Concert pitch refers to the pitch reference to which a group of musical instruments are tuned for a performance. Concert pitch may vary from ensemble to ensemble, and has varied widely over musical history. In the literature this is also called international standard pitch. The reference note most commonly used is the "A" above middle C.
The term "concert pitch" is also used to distinguish between the "written" and "sounding" notes of a transposing instrument - concert pitch here refers to the pitch on a non-transposing instrument. Music for transposing instruments is transposed into different keys from that of non-transposing instruments—for example, playing a written C on a B♭ clarinet or trumpet produces a non-transposing instrument's B♭. This pitch is referred to as "concert B♭".
Read more about Concert Pitch: Modern Standard Concert Pitch, History of Pitch Standards in Western Music
Famous quotes containing the words concert and/or pitch:
“Man is head, chest and stomach. Each of these animals operates, more often than not, individually. I eat, I feel, I even, although rarely, think.... This jungle crawls and teems, is hungry, roars, gets angry, devours itself, and its cacophonic concert does not even stop when you are asleep.”
—René Daumal (1908–1944)
“I can’t earn my own living. I could never make anything turn into money. It’s like making fires. A careful assortment of paper, shavings, faggots and kindling nicely tipped with pitch will never light for me. I have never been present when a cigarette butt, extinct, thrown into a damp and isolated spot, started a conflagration in the California woods.”
—Margaret Anderson (1886–1973)