Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner A=440 ... rising to 441 ??

Just had my piano tuned today. The tuner asked if it was normally tuned to A=440, which is always has been. (it was a little flat overall). She then observed that sometimes she is asked to tune to A=441.

Has anyone ever come across A=441 as a tuning? or 442 or anything higher? Why would this be even asked for? I can't think of any reason for going higher than 440. Going lower is plausible if one is into Victorian or Baroque pitches, of course, or accompanying antique instruments in the HIP world.

The Vienna Philharmonic tunes to A=443. Edge and color to sound? I dunno.

I think I read that a technician was asked to tune to 441 once. He tuned the standard way, then "fixed" just the A slightly sharp to satisfy the picky customer.

Aha, I didn't know that. Also something to with the acoustics of their usual performance hall? (just guessing).

No, but a lot of woodwind instruments have better intonation when the pitch is a bit higher.

I tune my piano to 443.

It works well, except if I try to play duets with my flutist son!

Why?

Chopin's own pleyel pianos tuned A=428.10

And I did that It sounds more beatiful than A=440

Well, my youngest's Baroque flute is made at A = 415. There is no one "right" pitch.

I had read that Grotrian usually tunes to 443, so I decided to give it a try. The slight sharpness does brighten up the sound a bit, but not in a harsh way ...as when we use the term "bright" to refer to a hard-hammered school piano.

Got it! Thanks!

Tuning was considerably lower in the baroque period. Baroque period instruments are quite different. Modern woodwinds are better suited to higher pitch. 440 is on the low end of the scale, acceptable but not optimal.

Actually, his "modern" silver flute struggles at A=443. It was made in the 1940s. I understand that they're stretching the scale toward sharper today.

In the baroque period, a lot of pitches were used. Ruckers double manual harpsichords played a fourth apart depending on which keyboard you played. Pitches were given in "feet" as in the length of an organ pipe, and that is still referred to when an organist speaks of 4', 8' or 16' stops. Each doubling of the length lowers the pitch by an octave. That is not as accurate as the methods we use to measure pitch today, but it was good enough.

I once saw, on an Open University programme I think it was, that many concert pianos were tuned to 444 as the historical 440 was now thought to not be bright enough.

That would have been transmitted in the 1970's.

I don't know how true it is and I don't care, I decided if I ever could I would tune my piano to 444.

Bought a Roland RD700 NX and job done.

Being cloth eared I can't tell the difference.

I shall certainly try that Chopin tuning though, excitingly low!

The trend does seem to be toward higher pitches, I think for an edgier sound. My son has an extreme form of perfect pitch. When he was still taking violin lessons he commented that the pianos at school were above 440 and his private teacher's piano was slightly below 440. His private teacher was older, and I think all round old school coming from East Europe. (Do they have a particular tuning preference in different parts of the world?)

The last time I had the old player/upright tuned, when I phoned for the appointment, I mentioned that it was about 50 cents flat. My all-business-tuner-woman warned me over the phone, "Better be prepared for a 'pitch-raise'".

When she arrived, she attempted to talk me into tuning everything to the "average" ~50 cents flat. I objected, we argued, and she finally agreed to a "pitch-raise" - very risky on an old upright.

To digress for a moment, you see, my old-school thinking just assumes that "a tuning" takes everything back to where it should be. Well, obviously a "pitch raise" and a "tuning" are different things. I paid considerably more for this highly specialized service, and I am currently looking for a new, old-fashioned technician.

So you don't know the difference between a tuning and a pitch raise? Hmmmm.


Actually, there is a difference. It has to do with the size of the jump. To change the pitch substantially usually requires several tunings to create stability at the new base pitch.

Actually I do now - it is $35.

Assuming you were otherwise happy with the tuning, if the additional charge for the pitch raise was only $35 I would not be in too big a hurry to find another tech.

Gentlemen,

Semantics aside, when did a piano tuning become something OTHER THAN returning the temperment to A=440?

Ed