A 440 Hz Standard

Gary Mushlin gmushlin@mindspring.com
Mon, 12 Apr 2004 16:19:24 -0500


Hi Fred,

Thanks for the excellent response, including a great explanation of 
problems wind players experience trying to "stretch" or "shrink" their 
instruments in order to tune to one note. The article or specification 
I read indicated that A-442 wind instruments are being made for and 
sold in this country as well.

My point here is that for piano technicians who what to take a stance 
against anything other than A-440, the battle looks rather hopeless.

Sincerely,
Gary Mushlin, MME, RPT





I get the impression that many piano technicians think that
On Monday, April 12, 2004, at 02:06  PM, fssturm@unm.edu wrote:

> Hi Gary,
>    I can confirm that wind instruments are made for A-442 and for 
> A-445. Our
> oboist lived for several years in Europe, and got a new 440 instrument 
> when he
> returned to the US. He tells me that 442 is beyond the capability of 
> the 440
> instrument, that he could use shorter reed tubes and barely reach that 
> pitch, but
> the overall intonation would suffer (ie, you have changed the entire 
> length of the
> instrument, thus the relationships when using the various keys will 
> have
> changed). Our clarinetist tells me (in response to my asking him) that 
> he has
> various length barrels (a short section that goes between mouthpiece 
> and body)
> which can set the pitch of the instrument. But he concurs about the 
> intonation
> problems, and says if he had to play at 442 (or whatever) all the 
> time, he would
> need a new instrument. Flautist agrees. Brass folks say the same to 
> varying
> extents. Strings: not a problem. Does affect the timbre of the 
> instrument. Which is
> why European orchestras (and many American) use the higher pitch.
> Regards,
> Fred Sturm
> University of New Mexico
>
> Quoting Gary Mushlin <gmushlin@mindspring.com>:
>
>> 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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