On Feb 21, 2010, at 9:06 AM, Laurence Libin wrote: > How many musicians or tuners can hear the difference of plus or > minus one Hz around a' or higher, without reference to a signal > tone? Has anyone tested this sensitivity? I'm not implying it > doesn't matter to some players and singers, but wonder how much and > to whom. As had been noted, winds and strings normally fluctuate one > Hz or more during performance (not least in vibrato). No > international standard (435, 440, etc.) has ever been universally > adopted, and it seems to me that a precise 440 or 441 tuning > sustained throughout a performance is as much a theorecital ideal as > is perfectly equal temperament. > Laurence Excellent point. A published study done in the 1970s I believe, at the Paris Opera, measured a pitch drift of 5 Hz or more during the course of a performance. I have seen references to the article but haven't actually read it, so I don't know how they measured. Perhaps recorded and isolated. Today that is easier to do, and perhaps some more recent studies have been done. In practical terms, it is the woodwinds who are most sensitive, because their instruments are relatively fixed (within temperature parameters, etc). Clarinet, flute, and bassoon in particular complain (in my experience) about too sharp when pianos get above 441, or even to 441, because they have trouble getting their pitch that high (with 440 instruments). With respect to standards, we have the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics at 444-446, where they have been for 150 years. Those are very important orchestras. (The Vienna uses an archaic oboe with a characteristic sound, made to the higher pitch). So the sound of those orchestras is "in the ear" of the public and of conductors. This has been the case since the time the French tried to establish 435. I think it is an argument that will not be resolved. To the extent it might be resolving, it is resulting in the creep to 442, which has accelerated over the past couple decades. Orchestras don't care about the International Standards Organization, which adopted 440 many many years back and affirmed it later. Yamaha Corporation has apparently adopted 442 as standard for percussion. I think they offer 440 as an option on many instruments, but it is a special option. Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico fssturm at unm.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20100221/bfc65caf/attachment.htm>
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