A440 Standard - SHIFT OF LOCATION?

[Stephen Airy]

If I'm going to have a piano off of A-440, I
personally would prefer to have it sharp, rather than
flat.  In my mind, when I even hear +25 cents, I think
+half step (note names).  But when I hear -50 cents, I
can more easily train myself to hear the correct note
names when I'm listening to music played on said
piano.

When tuning my piano, sometimes I have found I have
liked the tone at a lower pitch, say, 435, or even 430
or 427, which it has been that low on occasion.  Right
now it's -15 to -20 cents because of a dry spell we've
had in my neck of the woods.  Normally, though, I try
to keep it at 440.  If one more string breaks, though,
I'll be tuning it where it is whenever I tune it until
i restring it.


--- Billbrpt@AOL.COM wrote:
> In a message dated 3/4/02 1:05:01 PM Central
> Standard Time, 
> skolnik@attglobal.net (David Skolnik) writes:
> 
> 
> > Oh yes, regarding floating pitch.  While I
> practice it to a degree, I think 
> > A439 - 442 is unacceptably wide for any but the
> loosest of situations.  To 
> > me, anything under 440 is unacceptable.  I think
> of floating as between 440 
> > and 441.5 for a A440 standard.  The standard most
> likely represents the 
> > lowest acceptable pitch in any particular pitch
> environment, thus, allowing 
> > the BSO piano to float would seem to give a range
> of 442 to 44? ?
> > 
> 
> At the end of last September, I wrote a post called
> "Stupefying Pitch 
> Volatility".  While I dislike tuning to anything but
> A440, in this climate I 
> simply must make compromises some of the time.  I
> was tuning an 1899 Schiller 
> upright which is faithfully tuned every 6 months. 
> It is in very good shape 
> for its type and age.  I found its pitch to be +47
> cents!
> 
> Someone suggested it may have a cracked plate, which
> it does not but it is 
> the old, 3/4 plate design.  It shows no obvious sign
> of structural failure.  
> It is in a nice but modest neighborhood near one of
> the lakes.  The humidity 
> is very high in summer and very low in winter. 
> Reluctantly, I tuned the 
> piano at +24 cents.  A few weeks ago, I was asked to
> tune it again.  This 
> time the pitch was -12 cents.  I raised it to A440.
> 
> In my opinion, A440 is an important standard to
> promote and uphold.  I also 
> concur with PTG's statement in its informational
> material which says that 
> nonstandard pitch is "seldom appropriate".  But I
> don't believe there should 
> be any rigid and inflexible rules.  Such a rule
> would be unenforceable 
> anyway. Whichever decision is made about pitch ought
> to be left to the best 
> judgment of the technician, taking into account the
> circumstances.  The 
> consequences of that decision should also be the
> technician's responsibility, 
> including the consequences of insisting on A440 when
> another pitch would have 
> been more prudent.
> 
> Bill Bremmer RPT
> Madison, Wisconsin
>  <A HREF="http://www.billbremmer.com/">Click here:
> -=w w w . b i l l b r e m m e r . c o m =-</A> 
> 


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