Re: need help with microtone

--- Christophe Grandsire
<christophe.grandsire@...> wrote:
> En réponse à Carsten Becker :
>
>
> >** Note I'm living in Europe, where the
> >standard tunic is a'=440Hz, in
> >America it's 450Hz IIRC, and in France (at
> >least this goes for classical
> >orchestras) it's 415Hz (AFAIK).
>
> Really?! I've always been taught (including by
> music teachers) that the
> "la" (as we call it, in a much nicer way than
> simple letters :)) ) was
> 440Hz, and that it was such everywhere, by
> international agreement (I
> wonder if it's not part of the SI
> specifications...). I've never heard of a
> French "la" of 415Hz, even for classical
> orchestras... Not that it's
> impossible, but I think my music teacher would
> have mentioned it.
It's an old distinction. Look up "military /
orchestral pitch", "high pitch" and "low pitch".

I think 440 is pretty standard everywhere now.
_Excèpt_ in groups that perform early European
music in the traditional manner. They use old
instruments (or modern copies) that are roughly
tuned to 415.

In the US, high and low pitch (415 and 440
respectively) were in use til the early 20th
century; if I recall right, the military used
high pitch insturments. You can still find the
occasional HP insturment in ciruclation - and is
a vexation to young musicians as they basically
have a horn that can't be used in band without
transposing and special tuning. A lot sell on
Ebay, as well. In the late 19th and early 20th
centuries, instruments were usually marked "HP"
or "LP".

I think the old C clarinet I have must be HP, as
it plays in about C#. Too old to be marked. A
much later A clarinet is clearly marked "LP" on
all its joints.

Padraic.


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