Concert pitch

Concert pitch is the pitch reference to which a group of musical instruments are tuned for a performance. Concert pitch may vary from ensemble to ensemble, and has varied widely over time. The ISO defines international standard pitch as A440, setting 440 Hz as the frequency of the A above middle C. Frequencies of other notes are defined relative to this pitch. The written pitches for transposing instruments do not match those of non-transposing instruments. For example, a written C on a B clarinet or trumpet sounds as a non-transposing instrument's B. The term "concert pitch" is used to refer to the pitch on a non-transposing instrument, to distinguish it from the transposing instrument's written note. The clarinet or trumpet's written C is thus referred to as "concert B". A440 (pitch standard) The A above middle C is often set at 440 Hz. Historically, this A has been tuned to a variety of different pitches. Historically, various standards have been used to fix the pitch of notes at certain frequencies. Various systems of musical tuning have also been used to determine the relative frequency of notes in a scale. Until the 19th century there was no coordinated effort to standardize musical pitch, and the levels across Europe varied widely. Pitches varied over time, from place to place, and even within the same city. The pitch used for an English cathedral organ in the 17th century, for example, could be as much as five semitones lower than that used for a domestic keyboard instrument in the same city. Because of the way organs were tuned, the pitch of a single organ could even vary over time. Generally, the end of an organ pipe would be hammered inwards to a cone, or flared outwards, to raise or lower the pitch. When the pipe ends became frayed by this constant process they were all trimmed down, raising the overall pitch of the organ. The tuning fork was invented in 1711, enabling the calibration of pitch, although there was still variation.