[CAUT] International standard?

[Fred Sturm]

Another bit of info, FWIW, from the International Organization of
Standardization (generally uses ISO as its international acronym),
www.iso.org
"ISO 16:1975 Specifies the frequency for the note A in the treble stave and
shall be 440 Hz. Tuning and retuning shall be effected by instruments
producing it within an accuracy of 0,5 Hz."

Who is ISO? This is how they describe themselves:

"ISO is a network of the national standards institutes of 150 countries, on
the basis of one member per country, with a Central Secretariat in Geneva,
Switzerland, that coordinates the system.

"ISO is a non-governmental organization: its members are not, as is the case
in the United Nations system, delegations of national governments.
Nevertheless, ISO occupies a special position between the public and private
sectors. This is because, on the one hand, many of its member institutes are
part of the governmental structure of their countries, or are mandated by
their government. On the other hand, other members have their roots uniquely
in the private sector, having been set up by national partnerships of
industry associations.

 "Therefore, ISO is able to act as a bridging organization in which a
consensus can be reached on solutions that meet both the requirements of
business and the broader needs of society, such as the needs of stakeholder
groups like consumers and users."

    As I understand this, standards set by ISO are commonly adhered to, but
have no force of law (well, there are probably exceptions). In the case of
musical pitch, my own take on the current situation is that practically
speaking 442 has become the international standard by virtue of the major
manufacturers of percussion and winds making it their default pitch. They
have responded, presumably, to international market forces. There is more
demand for instruments at 442 than at 440.
    It doesn't really matter to me what the standard is, as long as it is
reliably standard. Unfortunately we live during a period when the standard
seems to be in flux. Fortunately there is less flux now than during many
periods in the past.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico



On 4/27/05 1:42 PM, "Fred Sturm" <fssturm@unm.edu> wrote:

> I just found this, which confirms the Goebbels connection
> <http://groups.msn.com/Todakcrew/musicarticles.msnw>:
> The first effort to institutionalize A=440 in fact was a conference
> organized by Joseph Goebbels in 1939, who had standardized A=440 as the
> official German pitch. Professor Robert Dussaut of the National Conservatory
> of Paris told the French press that: ``By September 1938, the Accoustic
> Committee of Radio Berlin requested the British Standard Association to
> organize a congress in London to adopt internationally the German Radio
> tuning of 440 periods. This congress did in fact occur in London, a very
> short time before the war, in May-June 1939. No French composer was invited.
> The decision to raise the pitch was thus taken without consulting French
> musicians, and against their will.'' The Anglo-Nazi agreement, given the
> outbreak of war, did not last, so that still A=440 did not stick as a
> standard pitch.
> 
> A second congress in London of the International Standardizing Organization
> met in October 1953, to again attempt to impose A=440 internationally. This
> conference passed such a resolution; again no Continental musicians who
> opposed the rise in pitch were invited, and the resolution was widely
> ignored. Professor Dussaut of the Paris Conservatory wrote that British
> instrument makers catering to the U.S. jazz trade, which played at A=440 and
> above, had demanded the higher pitch, ``and it is shocking to me that our
> orchestra members and singers should thus be dependent upon jazz players.''
> A referendum by Professor Dussaut of 23,000 French musicians voted
> overwhelmingly for A=432.
> 
> Regards,
> Fred Sturm
> University of New Mexico