Talk:Pitch (music)
From Academic Kids
Sorry for the cheesy stub, man. --Ed Poor
- Hey, I'm just glad somebody finally started the article - I'd been meaning to do it for ages, but kept putting it off. I guess my "yuck" comment in the edit summary was largly an expression of my thoughts on having to finally face up to this subject! I'll expand this quite a bit when I can get to my books. I want to write about how pitch standards have changed over time - the A above middle C was only fixed at 440Hz in 1920 or something. Before then there are stories about orchestras constantly pushing up their pitch in order to sound louder and brighter than their rivals, and singers complaining about it because they had to keep singing higher and higher. It's quite an entertaining subject really. --Camembert
Yeah, personally I prefer A=435... --Ed Poor
I've added some stuff about historical pitch standards now, but it's only half the story, and I'm not sure about some of the ISO related dates - it needs a certain amount of checking, and probably rewriting. --Camembert
From the article:
- In practice, as orchestras still tune to a note given out by the oboe, rather than to an electronic tuning device (which would be more reliable), and as the oboist himself may not have used such a device to tune in the first place, there is still some variance in the exact pitch used.
- That's got to keep the pianist busy, then.
- Well of course, when an orchestra is playing with a piano, they should tune to the piano (the same ought to be the case when fixed-pitch percussion like the glockenspiel or xylophone is used, but I know from experience that it isn't always). And even pianos are not consistently tuned to A=440 - I read somewhere that in Eastern Europe in particular, they tend to be more like A=444. I'll try to stick something like this in the article if nobody else does. --Camembert
The statement, "Pitch can be adjusted by varying the diameter of the string" is true, but I think misleading. The fundamental physical property being adjusted when the diameter is adjusted is the string density (mass per unit length). Consider that the pitch can be adjusted while keeping the diameter the same by changing the type of material the string is made out of to one with a different density.
Thus, I suggest that density, not diameter, be identified along with length and tension as the variables that control string pitch.
-- Ben Denckla
- The couldn't same then could be said of length? That what your actually changing is the unit length while the mass stays the same? Hmm, you could change the mass without changing the diameter, so that may indeed be the primary consideration. I don't know, I added "diameter" to the article but only to replace "thickness".Hyacinth 08:40, 14 Jan 2004 (UTC)
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Concert pitch
Concert pitch is not the same as pitch and I believe that it shouldn't redirect to here. Concert pitch refers to instruments that produce notes which sound the same as they are written such as the piano, as opposed to transposing instruments such as trumpets. NigelHorne 12:45, Jun 10, 2004 (UTC)
Pure tone
"We can state that the note A above middle C played on any instrument gives the same pitch perception as the pure tone at 440Hz, which has exactly defined frequency."
Isn't part of what allows pitch identification the overtones of harmonic sounds. For sounds with inharmonic spectra, or no spectra, it is harder to perceive and correctly label the fundamental. Hyacinth 19:52, 15 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Octave designation
Isn't A = 440 also called A4? Can we have a little discussion about the octave numbers? C#5, D3, etc. - Omegatron 02:33, Jul 22, 2004 (UTC)
Here is a little explanation: http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/appendix/octaveregisters/octaveregisters.html - Omegatron 03:20, Jul 24, 2004 (UTC)
diameter and tension
"Pitch can be adjusted by varying the diameter of the string. A thicker string will result in a lower pitch. A thinner string will result in a higher pitch.
Pitch can be adjusted by varying the tension of the string. A string with less tension (looser) will result in a lower pitch, while a string with greater tension (tighter) will result in a higher pitch."
anyone know the mathematical relationship for these two? - Omegatron 03:26, Jul 24, 2004 (UTC)
- found it myself. - Omegatron 16:24, Aug 6, 2004 (UTC)
World Wide Standard
I thought it is worth mentioning that not only Pianos but Entire Orchestras are starting to tune higher and higher in much of Europe. I am studying Voice in college and am finding that even many Conductors, mainly European in Origin, in places all over the world are starting to tune their orchestras up a little to give them a "brighter" sound. It should also be noted that as the "A" is rasied above 440, the distance between each note also increases, making tunning an ensamble a little bit easier. Infact, the only real downside of tunning up a little from 440 is that it is harder on the vocalists to reach higher and higher notes. ~Paul
Tuning
A444 is superb as a starting point- drop down two octaves and find A111.
- Please Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages. Thanks. Hyacinth 17:46, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)
correction
In the line about atonalism I found this:
"for example, C# and Db are the same pitch while C4 and C5 are functionally the same"
Shouldn't it be "C4 and C5 are functionally different"? -Robin Wenger
- See pitch class. Hyacinth 17:27, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Wow
Excellent section on historical pitch standards. If the rest of the article reads like this (which I don't know as I haven't read it), then this could be a Featured Article. --P3d0 15:57, Jun 14, 2005 (UTC)
