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THE
JANUARY 26, 1918
INTERNATIONAL PITCH, 435A
By D. A. McDonald, of Lyon & Healy, Chicago,
in Sharps and Flats, the Sprightly House Or-
gan Published by That Company
At the annual convention of the American
Federation of Musicians, held last May, a law
was passed changing the official pitch of that
organization from International Pitch, 435A
(the French Diapason Normal), to the German
or Scheibler's Stuttgart Pitch, 440A.
Just what arguments were used to bring about
this change 1 do not know, but a very impor-
tant one against it, which evidently did not re-
ceive consideration, is that if this change is
enforced one of two things must take place—
either pianos must be cut out of orchestra work,
or reed instruments (flute, clarinet, saxophone,
oboe, bassoon and English horn) must be elim-
inated, for there are in this country practically
no reed instruments made in 440 pitch except-
ing the few imported ones in use in the large
symphony orchestras; it is impossible to obtain
any at the present time, and probably will be
for several years to come. In normal times it
would require at least two to three years for a
jobber to secure a line of reed instruments made
in 44OA in sufficient quantities to supply a rea-
sonable demand only. To-day—ask any job-
ber what are the chances to get one from
Europe.
Facts Versus Theory
But even if the instruments could be obtained
in sufficient quantities, are the jobbers and
dealers of this country willing to carry in stock
the additional full line of reed instruments as
well as the two they already have and, besides,
to have the low pitch attachments of their brass
instruments cut down to the new pitch, in order
to suit some theorist's idea that the pitch
should be other than it now is?
Are the makers of reed "instruments in this
country willing to invest the thousands of dol-
lars in making new tools, patterns, etc., as well
as to give the time of high salaried experts in
experimenting and testing the results of experi-
ments which will be necessary to perfect the
new line of instruments before they can be
placed on the market?
And what shall the manufacturer, jobber and
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Manufacturer of Musical Stringed Instruments — Celebrated Stella
Sovereign Guitars, Mandolins and Banjos, Violins,
Menzenhauer Guitar Zithers, Mandolin Harps,
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dealer do with the hundreds of thousands of
dollars' worth of low pitch instruments now in
stock and in process of manufacture?
What
can they say to the army of musicians who will
wish to exchange their old low pitch instruments
for the new, and what will they do with the old
taken in exchange?
A Serious Matter
What will the manufacturer do with the thou-
sands of dollars' worth of special tools, dies,
machine attachments, etc., which he now has
and which will be worth to him only their value
as junk metal if use of the new pitch by reed
instrument players is enforced? This is, it
seems to me, a matter for serious consideration.
Piano makers, so far as I have been able to
ascertain, have paid little attention to the change
of pitch, evidently looking at it as a matter
easily settled by a little extra twist of the
tuner's hammer. Do they not realize that al-
most every family into which a new piano goes
has some member who plays a wind instrument
—the flute, clarinet, saxophone or cornet—and
that in thousands of cases the main object in
buying a piano is to play it in combination
with these instruments? If the piano is tuned
to 435A, or just enough above it to compensate
for the slight "settling 1 ' process which every
new piano undergoes, then any standard make
of wind instrument can readily be tuned to it,
but if the piano is tuned to 44OA it will be im-
possible to use any wind instrument with it, ex-
cepting the brass family, and most of them
only after cutting down the low pitch slides
or drawing the high pitch slides the necessary
distance to make the new pitch.
What Are the Benefits?
If there were any benefit to be derived from
a change of pitch, by anybody—musician, job-
ber, dealer or manufacturer; if it would make
our bands or orchestras any better; if it would
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make wind instruments easier to play, give them
any better tone quality or improve their general
intonation, there might be some excuse for it
or some argument in its favor, but there is no
such excuse and no one has as yet come for-t
ward with any such argument.
Therefore it
seems to me that the proper course would be
for manufacturers, jobbers and dealers to notify
the American Federation of Musicians that they
cannot supply any reed instruments in 440 pitch,
and for piano manufacturers and dealers to re-
fuse to tune their instruments to any other pitch
than the standard 435A, the official pitch of the
Piano Manufacturers' Association, as well as
the Piano Tuners' Association, which, by the
way, at the recent convention protested against
the change and declared in favor of continuing
to use 435A.
In conclusion, I wish to say that Professor
Dayton Clarence Miller, of the Case School of
Applied Science, who is probably the greatest
living acoustician, in his "Lowell Lectures," re-
cently published under the title "The Science of
Musical Sounds," in summing up the question
of the various pitches, says, ' i t has been pro-
posed that A43S be made a .standard, as a com-
promise between the Stuttgart A44O and the
Diapason Normal, A435. For practical pur-
poses there is little difference in the pitches
A43S, A43S and A44O; but there should be but
one nominal standard, and it seems that the
strongest arguments favor A435. The musician
should insist that his piano and other instru-
ments be tuned to this pitch. . . , The au-
thor recommends the use of one pitch only for
both scientific and musical purposes, viz., A435.
In the tempered musical scale this gives for
middle C 25K.65 vibrations per second.
This
pitch is used exclusively in discussing the re-
sults of our sound analysis. In the laboratory
of the Case School of Applied Science, the scale
forks based on C256 have been duplicated with
new forks based on A435."
DURRO
JOHNFRIEDRICH&BRO.
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