A 440 Hz Standard

Gary Mushlin gmushlin@mindspring.com
Mon, 12 Apr 2004 10:46:03 -0500


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
>
>
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