Re: A=?


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Posted by perfect pitch on March 11, 2001 at 23:24:10:

In Reply to: A=? posted by ken k on March 11, 2001 at 20:19:12:

From what I've heard, A=442 is used to generate a brighter, crisper sound. This works all the way down to the basses or tubas. As most of us know, the reason triads are built in the upper voices is due to the overtone series. If a triad is built in the bass, the chord sounds muddled and the pitch is usually hard to find because the upper end of the overtone series it too close together. It only makes sense that raising the pitch would help resolve this problem. In most of the ensembles I've heard, they use A=440 which gives them a dark and beautiful sound, but not everything is alway heard. In certain passages, where the lower voices have the melody, or runs, there is a difference when listening to them at A=442, rather than A=440. It's hard to tell, but being in an ensemble that uses A=442 (which I'd rather not name) I can say that there is a difference. Next time you get the opportunity to listen to another group play, try to pay attention to the clarity and projection. Then give them a test. Bring in your tuner and try to catch the oboe giving her pitch. If you can get someone else to do it for you, it'd work better. Have them find the pitch and tell you after you've made your decision about the performance. Then try to guess which pitch they used to tune. That's about the only advise I can give, but your trumpet friend is right, although I doubt that a quintet is large enough to warrant using A=442. If you're going for that dark sound, use A=440.



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