Using a tuning fork vs computer tuner for violin

[sussertown]

TL;DR Summary

Tuning fork vs computer tuner

I use a fork to tune my violin. The school teacher uses an ekectronic tuner which is low. I tried an app tuner on my phone. It is also low. How do I confirm for the teacher that these electronic tuners are not correct?

 

[Baluncore]

Welcome to PF.

I use a fork to tune my violin.

How do I confirm for the teacher that these electronic tuners are not correct?

How do you know that your fork is correct ?

 

[Vanadium 50]

As they say, "If everybody else is out of tune, it might not be everybody else."

 

[Baluncore]

How old is your tuning fork, and how is it labelled?
It should probably be marked A4, 440.00 Hz, which is the American Standard pitch, adopted in 1936. Before that, the reference was international pitch, where A4 = 435.00 Hz.

Electronic tuners are usually ten times more precise than a metal tuning fork.

 

[Baluncore]

There have been many standards over the years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert_pitch

 

[Vanadium 50]

He hasn't been here since he posted. Presumably now his violin is tuned so he will never have to tune it again.

 

[Baluncore]

He hasn't been here since he posted.

The OP is irrelevant. Google will watch, then others will follow.

 

[DaveC426913]

How do you know that your fork is correct ?

"What!? I've been using my favourite tuning fork for years! It's always kept perfect pitch for me!"

the tuning fork:

 

[Baluncore]

"What!? I've been using my favourite tuning fork for years! It's always kept perfect pitch for me!"

No you haven't.
A-440 Hz is the International musical pitch reference. The fork shown is clearly a C-512 Hz remnant, from the failed scientific metrication of music, back in the 1960s and 70s.

Wikipedia says: "An alternative pitch standard known as philosophical or scientific pitch fixes middle C at 256 Hz (that is, 2⁸ Hz), which places the A above it at approximately 430.54 Hz in equal temperament tuning. The appeal of this system is its mathematical idealism (the frequencies of all the Cs being powers of two)"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert_pitch#19th-_and_20th-century_standards

C-512 is cheap, it is an exact integer frequency, one octave above the defined scientific; Middle C-256. There were many forks made in the 1970s, that never sold, but were picked up cheap by "sound therapists". Those forks are now only used as a test pitch, or an alternative medical therapy, since they have a strong placebo harmonic, with excellent internet publicity.

I believe your picture was photoshopped from the same source as this advertisement: https://www.amazon.com/Prestige-Hearing-Frequency-Tuning-Fork/dp/B00062N4P0?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[DaveC426913]

I believe your picture was photoshopped from the same source as this advertisement

Took me a good 20 minutes, too!

 

[Baluncore]

Took me a good 20 minutes, too!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandolini's_law

 

[DaveE]

Ahh.. a question about laboratory standards, or good music? IDK.
If the OP resurfaces, he can take his violin to any good EE lab and have it measured with electronic instruments with calibration to NIST standards. If he cares to go to the right lab the precision could be extreme.
But, they can't tell him if it sounds good or not.

 

[DaveC426913]

Ahh.. a question about laboratory standards, or good music? IDK.
If the OP resurfaces, he can take his violin to any good EE lab and have it measured with electronic instruments with calibration to NIST standards

But he already told us ... they're all loooow!

. If he cares to go to the right lab the precision could be extreme.

Sounds like the old adage:
Q: How long does it take to perfectly tune one piano key?
A: Forever.