Thomas Dressler
New member
Colorful Mage made some interesting observations in another thread about pitch and temperament, and I'm going to pick up the subject of pitch in this thread.
Colorful Mage, from what you said I'm beginning to think that you might have perfect pitch--yes? I say this because your argument that pitching a piece below A=440 will sound flat to modern ears. This is not necessarily so, and I would say most people might notice a difference but not know how much difference there is or anything like that. These days, we generally accept "Baroque pitch" to be about 1/2 step below modern pitch. For 25 years I have played instruments pitched both ways, and while I do notice some differences, saying that Baroque pitch sounds FLAT is not one of them. But I don't have perfect pitch, or I may have gotten so used to it that it doesn't sound strange to me. I have sat at harpsichords tuned around a FOURTH flat, and there are historic reasons for this but I'm not sure there would have been in Bach's day. On that instrument, I couldn't even play my pieces because it confused me that the notes were "wrong." Perhaps I have some relative pitch. But I do think that if I had music meant to be played at that pitch and I spent time with it, it would become fine to me.
You have to remember that until the standard of A=440 came about, there were lots of different pitches. Historic organs were often tuned sharp. In the early 20th century in America, at least, they were often tuned flatter than A=440.
My own opinion on this is that we should always examine the pitch that was intended or assumed by the composer because, as I said in another post, this has a very strong effect on vocal technique. It also affects instruments, in that even if it does not affect technique, it does affect tone quality. There are many reasons to examine the original pitch, and while people sometimes argue against it, the argument that it will sound "flat" or "wrong" would only apply to people with perfect pitch.
There must have been people in the old days with perfect pitch, too, and I've wondered how they dealt with it. The explanation I can think of is that people were much more used to transposition, and they were also commonly used to using the different C clefs, which requires a certain kind of transposition in the mind. I believe they were probably less rigid in their way of thinking about notes than we are today. I believe our modern rigidity is sometimes a detriment. I think a lot of the time it arises not out of a well thought out decision, but out of limitations in developed abilities. And I can speak for myself on this, too, because while I do have experience playing the C clefs, and can do it, I often opt for the easy way if I can.
But for reasons of vocal technique, instrumental tone color, and color of the actual musical texture itself, I believe the original pitches should be tried out if possible.
Colorful Mage, from what you said I'm beginning to think that you might have perfect pitch--yes? I say this because your argument that pitching a piece below A=440 will sound flat to modern ears. This is not necessarily so, and I would say most people might notice a difference but not know how much difference there is or anything like that. These days, we generally accept "Baroque pitch" to be about 1/2 step below modern pitch. For 25 years I have played instruments pitched both ways, and while I do notice some differences, saying that Baroque pitch sounds FLAT is not one of them. But I don't have perfect pitch, or I may have gotten so used to it that it doesn't sound strange to me. I have sat at harpsichords tuned around a FOURTH flat, and there are historic reasons for this but I'm not sure there would have been in Bach's day. On that instrument, I couldn't even play my pieces because it confused me that the notes were "wrong." Perhaps I have some relative pitch. But I do think that if I had music meant to be played at that pitch and I spent time with it, it would become fine to me.
You have to remember that until the standard of A=440 came about, there were lots of different pitches. Historic organs were often tuned sharp. In the early 20th century in America, at least, they were often tuned flatter than A=440.
My own opinion on this is that we should always examine the pitch that was intended or assumed by the composer because, as I said in another post, this has a very strong effect on vocal technique. It also affects instruments, in that even if it does not affect technique, it does affect tone quality. There are many reasons to examine the original pitch, and while people sometimes argue against it, the argument that it will sound "flat" or "wrong" would only apply to people with perfect pitch.
There must have been people in the old days with perfect pitch, too, and I've wondered how they dealt with it. The explanation I can think of is that people were much more used to transposition, and they were also commonly used to using the different C clefs, which requires a certain kind of transposition in the mind. I believe they were probably less rigid in their way of thinking about notes than we are today. I believe our modern rigidity is sometimes a detriment. I think a lot of the time it arises not out of a well thought out decision, but out of limitations in developed abilities. And I can speak for myself on this, too, because while I do have experience playing the C clefs, and can do it, I often opt for the easy way if I can.
But for reasons of vocal technique, instrumental tone color, and color of the actual musical texture itself, I believe the original pitches should be tried out if possible.