Jeff, Paul, others - I'll agree that there is always a psychological component in all of this... people trying to hide their own uncertainties, inadequacies, deficiencies, but I would be a bit more circumspect in my assertions of dissemblance, were I yous, meaning, don't be so sure. In both examples below, the writers seem convinced that folks are faking, the difference in frequency being undiscernible, nor can they fathom any real effect. I would venture an assertion of my own. Most fine wind players know where the pitch is. If they didn't have that degree of control, at least at some point in their careers, they wouldn't be playing in a first rate ensemble. The guy who makes the phone call to ask for 441, or 2, may not be able to tell, but the players can. Looking forward to hanging out for a few weeks at the Performing Arts Library @ Lincoln Center, in order to read the $90 opus Fred recommended: A History of Performing Pitch: the story of "A" by Bruce Haynes. I may wait for it to come out as an i-book, or for a Kindle to read the whole thing, but I'm really hoping to get a look at it soon. I wonder how many of your institutions own a copy in their music libraries. David Skolnik Hastings on Hudson, NY At 04:20 PM 11/10/2009, Jeff Tanner wrote: >I'm telling you, its the Emperor's New Clothes syndrome. Some people >use things like this to assert a sense of superiority over other >people. They can't hear the difference any more than the people >they're trying to impress with their "genius". I was asked to tune >441 for a performance the other day. I cannot possibly imagine what >the advantage would be for 4 cents in a chamber group other than >that they just want to make somebody think they know something >everybody else doesn't. I happened to find the piano sitting right >at 441 after it hadn't been tuned in several months, so I touched it up. >Tanner and Paul Williams wrote: >Now....who can tell without a measuring devise can actually tell 440 >from 441??? Remember. No reference...fork. ETD or >otherwise!!! Really!?!?!?! You must be God! Very few, if any... I >can assure...especially non piano technicians. I'm sure there are >some, (but I doubt it sincerely!), -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20091110/53e4dfaf/attachment.htm>
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