humidity

[David Porritt]

On Tue, 29 Aug 1995, Newton Hunt wrote:

> Greetings to All, (whomever that may be),
>     Here in New Jersey the humidity is 86% in summer and around 15% in
> winter.  In the winter I tune to 440.  In August I tune to 442 or 442.5.
>     I do NOT change pitch of our two hall Ds at Rutgers.
>     I tune for the New Brunswick State Theatre which is our local concert
> hall, an old converted movie house from the 20's with wonderful acoustics,
> and if an artist or orchestra wants 442 they pay an additonal $100 for the
> pitch change since the next day or month it will have to be tuned to 440.
> This fee is only partly wage time, the rest is punitive.
>     I HATE pitch lowering!
>           Newton
>           nhunt@gandalf.rutgers.edu
>
> P.S.  The flute and bassoon teachers get their piano tuned to 440.00 every
> time regardless of the season.  The bassoon instructor has a Dampp Chaser
> system installed = less work for me, longer stability for him.
>

Newton:

The Oboe & Bassoon teachers here share a studio and want 442 at a minimum.
Both are principals in the DSO so that is where they play every day.
Everybody else gets the same "float."  440 in the Winter and whatever
higher in the Summer.  I also don't argue with the "Ds" in the Summer.  If
they want to be up to 442 I let them (rather than bringing them down then
back up in the Winter.)  But we have pretty good humidity control in that
recital hall so they don't move more than 8 cents max.

Dave Porritt
SMU - Dallas