A 440 Hz Standard

dabell58@earthlink.net dabell58@earthlink.net
Mon, 12 Apr 2004 13:56:27 -0400


Dear Friends,

So can a string instrument. 

Boston Symphony tunes to A441. It always seems to me that this difference
(between A440 and A441) would be masked by the string players' intentional
vibrato, but what do I know, when I got to North Bennet I thought I knew
how to tune because I had been tuning string instruments for 50 years. Not
so.

Regards,
Dorrie Bell
(PTG associate and also a string player)
Original Message:
-----------------
From: Don A. Gilmore eromlignod@kc.rr.com
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 2004 12:23:30 -0500
To: caut@ptg.org
Subject: Re: A 440 Hz Standard


A wind instrument can be tuned to anything you like.

Don

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gary Mushlin" <gmushlin@mindspring.com>
To: "College and University Technicians" <caut@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, April 12, 2004 10:46 AM
Subject: Re: A 440 Hz Standard


> 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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