<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Re: [CAUT] A440 percussion</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY>    Also, there’s the vibrato spr= ead. That affects the whole strings component of the orchestra. There are se= veral cents of variation in that movement of fingertip on fingerboard. There= is the question of “blending of pitch” where intervals includin= g M3s are made beatless, especially during slow sustained passages. The lowe= r note of the M3 is shifted sharp, upper goes flat, by 10 cents or so. And t= here are melodic techniques like sharpening the leading tone.     They work it out just fine. The problem instrument,= from their point of view, is the fixed pitch one like the piano <g>. = As far as the orchestra is concerned, the piano needs to have adequate stret= ch, be at an acceptable overall pitch, and have good, stable unisons. They&#= 8217;ll hate the temperament no matter what. If they bother to pay attention= <g>. But dips of pitch here and there (as in sagging tenors) won&#821= 7;t really be a problem, as they are used to adapting (as in the entire wind= section going sharp as it heats up, and everyone needing to lip down). Most= important is where that A4 is when it is played as pitch reference (fortuna= tely that happens before the lights get a chance to act, and that note is no= t so liable to be changed very much). Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico On 4/25/05 7:54 PM, "Chris Solliday" <solliday@ptd.net> wro= te: <BLOCKQUOTE>Alan, the"spread&= quot; is the intonation naturally reached for at the extremes of the pitch r= ange and soloists. In general soloists like to "sharpen up" so tha= t they sound more brilliant, but there is a tolerance range where we, as lis= teners, don't perceive this as out of tune just as your perception of what y= ou knew to be an out of tune piano wasn't disturbing. Also some higher pitch= ed instruments "edge up" their tuning slightly and the lower ones = down alittle bit but this is not calculated it is more perceptual. I might s= ay it is more a tendency than a tuning, if you will. Players react like this= at light speed to make things sound more"in tune." Yes, lights ar= e effective pitch changers, although just playing shouldn't cause that kind = of heat, but maybe if the player's body temperature raises to the point that= it affects the humidity in the air, which I have questioned on occasion, th= ere is a slim possibility that this could be the culprit. Chris Solliday </BLOCKQUOTE> </BODY> </HTML>