Books › A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891 › scan 268
Scan 268
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891
12 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 248. See the scan on archive.org.
1tuned to c'' 540; the difference between the standard c'' 538 and c'' 540 allows for the room being as warm as 68° without disturbance to the wind band, for the instruments rising 2·5 vibrations in 10° on c'', would rise exactly from 538 to 540 in the range of 8°, from 60° to 68°.
3It will be evident, from the foregoing data and remarks, that as instruments vary in different degrees with temperature, it is impossible that all the instruments in a band can rise and fall exactly together. The manufacturer may be expected to make them so that they stand well together at a medium temperature; but the adjustment necessary to ensure a good ensemble at extreme temperatures must be left to the judgment and experience of the players.
5A SUGGESTED NEW STANDARD.
7The following considerations, although forming no part of a review of the actual position of the musical pitch question in this country, are added to the foregoing short sketch as an expression only of the personal opinion of the writer, and in the belief that the standard suggested has never hitherto been proposed.
9Of the four standards to which reference has been made, two, viz., c'' 512 and c'' 528, are purely theoretical, each resting upon an easily understood arithmetical basis, but being unrepresented in actual music in this country, unless by mere coincidences. The two most in use, viz., a' 435·4 and a' 452·4, rest upon no arithmetical basis of whole numbers whatever, for although the pitch a' 452·4 agrees with c'' 538, the lower octaves of this c'' require fractions to express their vibrational values.
11For the purposes of demonstration and experiments in acoustics, in which it is convenient to have whole numbers for the vibrations of the notes of the common chord in just intonation, there is an advantage in either of the two first named standards, but in the practical construction of modern instruments, which are in equal temperament and not in just intonation, the advantage of this particular form of numerical simplicity vanishes.
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