On Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:05:39 +0100, Invisible wrote:

>>>> The last section of the paper was the relevant information - and some
>>>> history that none of my music history classes really touched upon
>>>> other than to say "tuning was traditionally flat compared to modern
>>>> tuning".
>>> ...although...they could have just meant that the reference pitch was
>>> traditionally lower. ;-)
>> 
>> Well, yeah, that was probably how it was phrased.  It's been a
>> generation since I took those classes - memory ain't what it used to
>> be. :-)
> 
> Yes - considering that the equal tempered scale tunes almost every
> interval *sharp* of the Pythagorean scale, not flat. ;-)

Yeah, but the tuning note for older orchestral works was traditionally 
considered to be below 440 Hz, though nobody knows for sure up until 
those dates in the 19th century.

> But yeah, apparently the reference pitch has undergone a kind of "pitch
> inflation" over the centuries. Strings tuned to higher pitches sound
> brighter and more brilliant, leading to a slow gradual upwards trend...

Yep....

Jim

Post a reply to this message