Klarinet Archive - Posting 000383.txt from 2006/08

From: Tim Roberts <timr@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Re: higher pitch standard in Europe?
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 12:00:16 -0400

On Mon, 28 Aug 2006 23:06:07 -0400, Randy S Miller
<meistersinger1@-----.net> wrote:

>I was fortunate(although some of his former students may
>disagree ;-)), as an undergraduate to study conducting for a semester
>with the late Hugh B. Johnson (fomerly of Indiana University in
>Bloomington, IN, and of Indiana University of PA (my alma mater)). I
>remember asking him why the Europeans (especially the Berlin
>Philharmonic, under von Karajan, and, to a lesser extent, the RIAS
>Symphony) always tuned to the higher pitch. His answer was that it
>supposedly gave a brighter sound to the strings. I never gave the
>answer another thought, until now. Is there any emperical evidence
>that the higher standard pitch does affect the sound of strings, as
>well as wind instruments, or is this another effect that can be
>chalked up to psycho-acoustics?
>
>

It can be chalked up to ego.

If a single individual or group of instruments is pitched higher than
the rest of the ensemble, then that individual or group WILL stand out;
they will appear to the ear to be "brighter" than the rest of the
ensemble. That's how this creeping pitch comes about. Orchestra X
establishes pitch Y. Concertmaster thinks to himself, "I am more
important than the other dolts in this orchestra; I above all need to be
heard, so I will readjust to Y+2". Pretty soon, the rest of the violin
section notices this, and starts to adjust to Y+2 as well. After a
while, the entire orchestra follows suit. At this point, the
concertmaster again thinks, "the orchestra clearly does not understand
my supreme importance in this matter, so I will have to tune to Y+4."
Rinse and repeat.

When the entire ensemble is tuned to the same pitch, the actual number
is irrelevant. It's all relative. There is no difference in perceived
brightness between an orchestra tuned at A=438 and an orchestra tuned at
A=442. That's just superstitious nonsense. Unfortunately, many things
in the professional music world are built on superstitious nonsense.

--
Tim Roberts, timr@-----.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org