On Wed, 4 Sep 1996, Aaron Bousel wrote: >An anecdote: > <snip big section> ... > I've never gotten a complaint about a piano being too sharp, though if it's >flat, I hear about it. > >Aaron Bousel > Aaron, I have heard similar comments before, but my experience has been just the opposite. Singers are the most flexible in pitch of all "instruments," and for them to complain about pitch is usually theoretical or imagined "nit picking." For instruments, especially winds, pitch is critical, for many of them have no lattitude on the "sharp" side-- it is not unusual for a trumpet to be dead on 440 with the tuning slide all the way "in," with no option to tune any sharper. They have trouble playing with a normally tuned piano, because the higher notes of the piano are stretched higher than the higher notes of the trumpet. This is even more pronounced with clarinets and flutes-- they must tune sharp of 440 in order to sound best in tune with a piano. All of these instruments have no trouble tuning flat though, by elongation or pulling out a tuning slide. So my conclusion is, to be safe, never tune sharp and opt for flat for purposes of "floating." In the case of playing with winds, flat may always be better. Bill Bailer \\\ William Bailer wbailer@cris.com \\\ Rochester, NY, USA phone: 716-473-9556 \\\ Interests: acoustics, JSBach, anthropology, piano technology
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC