In the last 50 years a general improvement has taken place throughout the music world in relation to the standard tuning of orchestras. International agreements have been signed and often honored, indicating a strong consensus of a majority of musicians that for orchestras, at least, a definite standard should apply wherever possible. This benefits the makers of woodwind, keyboard and tuned percussion instruments, and it also benefits those instrumental soloists and orchestras which travel to various countries and perform either with foreign orchestras or with pianos (for concerti) in foreign concert halls.
But all is not yet comfortable. Some conductors and instrumentalists have a definite preference for a higher than "standard" tuning. There are many musical and psychological explanations given for the climb to higher orchestra pitch than A-440. But as valid as any of these arguments may be in particular locations and for individual ensembles, this deviation from a standard pitch places a hardship on others, and this is to be regretted.
Realizing at once that there is little hope of changing the opinions of experienced conductors and instrumentalists who are very much accustomed to a high pitch level, I would like to suggest that members of the International Double Reed Society--in all our various countries-- work towards a small improvement in today's situation. I would like to see IDRS:
1) Communicate with all international competitions, urging them to make available, pianos tuned at A-440 for the accompaniment of all contestants requesting this tuning. For final rounds of competitions with orchestra accompaniment, when string orchestra (only) is involved, a contestant's request for A-440 should be respected and this pitch should be used by the strings. In the cases of full orchestra accompaniment, if the local pitch is significantly higher than the A-440 level, this information should be given all contestants well in advance of the competition, so that adequate mechanical alterations (instruments, reeds, etc.) may be made and so that contestants may practice "at home" for the experience of performing at a new pitch level before the competition.
2) I would also like to urge all musicians, and particularly double reed artists to argue in favor of the standard A- 440 pitch level for the orchestras in which they play and for their students and the orchestras in which their students perform at schools of music.
Below, as pause for thought, are some comments about the effects of high pitch and a varying standard from country to country:
From TIME magazine, 1971.
"The Metropolitan Opera orchestra, for example, tunes up to an A that vibrates at 440 cycles per second. In Pittsburgh, though, the symphony raises the pitch to 442, half a notch higher than the New York Philharmonic's 441.5. In Berlin, the Radio Symphony Orchestra soars to 446, enough to make singers' eyes pop on a top note . . . . Standardizing pitch would have. . . . benefits. Violinists would no longer have to worry about strings snapping under increased tensions. * Singers would no longer be shocked by discovering, as they walk onto a strange stage, that their parts have been transposed right out of the realm of possibility. Piano manufacturers would have fewer problems with shattered warranties. "On a grand piano, the pull on all strings creates a force of about 20 tons," says Dr. Daniel W. Martin, chief engineer of the Baldwin Piano and Organ Co. "Raising the pitch ten cycles adds another ton of pull. It could crack the metal frame or snap the strings."
From a letter written by American bassoonist Lewis Kirk, presently solo-fagottist with the Bremerhaven Stadtheater Orchestra. September, 1978:
"You asked about the present high level of pitch in Germany. The question is fairly complex and really requires research into playing traditions, instruments and their makers, reedmaking, etc. When I ask musicians in Germany why the level of pitch is so high, the answers invariably concern considerations of sound. There is more emphasis here on achieving an ideal of sound than with maintaining a stable pitch consistent with international standards.
To achieve the desired 'darkness' of sound, the oboists and bassoonists use a more resistant reed, which plays sharper than a more freely-vibrating reed. That's cause and effect. The double reed players receive support from the other musicians in maintaining a higher pitch because of the resultant 'warmth' of sound. The psychological/acoustical factor is significant here: once an ensemble becomes used to a certain pitch level it will be content to remain there or creep upwards; but to play lower will sound dull and flat by comparison.
Suggestions to lower the pitch to international standards, i.e. A-440 are generally met with resistance. Germans are quite proud, justifiably so, of the Berlin Philharmonic with its unique quality of sound, and the pitch is probably the highest of any major orchestra in the world. Is this quality of sound dependent in some way on the high level of pitch?
In our orchestra we tune to A-445 with the aid of a Japanese tuning device (a needle indicates the number of vibrations), and that is a compromise struck between the solo- oboist and the rest of the orchestra who would play higher!"
This letter, interestingly, brought to mind some sage comments by American oboist Robert Sprenkle in The Art of Oboe Playing. (Summy-Birchard Corp. Evanston, Illinois):
"The mistaken idea that being sharp will provide brilliance to the tone is a cheap way of taking advantage of the other players, because sharpness is a comparative condition and can only exist when someone else is flat. The same divergencies will exist at A-445, A-450, or any other value . . . . Any reasoning person knows that the best sonority comes from being in tune, not in being sharp or flat."
With some minds thinking that a sharp pitch produces "brilliance" and other minds thinking the result is "warmth" (usually associated with darkness of tone), it is easy to recognize the tendency towards extremes of pitch now used in different orchestras. I hope that IDRS readers will take time to consider the problem as it applies to their individual orchestras and situations and how it may affect the opportunities of their performance students. I recommend that a time period be assigned for a general discussion of international pitch levels when IDRS holds its Annual Meeting every year in August. Hopefully, one or more resolutions may permit our Society to improve the situation in relation to international wind, voice and percussion competitions to be held in the coming years.
* Incidentally, the greatest stringed instruments in use today, made at the time of Stradivarius, were designed for a much, much lower pitch level than even A-440. These instruments, now in use for hundreds of years, have been modified excessively to enable them to reach today's German and Viennese levels of 446 and 447. Can this be healthy for their future use to tomorrow's artists? [return]