<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html>   Phil Bondi wrote: <blockquote TYPE=CITE>I recently tuned for a Russian Pianist who required 442 if this adds to the confusion..?!?!? Rook</blockquote> Actually, outside of America, 442 seems to be just about as usual as 440. I have even been requested to tune concerts at 444. Lots of Jazz pianist require 442 in their contracts. Seems like there is some historical tendency to speed things up. At the turn of the century we were at 432 - 436 area. The meantone temperament was still big, and the preference for slowly beating intervals still going strong, Tuning A at a higher frequency means also speeding up the beat rate of all intervals. Faster beating intervals have been called by some as "exciting", "hectic" etc. Perhaps the collective human ear is out after something ??? Richard Brekne Sydneskleiven 1 5010 Bergen, Norway <a href="richardb@c2i.net">E-mail Richard Brekne</a> <a href="http://home.c2i.net/ric/RicMain.html">Richard Brekne Website</a></html>