Picturing Concert Pitch

"Picturing Concert Pitch" is similar the article where I pictured temperament. The point is to get the visual outside of music and find another way that any non-musician can relate to how both concert pitch and musical temperament work. Too often, people get them mixed up saying that temperament and concert pitch are the same thing. As you'll soon see, they are quite different but they must work together. 

If you've not yet read the Picturing Temperament article, check it out so this article makes a bit more sense. In that article, I put temperament on a ruler. In this article I'll compare concert pitch to fonts used in writing. You'll notice that the font for this article (Opens Sans) is the designated font for my WordPress theme builder (Thrive Architect). It's quite plain and easy to read. But, I can easily change the font.

By now, most people should know what fonts are so, I compare concert pitch to "font families." You're reading everything in Open Sans font. Every letter is styled to look the same because it's in one font family. The font name determines what every letter in the font will look like. In this case, clean lines, minimal decorative letters, no curly letters, etc. It's what I call "plain Jane." 

Concert pitch is similar in that you must choose a note to tune to, just like you have to choose a font name. Once you've chosen the tuning note, all the other notes on an instrument are tuned to that specific note - or "concert pitch." The starting note (concert pitch) determines how all other notes will sound just like the font name determines how all letters in the font will look. An example...

• Concert pitch = font family name such as "Open Sans" where all letters in the font have the same look. Open Sans is likened to the A=440 concert pitch where every note within the scale is tuned to the A above middle C.
• Temperament = Determine the concert pitch first, such as A=440. From there, choose which temperament is desired (Equal Temperament, Just Intonation, Werkler, Pythagorean, Well-tempered, etc.). Ajdust the intervals accordingly. Then tune the remainder of the octaves (all pure and "perfect"). 

Because our modern standard is Equal Temperament, all instruments are pre-created to play in equal temperament. Well, that is unless you're a string player (non-fretted) or a vocalist. Temperament sets the DISTANCE between notes while the concert pitch sets a single beginning tuning note. You can't set a temperament until a concert pitch is chosen because you need a starting note. In a couple of my videos, I may have said that backwards (oops). But, without knowing the temperament, there's no way to know how to tune the various notes within a scale. This is why concert pitch and temperament must work together. 

Thankfully, modern inventions have made it so easy to tune that we often forget what it was like to deal with both temperament and concert pitch before there was a method of measuring pitches. Most of this information isn't relevant for today but if you're playing on "period" instruments, this information is important to understand. The change didn't come about until the industrial revolution (1800's). Prior to that time in history, instrumentalists had to choose both a temperament and a concert pitch. Wind players had instruments built according to what was popular in the region. At that time, there was no regional standard much less a world standard. 

Font Families and Concert Pitch

Now, let's address concert pitch. We know that temperament sets how the tuning will be adjusted between each note of the scale. All temperaments have pure octaves which means the octaves are perfectly in tune. Double the number and you get the same note an octave higher. Beyond that, the distance between all other notes in the scale (prior to the industrial revolution) varied depending on the temperament. 

In the renaissance, baroque, classical, and romantic eras, musicians had to consider both concert pitch and temperament in the tuning process. They are similar but not the same because both are needed. There are misnomers flying around in internet land about how we've messed with concert pitch and temperament and corrupted it. Everyone seems to be looking for a good conspiracy theory but evidence shows that our current system was born out of necessity because as music got more complicated, so did tuning. 

Let's do another exercise and compare a font name with a concert pitch (tuning note name)...

• We could call the Open Sans font family the A=440 concert pitch.
• Or, we could call the Acme font family the A=444 concert pitch.
• Maybe you’re more Baroque and could call the Bagel Fat One family the A=432 concert pitch.
• You could use the Trade Winds font family and call it the A=415 concert pitch.
• Or if you want to be more futuristic, Aclonica font family could be the A=448 concert pitch.

The comparison here is that the NAME of the concert pitch or font family is what determines all other characteristics of either the notes or letters within the family. The concert pitch of A=440 simply means that all notes of the scale are tuned FROM the A above middle C that resonates at 440 Hz. Our modern standard of Equal Temperament (ET) is pre-set so we don't have to think about temperament in the 21st century. ET automatically tunes the remainder of the notes, unless you're playing an acoustic (non electric) piano. Then, a piano tuner must go through the process of tuning all 88 keys to the A=440 concert pitch using Equal Temperament. 

It's possible to tune to other notes. For example, many are now tuning to the concert pitch of C=256 which is close to the A=432 concert pitch. This works great on keyboards, if that feature is available. The only way it's possible to tune as low as A=432 on any acoustic instrument is to use a "period" instrument or ask an instrument builder to make one for you. Modern instruments (with the exception of non-fretted strings) can adjust to lower concert pitches but there are problems when doing that...

The Problem with Changing Concert Pitch

Here's the problem... modern wind instruments can only play between the A=439 to about A=444 concert pitch because of how they are built. String players can tune to any note they wish but you have to think about one key factor - string tension. Strings are intended to vibrate at their optimal resonance according to how the instrument is built. We tend to forget that.

It wasn't until I heard Richard Dumbrill discuss the tuning of the Lyre of Ur before I realized the importance of string tension. Dumbrill is a musicologist for the British Museum and helped rebuild the lyre pictured in Figure 2. 

Here, I must ask the question about the purpose of tuning to lower concert pitches. For classical musicians who want to understand what Mozart, Beethoven, or Bach experienced, it makes sense. For those who are wanting to align more with the sacred numbers within the cosmos (including the earth), this makes sense. However, there are things to consider in the process.

Classical musicians are a bit more adept at understanding the adjustments needed in instruments and tuning. Because we have many period instruments in museums, curators in those institutions are getting much better at understanding the building process and are having many instruments restored. There are instrument builders who will create replicas for "baroque ensembles" to play music in a similar manner to what it originally sounded like when the music was composed.

For modern musicians, especially those in the healing music arts, this gets a bit trickier. We simply think that retuning our modern instruments will fix things. But, that's not always the case. No reasonable piano tuner will tune your piano down to A=432. But, you could easily find an older 1900's piano that hasn't been tuned in years and have a piano tuner lower that one rather the replace the strings.

Modern pianos are made to play in the A=440 concert pitch where the string tension provides optimal resonance within the body of the instrument. Even when you take the concert pitch up to A=444, that's enough to make the note sound brighter but it may also affect the resonance of the piano shell itself by making the tonal quality a bit "thinner." Piano tuners also consider which string size is going to provide the best resonance of a piano. Many factors go into making a piano sound good. That must all be considered before asking a piano tuner to change your piano's tuning.

Electronic keyboards are completely different and can adjust concert pitch easily if that feature is available on the keyboard. They can also change temperament but remember that if you're going to play one piece of music in the key of C and the next one in the key of E, you'll have to change the concert pitch from C to E and then choose the desired temperament. Otherwise, it's gonna sound too crunchy in the key of E.

String players - both fretted and non-fretted will need to highly consider string tension. Modern instruments were made to play in A=440. Period instruments were made with gut strings and often used lower concert pitches. To use modern methods with old instruments will not necessarily make the older instrument sound better. I wonder if this is one reason they've never figured out how to recreate the Stradivarius instruments. Yes, these instruments still sound amazing with modern strings and tuning but because they're not using the original builder's full approach, I'm just guessing that's why we haven't yet found the true recipe. 

First, it's important to find out where that instrument came from, what it was originally tuned to, and what type of strings were used on the instrument. Because Richard Dumbrill did this with the Silver Lyre of Ur, he was able to determine how the lyre sounded when it was built. I'm sure others have thought of tuning practices for the original Stradivarius instruments and maybe even some have done the research but maybe if we actually used that information to determine Stradivarius' methods, we might be able to make a true modern replica?

Taking this back to modern string instruments, it's possible to stray from A=440 (up or down) but the question is... will your instrument have the best tonal resonance when you do that? Take some time to talk with reputable music stores that can provide you with strings that might work better in concert pitches above or below A=440. 

Wind players, unless you want to have an instrument built in a different concert pitch, you get to play between A=439 and A=444 by making adjustments as needed on your instrument (voicing, fingerings, playing in a warmer or cooler room, etc.)

Conclusion

Concert pitch has always been at the whim of the performer until the standard was set to A=440 in 1939. There are no credible consipiracy theories to suggest that was done to cause harm. It was more about making life easier for musicians and listeners alike. But, it didn't come without a bunch of arguing between countries. When has that never been a problem? People will be people.

Remember that concert pitch sets the tuning note that all other notes in the scale are tuned to. Because temperature, humidity, and other factors can cause slight adjustments, this is why you always see orchestras, bands, and various groups tune throughout a concert. I must add here that the concert pitch is set by ONE member of the ensemble and everyone tunes to that person. If there's a piano part, the tuning musician (generally the principle oboist) tunes to the piano first, then from there, tunes the remainder of the ensemble. 

The concert pitch is like a font name. Just like Open Sans is the name of the font used in this article, A=440 is the name of the concert pitch that adheres to the modern standard. The font name sets how all the other letters in the font family will look while the concert pitch sets how all notes within the scale will sound. Temperament adjusts the distance between notes but since we now use Equal Temperament, your instrument will automatically make those adjustments unless you're playing anything other than a piano or fretted instrument. Good musicians spend their lives learning how to adjust tuning when possible which basically takes them out of equal temperament. 

Rock, pop groups, and others that only have fretted or keyboard instruments, take note. (Yes, pun intended.) If there's a keyboard player in the group, tune to that person, not your personal guitar tuner. Best tuning practices within any group are when members tune to one musician rather than individual tuners. Why? Because temperature and humidity will affect each instrument differently. Choosing one person to set the concert pitch brings a cohesiveness to the group that you won't get when everyone tunes individually. How do you know if every guitar tuner is calibrated correctly?  

Finally, there is no credible evidence that A=440 is harmful, as I share about in other articles on this site. If you click on "A=440" in the first sentence, you'll get to read some of those conspiracy theories and my thoughts behind those.

Enjoy the music you prefer and don't let someone else tell you what's good or bad for you when it comes to music. The only thing I have to add here is to pay attention to the lyrics because those do direct the intent. If you want healing music with words, then choose lyrics that foster a positive vibe. And, stay away from lyrics that are negative in nature, even if you like the beat, melody, or the group. Lyrics tend to sneak into our subconscious.

Happy music creating!

Del, August 2025