loss of pitch

[Mike Imbler]

Joe - do you think this story might be apocryphal?  If he heard everything
a fourth low, it would seem that he would be able to play fine with others;
it would be in tune, but transposed.

                                                                   
Regards,  Mike

----------
> From: Joe & Penny Goss <imatunr@primenet.com>
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: loss of pitch
> Date: Friday, July 03, 1998 11:01 PM
> 
> 
> Hi Susan,
> Once heard about a world war 11 refugee who was a cellist. Seems that
> during the war he had both ear drums severally damaged due to the 
constant
> bombardment and could not hear well enough to play. The doctors operated
on
> his ears putting skin from the thigh area in place of the damaged drum
> tissue. The operation was a success, he could hear fine. The only problem
> was that he now heard everything a fourth low and could not play with
> anyone.
> Joe
> ----------
> > From: Susan Kline <skline@proaxis.com>
> > To: pianotech@ptg.org
> > Subject: Breaking Strings and perfect pitch
> > Date: Friday, July 03, 1998 2:06 PM
> > 
> > At 05:21 PM 7/3/98 -0300, John Ross wrote:
> > >Hi List,
> > >I haven't heard anyone mention the importance of having the piano up
to
> > >pitch, if a child is taking lessons or if it is being played with
other
> > >instruments.
> > >If I run into a problem with broken strings, I always determine what
the
> > >piano is being used for. In the above two cases I feel it must be
> > >brought up to pitch if at all possible. 
> > 
> > I might just add that it is particularly crucial if a young child, even
> one
> > not taking lessons, has absolute pitch. Once set at a certain level, it
> > cannot be changed. In our tuning course, one of the students had
perfect
> > pitch, and grew up around a piano that was 1/4 tone flat. I asked if it
> had
> > changed once he heard normal pitch being used. No, he said, he still
> > remembered what he had grown up with. He hummed a note, and said, "this
> is
> > what our piano was like," and then hummed another, 1/4 tone higher,
"and
> > this is standard pitch." He had the two scales coexisting in his mind.
> > While it is a remarkable demonstration of tonal memory and the capacity
> of
> > people to adjust, I doubt he would have chosen to have to do this.
> > 
> > It's a remarkable capacity. I knew someone in his mid-sixties with
> perfect
> > pitch, who was having a lot of medical problems. His pitch sense had
> > shifted a semitone low, and it was driving him nuts when he played,
since
> > he had learned a lot of the piano repertory by heart while "hearing" it
a
> > semitone higher. Has anyone else come across someone whose absolute
pitch
> > has shifted?
> > 
> > (I hope that this mention of perfect pitch doesn't start another round
in
> > the "it's not _perfect!!!_" discussion. Perfect pitch (absolute pitch)
is
> a
> > term that, like Topsy, "just growed." It means the power to remember
and
> > identify pitches without losing track of them or forgetting them. It
has
> > nothing to do with _exactitude_, which varies a lot with different
people
> > who have absolute pitch. Some string players with perfect pitch whom I
> have
> > known had excellent, exact intonation, and others had a terrible time
> with
> > it. They knew it was F#, or whatever, but not how to place the F# with
> any
> > precision.)
> > 
> > >I do
> > >however point out the piano will sound better at the pitch it was
> > >designed for, and eventually it should be brought up.
> > 
> > I agree. In fact, today I tuned an 1882 George Steck grand, and moved
it
> > from just below 440 down to 435. The bass in particular sounded much
more
> > comfortable. Rounder, fuller, less edgy. I don't, however, know what
the
> > pitch standard (if there was a single one) was in 1882. Can anyone help
> > with this? What sort of pitch would the people at George Steck have
used
> > when designing this piano? I can only guess that it would probably have
> > been below 440.
> > 
> > Does anyone else do this sort of thing, since so many pianos which we
> tune
> > were designed before A440 became standard? I tune them to A440 if they
> look
> > strong and are going to be played with other instruments, but often
tune
> > them to A435 if they are going to be played alone. Sometimes they even
> have
> > a decal on the plate, saying, "Standard pitch: A=435." Partly I do it
> > because I'm interested in how they sound when they are at their
original
> > pitch. 
> > 
> > Sorry about the endless length. Just unwinding from a very long week
when
> I
> > saw too many pianos. Looking forward to two days to catch up.
> > 
> > Susan
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Susan Kline
> > P.O. Box 1651
> > Philomath, OR 97370
> > skline@proaxis.com		
> > 
> >