Books › A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891 › scan 264
Scan 264
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891
8 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 244. See the scan on archive.org.
1between forty and fifty years, there is now little room to fear a further rise. But it should be remembered that the causes which led to the gradual rise, which Sir Geo. Smart attempted to restrain in 1828 by the introduction of his compromise pitch, are still in operation, and both this attempt and Sir Michael Costa's decision in favour of a' 452'5 indicate rather the acceptation of existing facts than an opinion unfettered by surrounding circumstances. Sir Michael Costa's Philharmonic pitch, which in his time was looked upon as high, and was distinctly higher than that of pianos and other instruments in general private use, is now no longer so, for it is not unusual to find pianos sharper than this pitch, and many military bands and orchestras customarily play sharper. In short, that which may be called the customary or popular pitch has fully come up to, and in some cases has overpassed, the highest recognised standard. Action based upon a recognition of the causes can alone prevent the process continuing.
3Among these causes the chief are probably the liability to error in copying tuning forks through the heating caused by filing, and the desire of every wind-instrument player to be assured that his instrument is fully sharp; for although every such instrument can be tuned down by the player, it is impossible for him to raise its pitch. If there is any doubt about the pitch of a new instrument in a band, a player will always give "the benefit of the doubt" in favour of a slight sharpening, and however slight this may be in each individual case, the ultimate result must be a gradual average sharpening of the band as old instruments fall out of use, unless the band is strictly kept down in pitch to a fork or some other reliable standard.
5Temperature plays an important part in the variation of the pitch of wind instruments; its influence, therefore, will now be entered upon in some detail, and for the sake of comparison its effect upon tuning forks and metal reeds is also noted.
7TUNING FORKS.—Tuning forks flatten with increase of temperature; the amount of this flattening is about 1 vibration in 16,000 for every degree Fahrenheit, equal to three-tenths of a vibration in 10° on the Kneller Hall b', fork of 479'3 at 60°.
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