Ranges of Instruments

At the Hartt masterclass yesterday, I promised students I would post the range chart on my website so it could be downloaded and printed out, and here it is. When you are arranging or composing, it's essential to have an understanding of the ranges of the different instruments and where they overlap. Note also that there is a frequency number corresponding to every piano key. This is very useful when you start examining different temperaments. Actually, the only ones tied to equal temperament are piano players and players of vibes/marimba/glockenspiel etc. All others will naturally use the pure ratios when they are not forced to conform to the tyranny of equal temperament. In the masterclass, we also discussed the fact that we are surrounded by the 60 Hz Bb-B hum of electric motors everywhere we turn. So go home and jam with your refrigerator. http://www.suterry.com/publicfiles/Range_Chart.jpg

Leave a comment