Tuning the piano outside A440

I was piano tuning in Handsworth, Sheffield earlier this week and a customer requested that the piano be tuned differently to accomodate other instruments. He had an electric organ that was almost half a semitone above A440, and would like the piano to be tuned to that pitch. My own view is that it’s ok to tune a piano to itself when its flat (this is the advisable route when the piano hasn’t been tuned in years and is too flat for a standard pitch raise) but I’d never want to risk tuning a piano so far above A440 as it would put too much pressure on the soundboard. A piano is designed to be at concert pitch and sounds best at concert pitch. Practicing in different tunings can hinder a student’s musicality as they get used to playing pieces outside the pitch they were intended to be played in. Not only that, but pianos that are in tune with themselves but flat, tend to sound dull and lifeless compared to ones kept at A440.

As many people know, A440 is what’s known as ‘standard pitch’ or ‘concert pitch’, which simply means that the first A (known as A4 to or middle A to keyboard players) above middle C is tuned to 400 Hz. Before the baroque era, there was no standard pitch that all instruments were tuned to, so tunings differed as widely as A-392 to A-465. The vast majority of music today will be tuned to A400, but some orchestras playing traditional renaissance and baroque music will use earlier tunings (however the piano wasn’t invented until the early 19th century, so that’s not an issue for us), and there are some modern classical composers such as Terry Riley have experimented with different piano tunings.

 

– Richard, Piano Tuner Sheffield.