It has been called to my attention that wind instruments are now being built to A-442. Does anyone have any any information to confirm this? Are all wind instruments being built at A-442, or just a select group? Or maybe my information is wrong. This certainly would complicate the problem. Sincerely, Gary Mushlin, MME, RPT On Monday, April 12, 2004, at 10:03 AM, stephen kabat wrote: > Jim - I tune in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Cleveland Orchestra tunes to > A-440. > I also had the opportunity recently to ask the head tuner at the > Juillard School in NYC what they tuned to, and he told me that the head > of the school wanted A-441. From the way the tech described the > situation, it seems to me that he simply accepted the administrator's > decision rather than make waves. I can understand that, sortof. Having > said that, though, it seems to me that there really is a confusion in > the minds of musicians and orchestra administrators between what > constitutes pitch and what constitutes timbre. Several years ago, the > principal violist of the Philadelphia orchestra came here to do some > recording with our piano faculty head, and he wanted our piano raised > to > 442, because that's what he was used to in Philly. I told him(with > flame > suit at the ready!!) that we tuned to 440 because if it was good > enough > for George Szell it was good enough for me! He was surprised that the > Cleveland Orchestra tuned to 440; he thought it tuned to 442. I > assured > him that no, the Cleveland Orch. tuned to 440, thank you very much. > Sorry for the length of this post, but this topic is something > that gets my goat. Why is this (accepting standard pitch) so hard? I > wish someone would write a scholarly article, couched in the > appropriate > ivory-tower legalize, that would convince these people to leave the > pitch at 440 and tell the string players to deal with it. Maybe Owen > Jorgensen or someone else has already done so, and we could mail the > Administrators our thoughts. > A Petition, as it were. > Regards, Steve Kabat > -----Original Message----- > From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of > James Ellis > Sent: Monday, April 12, 2004 10:08 AM > To: caut@ptg.org > Subject: A 440 Hz Standard > > The National Symphony Orchestra from Washington DC is giving a concert > in > Oak Ridge TN on April 23. Their manager has informed the ORCMA manager > in > Oak Ridge that the piano must be tuned to A 442, and they even sent > general > instructions about how and when to do it. I'm just wondering: What > orchestras are there out there that play at various different pitches > other > than A=440 Hz, and what are those pitches? If 442 is better than 440, > why > then is 443 not better than 442, or 444, 445, 446, or even 447 not a > lot > better than any of the former? Once upon a time, I'm told, a yard was > equal to the distance between the king's nose and the tip of his > outstretched finger. I'm glad we got beyond that. Whatever happened > to > the idea of standards, anyway? It seems to me that some people just > have > to be different. > > Sincerely, Jim Ellis > > > _______________________________________________ > caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives > > _______________________________________________ > caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives >
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC