[78-L] Concert pitch (was: no subject)

[Michael Shoshani]

On Thu, 2008-10-16 at 16:09 +0200, Chris Zwarg wrote:

> 
> Allegedly the original reason for the high marching band pitch was that tubas and trombones are quite a bit smaller and easier to carry if built to A=451, as opposed to the very low "concert" pitches around A=420 still current in the early 1800's. 

I know nothing of tubas, but I can tell you that American trombones of
the early 20th century frequently came with two bell section crooks; a
shorter one that was for "high pitch" use, and a longer one for "low
pitch" use.  On everyone's favorite online auction site, one can see
Conn trombones especially with that configuration. Others, such as King,
simply come in "Low Pitch" and "High Pitch" configurations - the former
is often seen on the 'bay while I don't think I've ever seen the latter
in some 10 years of viewing.

MS