minstrel: 440 amd a simi-tone down?

[Tadhg O Cuileannain]

Depends on what you mean by in period.  In early
period, as far as anyone can tell, there was no
standard pitch.  There was not even any terminology
for talking about it, other than "High" and "Low". 
The names of notes refer only to their position in the
scale.  Instructions for tuning a lute, well into the
renaissance, simply say "tune the top string as high
as it will go without breaking,then tune the rest to
that."  Even in the baroque era, we find the surviving
organs are tuned to different pitches.  So 440 will
work as well as anything, and save a lot of
frustration when people meet up with other musicians
at events and want to jam.

Tadhg
 
--- david ball <dkball at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Ok, mostly be being lazy here, but perhaps it is of
> enough interest to 
> others that I can be forgiven...
> 
>     I am making a few 6 hole transverse flutes. I am
> tuning them to an 
> electronic tuner I have, and it works well. But I
> have read that in period 
> the notes should not be based on 440hz, but a
> simi-tone lower. My question 
> is, from a practical standpoint, should I tune my
> flutes to this? Could 
> anyone else play along if I did?. Would the sound of
> it offend the modern 
> ear? Is a simi-tone a certain percentage of the
> frequency of each note, or 
> do I need a list of all notes in the period staff
> and tune each to that? And 
> does anyone know why it changed in the first place?
> Information gratefully accepted
> 
> David
> 
>
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=====
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Tadhg O Cuilleannain of One Thousand Eyes
Tim Connor of Idaho Falls, Idaho
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