[Angus Kerr]

On Tuesday, October 6, 2015 at 5:31:30 PM UTC+2, polymod wrote:
-snip-


Love the story!
As far as piano tuning goes, each case is different. I tune for a couple of
local orchestra's and they all insist on A-440. Organs, unless they're
digital, is another thing entirely!

Poly

I'm surprised at that. I would guess that the oboe player sneaks a couple of cents in when there's no piano in the programme (!) - and if there is, they tune to the piano.

I mean 440 is a sort of international standard, but a lot of Europeans find it on the flat side. I'll naturally tune higher. The organ though, was painful.

When I concert-mastered the local amateur orchestra, I'd check the oboe with a tuner - and I'd be happy with 443. In fact, if you tune to A440, as the woodwinds warm up, they get sharper - and you'd probably end up at 443. I would say I am not comfortable with anything lower than 440..

If you listen to old recordings, both pop/rock and classical, it's amazing how the tuning varies so widely - before the age of digital tuners. I still have an old tuning fork! Try playing to some old records, and you'll have to adjust the tuning of the instrument you're playing (if possible).

-Angus.