> What a quandry. At what temperature should I tune my fork? So many > questions, so many suggestions, so few concrete answers. It makes me wonder > if I'll ever pass the test. I hope to attend a workshop with Virgil Smith in > November. Perhaps he will have some suggestions. > > Cheers all > > Terry Beckingham All this talk about the accuracy of tuning forks, and the need to get exactly at 440 for the exam is indeed unnerving for those who have not experienced the exam. I have not taken this part of the exam sequence yet, tho I suspect the point is a bit overdriven. A good fork at room temp. should do just fine, or something is wrong with the exam. In any case I have to question the need for such a stringent ruling on the 440 issue. The point of the exam is more whether or not an examinee can demonstate the ability to transfer the fork pitch to the piano accurately then it is anything else. And I doubt seriously that in a real world situation the need to be within the tests parameters exists. (Perhaps vary rarely). I mean really, you have top notch players comeing in asking for everything from 438 to 444 and sometimes outside those limits. I had a canadian trumpet player who lead a jazz quintent complain that I had tuned to high, the pitch was 440 - a tad. I ran into the same quintent again later and experienced the same. Even different symphonies visiting our town ask for different pitches, and sometimes dont really care, as long as its within a certain range. I kinda get the feeling that the accuracy demanded by the test to real 440 is missing the point. In Norway we simply ask the examinee to leave his tuning fork on the piano after he is done setting pitch. If its good agains his fork, then he knows what he's doing. We leave it to the real world to effect whatever neccessary change in his choice of tuning forks. Just a few stray thoughts.. Richard Brekne I.C.P.T.G. N.P.T.F. Bergen, Norway
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