On Feb 27, 2007, at 10:09 PM, Daniel Rindler wrote: > ...I wonder if people didn't develop perfect > pitch at all when they routinely exposed to such wide > fluctuations in tuning?
People probably took those fluctuations in their stride, just as we do in the early-music world today. They became accustomed to hearing different temperaments. But even in the Old Days there would have been places where one would be exposed to an absolute pitch. One place would be in church. It would not have been unusual for many people to have been taken to church at least once a week throughout their childhood. They would have heard the same organ every week, so perhaps there was a sort of locational sense of absolute pitch. If there was music in the home, the absolute pitch would have been that of the keyboard, or possibly recorders, hopefully not conflicting too badly with the church organ! Orchestras must have had to rely on some source of absolute pitch. Brass maybe? I wonder if Baroque orchestras played in tempered tuning.. David Rastall [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.rastallmusic.com -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
