Jim - I tune in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Cleveland Orchestra tunes to A-440. I also had the opportunity recently to ask the head tuner at the Juillard School in NYC what they tuned to, and he told me that the head of the school wanted A-441. From the way the tech described the situation, it seems to me that he simply accepted the administrator's decision rather than make waves. I can understand that, sortof. Having said that, though, it seems to me that there really is a confusion in the minds of musicians and orchestra administrators between what constitutes pitch and what constitutes timbre. Several years ago, the principal violist of the Philadelphia orchestra came here to do some recording with our piano faculty head, and he wanted our piano raised to 442, because that's what he was used to in Philly. I told him(with flame suit at the ready!!) that we tuned to 440 because if it was good enough for George Szell it was good enough for me! He was surprised that the Cleveland Orchestra tuned to 440; he thought it tuned to 442. I assured him that no, the Cleveland Orch. tuned to 440, thank you very much. Sorry for the length of this post, but this topic is something that gets my goat. Why is this (accepting standard pitch) so hard? I wish someone would write a scholarly article, couched in the appropriate ivory-tower legalize, that would convince these people to leave the pitch at 440 and tell the string players to deal with it. Maybe Owen Jorgensen or someone else has already done so, and we could mail the Administrators our thoughts. A Petition, as it were. Regards, Steve Kabat -----Original Message----- From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of James Ellis Sent: Monday, April 12, 2004 10:08 AM To: caut@ptg.org Subject: A 440 Hz Standard The National Symphony Orchestra from Washington DC is giving a concert in Oak Ridge TN on April 23. Their manager has informed the ORCMA manager in Oak Ridge that the piano must be tuned to A 442, and they even sent general instructions about how and when to do it. I'm just wondering: What orchestras are there out there that play at various different pitches other than A=440 Hz, and what are those pitches? If 442 is better than 440, why then is 443 not better than 442, or 444, 445, 446, or even 447 not a lot better than any of the former? Once upon a time, I'm told, a yard was equal to the distance between the king's nose and the tip of his outstretched finger. I'm glad we got beyond that. Whatever happened to the idea of standards, anyway? It seems to me that some people just have to be different. Sincerely, Jim Ellis _______________________________________________ caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
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