Tag Archive for history

A440

(Label not included with oboe purchase)

A440 is not a steak sauce, nor is it a tax form.  Rather, A440 hz is the standard tuning for musical pitch.  Why is that?  The reasons include, but are not limited to: The oboe, church versus secular music, and the difficulty of France.  Mike Rugnetta explains.

Special Thanks to Nicole He and Proprietous for their help with oboe details.

The music used in this episode of Reasonably Sound is (in order of appearance):

– Walking (In Tune), Rene Hell

– Swan Lake, Swan Theme, Tchaikovsky

– Polovtsian Dances, Borodin

– Piano Sonata 15, Beethoven (Digression Music)

– Peer Gynt: Morning Mood, Grieg

– Die liederliche Gesellschaft von allerley Humor: Allegro – Battalia a 10, Biber

Sources:

– History of Performing Pitch: The Story of “A” by Bruce Haynes

– A=432hz: On the Proper Concert Pitch and a New Standardization of Tempo by Brendan Bombaci

– Why does the orchestra always tune to the oboe?

– ISO 16:1975

– Why is A4 the standard pitch reference for tuning?

– Why are orchestras tuned differently?

 

CC-BY-SA Episode Image Source: Oboe from Wiki Commons: http://bit.ly/2EaJZzG

CC-BY-SA licensed Episode image available here.