[net.audio] Absolute pitch

seifert@ihuxl.UUCP (D.A. Seifert) (05/08/84)

my college roommate once told me that the following happened to his
girlfriend (who had perfect pitch):

On day in music class, the instructor says "OK, Becky, let's
hear an 'A'."  Becky stands up and sings an "A". The instructor
then plays an "A" on the piano.  There is a difference in pitch.
The instructor says, "Obviously the piano is off!"

Must be nice.
-- 
	_____
       /_____\	   	    That auto-crossing beagle,
      /_______\			      Snoopy
	|___|		    BMWCCA, Windy City Chapter
    ____|___|_____	       ihnp4!ihuxl!seifert

robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) (05/10/84)

References:

When Mozart wrote in the "bright, cheerful key of D major", "D" was pitched
at a lower frequency than it is today.  Nonetheless, the key probably had the
qualities it had today due to the constructions of musical instruments:

  - In orchestra performances, the difference between, say, D major and
    D-flat major is that many more notes played by the musicians resonate
    on the open strings of all the string instruments.

  - Assuming that tuning methods have not much changed until recently,
    Piano music in D and Dflat will consistently hit the tempered adjustments
    in different ways, jsut as they do today on pianos that are not tuned
    electronically.
					- Toby Robison (not Robinson!)
					allegra!eosp1!robison
					decvax!ittvax!eosp1!robison
					princeton!eosp1!robison