in tune, perfection

[Dave Nereson]

<< . . . . Are all the violins in a symphony at any time exactly in tune, or
is the fact that there is some difference, which produces a chorus effect,
desireable for producing a complex wave, therby making a bigger overall
effect.
 ( 40 piece choir, also ). . . .>>
. . . . >>--Carl Teplitski >>

No, all the violins, nor all the other instruments in the symphony, are not
exactly in tune with each other at any given time.  In a junior high
orchestra or band, they may at times be out of tune with each other as much
as almost a half-step (100 cents), at least when first sight-reading or
learning a piece.  One would think that in a professional symphony, they'd
be within, say, 5 or 10 cents, but

   << Pitch during intense and/or wide vibrato
   << is on the order of +/- 20 cents.  This is analogous to the very rapid
   << beating of 3rds & 6ths found in the remote keys of any Cycle of 5ths
    <<based temperament.
        --Bill Bremmer>>

as a string player, I can assure you they're never that close, yet the music
still sounds fine, which is why I question some of this hair-splitting over
a few tenths of a cent, or even a cent or two.  I maintain that the average
listener just doesn't detect these small differences, especially if the
piano is not playing solo.  I'm not advocating bad tuning -- just wondering
how many people even notice that anything sounds "sour" until a unison
(between two instruments) or even an octave, is beating more than about 1 or
2 beats per second.  It depends on various things like whether it's a low,
middle, or high register, if it's during a quiet or a loud passage, what
else is going on in the music, how piercing a tone the particular
out-of-tune instruments have, etc.
    During the first opening thirds of Debussy's "Au Clair de Lune", a bad
unison or too-wide third would be audible to discerning listeners, as would
G#3, if it were "out" at the beginning of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata",
but in the middle of a crashing concerto with everybody vibrato-ing and
playing fortissimo, and especially if there's also a choir singing, as in
"The Messiah", and they're also all using
vibrato, I'll bet there are regular pitch discrepancies of almost a
quarter-step (25 cents) even in the best symphonies and choirs.  But the
overall effect sounds "in tune" because none of those notes last very long,
it's not quiet enough to hear the beats, and the musicians are constantly
adjusting their pitch.  It's like looking at a forested mountain from a
distance -- the color appears uniform (green, or maybe a hazy blue or
bluish-grey), but when you're on that mountain, the various trees have many
different shades of green, plus other colors like
the brown of the trunks and branches, the grey of the rocks, etc.
    No, I don't leave my octaves and unisons beating, but I have had
customers ask why I keep pounding/tuning a note over and over when it
doesn't sound to them like I'm even changing anything.
    I've heard musicians tuning up before a gig, and when they're done
tuning, I can hear that maybe the trumpet is sharp, one of the guitar
strings is still flat, the bass's E string is quite flat -- whatever -- and
they're thinking "close enough for jazz", yet when they play, it sounds
fine, unless they were still grossly out of tune with each other.
Out-of-tuneness probably would be more noticeable in a brass quintet or
string quartet playing slow, quiet music than it would be in a loud jazz or
rock band, or for that matter, a loud symphony with a hundred instruments
and forty voices.
    If there's one golden aspen tree in the middle of 50,000 pines, you
won't see it from 5 or 10 miles away and if there's one violin a
quarter-step flat at the end of the 1812 Overture or perhaps during "Rite of
Spring", nobody will hear it except maybe the conductor and the violinist's
stand mate.            --David Nereson, RPT, Denver