophones, beer, and logarithms.

One must always remember as well the effect on the pitch of mallet instruments produced by the coefficient of sliding friction, and on discussions such as these by the classic reductio ad absurdum.

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