[pianotech] Pitch

[Porritt, David]

I don’t know the mechanics of his discovery, just that he said the piano was sharp.

dp


David M. Porritt, RPT
dporritt at smu.edu<mailto:dporritt at smu.edu>

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of pianofritz50 at aol.com
Sent: Friday, November 13, 2009 9:34 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Pitch

Hi Dave, did your email say the wind ensemble conductor could "hear" the difference in pitch, or that they just "noticed" a "difference"?

Woodwinds are generally tuned by pushing or pulling reeds or mouthpieces in or out to adjust pitch, and it could be that "they" noticed the pitch difference between 440 & 441 due to the different location/pull to "make pitch", rather than "hearing" anything different.  The average musician probably wouldn't notice, but the professional probably would.

Bill Fritz, StLouis

From: Porritt, David <dporritt at mail.smu.edu<mailto:dporritt at mail.smu.edu>>
To: pianotech at ptg.org<mailto:pianotech at ptg.org> <pianotech at ptg.org<mailto:pianotech at ptg.org>>
Subject: [pianotech] PItch
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:05:32 -0600

This one is for those who still think that nobody can tell the difference between 440 and 442.

At the end of October our symphony conductor asked me to keep the recital hall pianos at 441 to facilitate tuning with the orchestra.  I raised both of those pianos to 441.

Last night I got an email from the wind ensemble conductor (who was not a party to the decision to go to 441) saying “the Yamaha is really sharp and we have a concert tomorrow night.”  I checked it this morning and it was smack on 441.  He didn’t measure anything on the piano, he just heard the difference.

While many cannot tell a difference there are more than a few who can.

dave
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