<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Re: [CAUT] A440 percussion</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> Hey C= hris, Could you elaborate on the tuning “spread” you referred to? I j= ust tuned for the orchestra here (Markus Groh, a friendly and astute fellow = and fabulous pianist, playing Liszt #1 in the first half and “Totentan= z” the second half) and was onstage at intermission touching up a few = unisons. I had touched up the piano off stage about 5pm leaving it at A-440 = except the tenor was a couple cents sharp. Went out during intermission and = the mid-range was 3c flat (fun with heat and lights!). I heard zero intonati= on problems between orchestra and piano from where I sat. There is definitel= y and thankfully some “tolerance” as to perceived pitch. Hard to= anticipate just how much the beast is going to change with the heat. As I w= as onstage seeing that the pitch had sagged I also wondered if just playing = the piano hard (ala Liszt) warms it up and contributes to a lower pitch. Any= one know? Alan -- Alan McCoy, RPT Eastern Washington University amccoy@mail.ewu.edu 509-359-4627 <HR ALIGN=CENTER SIZE="3" WIDTH="95%">From: Chris Solliday <solli= day@ptd.net> Reply-To: "College and University Technicians <caut@ptg.org&= gt;" <caut@ptg.org> Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 17:59:25 -0400 To: "College and University Technicians <caut@ptg.org>&qu= ot; <caut@ptg.org> Subject: Re: [CAUT] A440 percussion Wim, check my earlier post for rationale but one thing to note is that the = tuning "spread" in a "good" orchestra is aprox 10 cents.= Kind of a nice stretch. Maybe they weren't thinking, that usually works. Ch= ris Solliday <BLOCKQUOTE> ----- Original Message -----   From:  Wimblees@aol.com     To: caut@ptg.org   Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2005 5:46  PM   Subject: Re: [CAUT] A440 percussion     In a message dated 4/21/2005 12:37:00 P.M. Central Standard Time, jim_busby= @byu.edu writes:   <BLOCKQUOTE>List, Our percussion teacher told me (this week) that all new  percussion<BR= > (marimbas, Xylophones, etc.) are now coming at A442, and that  if you<= BR> want A440 it is now special order. He didn't tell me which  companies,= just the ones he typically orders from. Jim Busby  BYU _______________________________________________ </BLOCKQUOTE>   I found out about this a couple of months ago when the harp player told &nb= sp;me she tunes to 442 to be in tune with the percussion  instruments. = But the oboe plays 440, and no one has asked me to tune  the piano to 4= 42.       For those orchestras that tune to 440, but use mallet instruments tuned &nb= sp;to 442, doesn't the conductor complain these instruments aren't in tune &= nbsp;with the rest of the orchestra?       This get's me to wondering if those who seem to be so worried about it, &nb= sp;really know if the orchestra is tuned to 442 or 440? Personally I think i= t is  just a case of "I want to be different", and/or "I= am sooooo good, that I can  tell the difference", when perhaps th= ey really can't.       Wim       Willem  Blees, RPT Piano Technician School of Music University of  Alabama </BLOCKQUOTE> </BODY> </HTML>