Steinway 457cps pitch

[Bradley M. Snook]

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> Why do you find 443 absurd?  It's an interesting question.  Why does A 443 sound
> more or less good than A 440 or A 457 for that matter?  I guess you could approach
> this philosophically, psychoacoustically, or mechanically (practically?).

Phillip, I think you are right, there are at least three different approaches to what were are talking about. When I said that 443 was absurd, I was talking about my personal experience; I grew up listening and tuning to 440. When I hear a piano, or an orchestra that gives an A higher than that , I feel very uncomfortable. It has nothing to do with what actually sounds better. If the whole world decided that 457 was going to be the new standard, I would need to re-learn A4 to that standard.



> Assuming an A 440 and an A 443
> with the same relative partial or harmonic structure would we all, or would some of
> us individually, prefer one over the other?  

All things being equal, this would depend on the amount of tonal recognition that a person has. If a person does not have the ability to remember precisely what 440 sounds like, then I do not think that it really matters. For myself, these two frequencies are very different. Although I will admit that I can easily be tricked when strange things are happening with the overtones.


>Does the
> preference of one over the other mean there is something inherently good or bad
> about that frequency or just that the piano doesn't really sound its best at a 
> frequency other than that for which it was designed?

If a piano is scaled appropriately, then presumably it will sound its best at the frequency for which it was designed. But this deals with the overall quality of tone, and is not related to tonal recognition. Honestly, piano scaling is not my strongest area, so it is something that I can only generally talk about.

By the way, why are so many pianos in the Bay Area tuned to 441-442? My wife recently did a recording in a studio that was tuned perfectly to 441. Since the tuning was very good, and the recording session was to start soon, I left it how it was. Although, neither one of us were comfortable with 441.


Bradley M. Snook

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