A 435 or A 440

[Israel Stein]

On Jul 26 01:21:37 2006 David Nereson wrote:
>Nobody has PERFECT pitch.  Some people have very good pitch recognition.  But to
> most of them, if you played A435 and asked them to tell you what note it was, >they would just say “A,” not  “an A that’s a bit flat.”  

Hmmm... 
I have a cousin (currently a violonist with an orchestra in Belgium) who complains any time something is off by more than 1/2 cycle (that's 2 cents or so). I also had a client in Boston who could not bear to listen to any music that was more than 2-3 cents off A-440. She could not stand to attend Boston Symphony concerts - they play at A=442... She drove tuners nuts - since pianos rose and dropped by more than her tolerance due to seasonal weather changes (of course, she also believed that pianos should be tuned twice a year and no more...)

So any one particular client may just be the one who is not of of "most of them"...

Israel Stein

> At any rate, the plate and frame can
> most likely handle having the pitch raised to 440.  You might check to see that the
> plate bolts are snug.  But yes, it was designed to be at 435.  And 440 is only 5 beats 
>per second sharp at A #49.   There are probably times during humid summers when
 it’s way sharper than that.