Our Conservatory groups tune at 440. However, I honor the requests of visiting groups that specify a pitch other than 440. Ken Sloane, Oberlin Conservatory ---------------------------- --On Wed, Sep 15, 1999 11:19 AM -0500 "David M. Porritt" <dporritt@post.cis.smu.edu> wrote: > Ken: > > What is your policy (stated or unstated) there at Oberlin regarding pitch? > Are there times when you won't/can't change it? How much will you vary it? > > dave > > *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** > > On 9/15/99 at 11:56 AM Kenneth Sloane wrote: > >>To All- I don't think the requests to tune above 440 are necessarily >>associated with the search for a brighter sound. Most of the music > directors >>that insist on 440 plus tunings have absolute pitch, and they probably > grew >>up listening to and playing in orchestras that perform at a pitch level >>above 440. By conditioning, they carry around a "higher" A in their ears >>that they "force" on other people. >> >>To give my arguement some historical perspective, The American Fedration > of >>Musicians back in 1921 -- to combat all the musical groups and musical >>instrument manufactures that were using an A that had risen, in many > cases, >>above 450 -- adopted 440 as their standard; but it was already too late. > Too >>many prominent musicians already had the A440 plus imprint in their brain, >>and there was no going back. >> >>Sorry, but the 440 battle is a losing one. Ken Sloane, Oberlin >>Conservatory > > > _____________________________ > David M. Porritt > dporritt@swbell.net > Meadows School of the Arts > Southern Methodist University > Dallas, TX 75275 > _____________________________ >
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