Klarinet Archive - Posting 000407.txt from 1998/09

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: Pitch standards
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1998 02:08:18 -0400

> From: MX%"klarinet@-----.48
> Subj: Re: [kl] Re: Pitch standards

> Dan wrote
>
>
> >In reading many of the interesting remarks about this or that
> >orchestra establishing its pitch standard at A=442 or 440 or whatever,
> >I am reminded that a pitch standard must contain two elements. One
> >is vibrations per second of some standard device, this being the
> >one that has been given by everyone so far. But the other is the
> >temperature of the room in with that number of vibrations per second
> >will occur.
> >
> >Thus, one uses a pitch standard of A=442 at a temperature of 72 degrees
> >farenheit, or A=338 at a temperature of 15 degrees centigrade or
> >whatever.
> >
> >I presume that the St. Louis symphony's pitch standard of A=442
> >would be meaningless if the temperature of the room in which they
> >were tuning up was 32 degrees farenheit.
>
>
> Dan,
> I'm at a loss here. If in fact a pitch standard is set at a'=440, where
> does temperature come into effect? It is a vibrational standard only.
> The currently adopted _standard_ of a'=440 (in 1939) is irrespective of
> temperature; while the setting of an orchestra's tuning pitch may be
> other than a'=440 for physical reasons (including that of temperature),
> we can only say that they are tuning to something other than the
> standard; say, 2 Hz above or 2 Hz below the _standard_. If otherwise (if
> the _standard_ is allowed to vary) then there would be no such thing as
> a standard at all.
>
> You can have a pitch standard of 442 Hz, but to call it a' would be
> incorrect. It could only be called a vibrational standard of 442 Hz or a
> standard vibrating 2 Hz faster than the official standard of a'@-----.
> An orchestra may call it A, may finger it as A, may huff and puff and
> whatever - but it isn't the official a'; at least, not until a
> contentious bunch of grumpy people decide to call a'@-----. _Then_
> A'@-----.

I think it to be a matter of physics. If something is vibrating
as a certain speed, that same material will vibrate at a different
speed if the temperature is changed. Thus the pitch will change.

Also, I believe that the standard for pitch states a material
of a certain nature (such as a tuning fork made of platinum or
gold or whatever) vibrating at a certain frequency produces a
specific pitch at a given temperature. Change the material,
the frequency, or the temperature, and you affect the pitch.

If I remember correctly, the first attempt at having a standard
pitch was called "Stuttgart pitch" and it specified a vibration
of 430 at a temperature of 18.6 degrees centigrated. I once
had to look it up in Groves (which I do not have a copy of
at home) and was surprised to see the temperature so carefully
described.

Any orchestra would complain about their ability to achieve
a predefined pitch if the room were too cold or too hot. My
orchestra even had it in the contract; i.e., if the temperature
was too hot (for outdoor concerts, obviously) we did not have
to play, it being considered dangerous for the instruments and
the inability to achieve a specific pitch standard.

> ----
> Mark Charette@-----.org
> Webmaster, http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet
> "There can be no freedom without discipline." - Nadia Boulanger
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
=======================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
Rosanne Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
=======================================

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