musing on pitch creep

[Carol R. Beigel]

I do not consider myself an expert on piano tuning, especially matters of
aural tuning, but I made an observation recently while demonstrating
Cybertuner to an aural tuner.  Mr. Leifur Magnusson and his son, Kristinn
Leifsson, as you probably are well aware of by now, are two of only a
handfull of tuners in Iceland. They tune aurally, using a very clean equal
temperament and keep concert pianos tuned at A442 to A444.  They had never
heard a tuning done with a VTD so I demonstrated Cybertuner on a 9-ft.
Estonia grand, a Klima upright, and a Samick upright.

The first tuning I demonstrated was the Jim Coleman #4 modern well
temperament on the Klima uprt tuned to A440.  This tuning just barely
changes from equal temperament in the 2 notes are tuned 2 cents sharp, and 2
notes are tuned 2 cents flat in the temperatment.  That was too much for
them.
So I used the equal temperament on the Estonia grand.  The piano was already
tuned to A442 so I was not about the change the pitch. There ensued a lively
discussion of standard pitch.  They think absolutely nothing of tuning at
A442 or A444 if the orchestra demands it.  I was told that most orchestras
in Europe request this.  They laughed when I said that I would refuse to
tune a concert grand, already at A440 to any other pitch.

Before I started this equal-temperament tuning, I asked several times about
how much stretch they wanted in this tuning, never getting an answer, so by
default I chose No.5, right in the middle.   The comment when I finished was
that the thirds were faster than they were accustomed to hearing.  It
finally occured to me several days later what may be going on here.  These
folks approach tuning in a very traditional manner with extremely clean
tunings.  I suppose this is done all over Europe. They probably tune to A442
or A444 just to get a little "zing" in the tuning!

My conclusion is that a tuning at A440 with a greater stretch factor, even a
5 to 9 on the Cybertuner scale, puts as much or more "zing" in the tuning
than a tuning done at a higher pitch with little stretch.  Maybe this is why
there is so much pitch creep and why it does not need to happen!

Carol Beigel
Greenbelt, Maryland