hi all - this is taken from a thread in the auditions section; thanks in advance for your input.
glenn -
i humbly, and with enormous respect for both you and our instrument, am very curious to know more about your and your section's ambivalence toward the new dutch school and/or fifths tuning. i am an intermediate-level player in an amateur/semi-professional orchestra, and recently, out of necessity (i don't have a bass with a c-extension, nor do i own a 5 string) i've had to play a few passages scordatura in order to get to the low c.
in the process of trying to figure out how best to do this, i came across a few sites describing new dutch school and c-g-d-a tuning. at first, i was extremely skeptical. lately, however, i've been flirting with it on my off hours, and i have to say that it makes playing some difficult passages (the storm section and final movement of Beeth. 6 for example) really manageable, and even fun to approach.
though i am an older student, i have ambition to study in the coming year at a european conservatory and eventually be a professional orchestra player. i am not in any way considering adopting the new dutch school; i realize it would - at least at this point - dramatically marginalize my hopes of being taken seriously as a player. nevertheless, i am genuinely curious about why this is so... why is there such a stigma? its devotees claim it sonically opens up the instrument (i cannot yet attest to this), extends the range of the instrument, and minimizes (at least in the case of the few pieces i've fooled around with) some fingering challenges.
thanks so much in advance for your opinion.
jh
ps - i would of course welcome anyone else's opinion on this; i am particularly curious about the professional orchestral players' perspective.
glenn -
i humbly, and with enormous respect for both you and our instrument, am very curious to know more about your and your section's ambivalence toward the new dutch school and/or fifths tuning. i am an intermediate-level player in an amateur/semi-professional orchestra, and recently, out of necessity (i don't have a bass with a c-extension, nor do i own a 5 string) i've had to play a few passages scordatura in order to get to the low c.
in the process of trying to figure out how best to do this, i came across a few sites describing new dutch school and c-g-d-a tuning. at first, i was extremely skeptical. lately, however, i've been flirting with it on my off hours, and i have to say that it makes playing some difficult passages (the storm section and final movement of Beeth. 6 for example) really manageable, and even fun to approach.
though i am an older student, i have ambition to study in the coming year at a european conservatory and eventually be a professional orchestra player. i am not in any way considering adopting the new dutch school; i realize it would - at least at this point - dramatically marginalize my hopes of being taken seriously as a player. nevertheless, i am genuinely curious about why this is so... why is there such a stigma? its devotees claim it sonically opens up the instrument (i cannot yet attest to this), extends the range of the instrument, and minimizes (at least in the case of the few pieces i've fooled around with) some fingering challenges.
thanks so much in advance for your opinion.
jh
ps - i would of course welcome anyone else's opinion on this; i am particularly curious about the professional orchestral players' perspective.
