A440 under fire

[Newton Hunt]

Why bother!  Tell them different pitches cost you more time
therefore more cost to them and charge it.  If it gets them where
it hurts they change their tune quickly enough.

		Newton



Richard Brekne wrote:
> 
> These past weeks I have been asked by several different teachers and
> students to tune the pianos at the University at different pitches.
> These range from 439 to 442. When I mention that international standard
> is 440 and that despite this the local symphony and the Univeristy
> student symphony tunes at 442 I get these looks like I am crazy. These
> folks mean hardnosed that concert pitch is 442 and that 440 is old hat.
> Grin... I retort that everything I have read on the subject says 440,
> and that even tho they use 442 I get requests for pitch as low as 439
> from some of these same teachers.
> 
> My hours are limited and we have a rather optmistic upgrading program
> going on (fixing up instruments that have had waaayyyy to little
> attention above and beyond tuning through the years). So I have been
> trying to go the middle road for 2 years now making sure the concert
> instruments are at 441, and all others do not vary from the 440 to 442
> range. This has worked well and all seem satisfied by and large, yet I
> am still mystified by this insistance that the pitch standard is 442.
> 
> Where can I document international standards regarding this ?
> 
> --
> Richard Brekne
> Associate PTG, N.P.T.F.
> Bergen, Norway