[CAUT] A440 percussion

[Scott Thile]

I think symphonies (especially the string players) will keep pushing this
sharper and sharper until someone blows up a strad with the extra tension...


I bet that will cause a little reflection. 

Have a good weekend all,

Scott

>-----Original Message-----
>From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On 
>Behalf Of Wolfley, Eric (wolfleel)
>Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005 9:30 AM
>To: 'College and University Technicians'
>Subject: RE: [CAUT] A440 percussion
>
>There's a standard joke at the Cincinnati Symphony is that they tune to
>A-441 and play at 442. The orchestra DOES tend to get sharper 
>as they go along and I think this is a very common natural 
>tendency. A kind of "pushing the envelope"...finding the edge 
>where excitement begins to become unmusical. It is definitely 
>better to err on the side of being a little sharp rather than 
>the other way around and this is possibly what collectively 
>pushes the pitch upwards. I never let the piano get below 
>A-441 and tune it with a lot of stretch. There is a natural 
>system of checks and balances in the orchestra and the 
>percussionists have their bars set at 442 because they have 
>to. They set the upper limit. I have had a few discussions 
>with the harpist (who sits almost inside the piano when it is in the
>orchestra) about how she copes with the stretch on the piano. 
>She (as almost all harpists do) tunes with a strobe tuner. She 
>just tunes it to A-442, no stretch. There is currently a small 
>controversy swirling about the celesta because of an upcoming 
>recording session. The orchestra's celesta is an ancient 
>rattletrap and they've finally decided it sounds flat...
>
>Despite all this, the general intonation of the orchestra is 
>excellent. They make the necessary musical adjustments as they 
>play and it somehow works out.
>
>Eric Wolfley, RPT
>Supervising Piano Technician
>College-Conservatory of Music
>University of Cincinnati
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Fred S Sturm [mailto:fssturm@unm.edu]
>Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005 10:01 AM
>To: College and University Technicians
>Subject: Re: [CAUT] A440 percussion
>
>On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 17:46:09 EDT
>  Wimblees@aol.com wrote:
>> 
>> I found out about this a couple of months ago when the harp player 
>>told me  she tunes to 442 to be in tune with the percussion 
>>instruments. But  the oboe  plays 440, and no one has asked 
>me to tune 
>>the piano to 442.
>> 
>>For those orchestras that tune to 440, but use mallet 
>instruments tuned 
>>to  442, doesn't the conductor complain these instruments aren't in 
>>tune with  the  rest of the orchestra?
>> 
>> This get's me to wondering if those who seem to be so worried about 
>>it,  really know if the orchestra is tuned to 442 or 440?
>>Personally I think it is
>> just a case of "I want to be different", and/or "I am sooooo good, 
>>that I can  tell the difference", when perhaps they really can't.
>> 
>> Wim
>> 
>> Willem Blees,  RPT
>> Piano Technician
>> School of Music
>> University of  Alabama
>> 
>Well, Wim, do remember that most orchestra members have some 
>kind of electronic tuner these days. Not up to our standards 
>in accuracy, but definitely capable of discerning the 
>difference between 440 and 442. So virtually any orchestra 
>member could know with a fair degree of precision what the 
>pitch is, regardless of the precision of their "perfect 
>pitch." Furthermore, any wind player would be able to tell 
>just by how the instrument responds in trying to match pitch, 
>and string players are well attuned to how their instruments 
>sound (timbre) at various pitches. I think you would find that 
>the vast majority of professional orchestra members would know 
>quite well what pitch the piano had been tuned to.
>As for the audience or the critics, that's a different 
>question <g> Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico 
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