Klarinet Archive - Posting 000167.txt from 1998/09

From: Roger Garrett <rgarrett@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Short barrels
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1998 19:57:43 -0400

On Sat, 5 Sep 1998, Bill Hausmann wrote:
> I'm the one who made the comment about pitch. Why, when we have had a
> long-established standard pitch of A=440, have some orchestras arbitrarily
> decided that they need to introduce intonation problems in their woodwinds
> and brass, or obsolete their instruments, for the sake of making their
> group sound "brighter" (whatever THAT means)? The pitch standard used by
> manufacturers seems to be trending toward A=442, and you are going to have
> a VERY hard time convincing me that this is in ANY way a good thing. You
> are welcome to try, though. :-)

While I can appreciate Bill's postion regarding his discomfort with the
European pitch center, his reasoning that it was an arbitrary decision and
that there is a trend used by manufacturers is unfounded. The orchestras
I described in my last post have used the same pitch, we believe, for over
two hundred years. That does not represent a trend, nor does it represent
an arbitrary decision. In fact, the European musical community could very
well call the American A440 an "arbitrary decision" and label it an
American "trend."

There is no evidence that they feel it makes their group sound brighter.
If there is, cite a reference to that effect....otherwise, it seems more
like folklore and gossip!

Roger Garrett
IWU

-------------------------------------------------------------------------