{"id":2644,"date":"2022-11-23T21:40:04","date_gmt":"2022-11-23T21:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/?p=2644"},"modified":"2022-11-23T21:40:04","modified_gmt":"2022-11-23T21:40:04","slug":"what-does-it-mean-to-be-in-tune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/2022\/11\/23\/what-does-it-mean-to-be-in-tune\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does It Mean to Be in Tune?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

It sounds pretty simple when someone says that a singer, an orchestra or a piano is in or out of tune.<\/p>\n

But the search for the right tone lowers the drawbridge on a world of physics and fashion that has, for centuries, been the preserve of the most diehard musical geeks inhabiting a hothouse of jealousies, intrigues, and infighting.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m prompted to write about this because of\u00a0articles trumpeting<\/a>\u00a0the computer advances designed to make the human piano tuner obsolete.<\/p>\n

If only the world of tuning were that simple.<\/p>\n

First, everyone needs to agree on a common note to use as a reference point.<\/p>\n

Pitch: Concert A<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When concertmaster Jonathan Crow stands up in front of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall, he will ask principal oboe Sarah Jeffrey to play an A on which the whole orchestra will tune.<\/p>\n

Simple enough \u2014 except that, at nearly the same moment, Charlotte Nediger will play a different A for the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra at Trinity-St. Paul\u2019s.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the actual pitch of that A has varied over the centuries. Official modern concert pitch is an A that produces sound waves measuring 440 Hz. But many musicians are tempted to cheat, because a fractionally higher pitch makes for a brighter sound (some orchestras, like the New York Philharmonic, tune at 442 or 443 Hz).<\/p>\n

Baroque pitch is lower \u2014 and all over the map. Scientists couldn\u2019t measure the amplitude and duration of sound waves until 150 or so years ago, so people relied on the craftsmen who made tuning forks and pitch pipes. At the extreme, these tuning standards could be two or even three full tones apart.<\/p>\n

Each period-performance ensemble sits down \u2014 sometimes before each new concert program \u2014 to decide what frequency they will use as their tuning standard (for example, if they are building a concert around a historical organ, which is difficult to tune, they will tune themselves to that instrument).<\/p>\n

The official modern concert pitch standard of A=440 Hz was only confirmed in 1939, by the ISO.<\/p>\n