source file: mills2.txt Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 21:27:42 -0700 Subject: Re: Xen music in Quebec From: Gary Morrison <71670.2576@compuserve.com> > b)Reference pitch : First, a stupid question : Where is A4=440Hz on the > piano staff? I have seen references to Yamaha using a different octave, can > anyone clear this up? > I find that 'A' is not a pretty note to start a scale on. Could we use C=512cps? A=440 is the A directly below the center line of the treble staff. Several folks have recommended the (roughly 1/6-tone) lower C=512 tuning. One such effort I recall was spearheaded about 8 years ago by by Lyndon LaRouche and a fairly illustrious crew of opera stars. I don't know what ever came of that, but they attempted to get the Italian Parliament to legislate that absolute pitch reference. Most people don't find a lot of concern over absolute pitch though, and a lot of people who develop sensitivity to absolute pitch end up regretting it. When orchestras retune themselves to other references (e.g., the Vienna Philharmonic's favorite A=448 (God only knows what possessed ol' Herbie to pull a stunt like that!)), it drives them bandanas! Received: from eartha.mills.edu [144.91.3.20] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Sat, 27 Jul 1996 07:07 +0100 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id WAA13337; Fri, 26 Jul 1996 22:07:36 -0700 Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 22:07:36 -0700 Message-Id: <960727010746_443081960@emout09.mail.aol.com> Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu