Klarinet Archive - Posting 000308.txt from 1997/01

From: "Scott D. Morrow" <SDM@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Tuning 440vs442
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 1997 11:29:32 -0500

>From Fred Jacobowitz:

>... In general, the higher the pitch, the more lively
>the sound quality of the ensemble. This is why pitch generally crept up
>throughout the 19th century from the old A 430 (or less) to the unplayable
>A 450 (or so) before an international convention fixed it at a 440.
>Orchestras needed greater projection of sound for the larger halls that
>were being built and rather than develop the instruments (as is now the
>case), they tried other ways such as higher tuning.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if orchestras tuned low at the
beginning of this century to compensate for the higher-pitched output on 78
rpm recordings! (I heard an interesting story on NPR, once, about the
recording restoration lab at Princeton University. They have a variable
speed turntable and were slowing down old recordings to tune them to the
original scores. In doing so, they found out that one of the great early
tenors, of whom we only had "record" records, was not really a tenor at
all! The higher pitches on the recordings just made him sound that way!)

-Scott

P.S. My trick for tuning is you play whatever you want. If necessary,
turn to the pianist and say "You're flat!"
-SDM

Scott D. Morrow
Department of Biochemistry
School of Hygiene and Public Health
Johns Hopkins University
(410)-955-3631

SDM@-----.edu