On Tuesday, March 2, 2021 at 4:22:06 PM UTC-5, Mike wrote:
In article ,
Abandoned_Trolley wrote:

Speaking of which ... I believe some musicians are able to tune their
instruments by using the dial tone from a landline as a reference.
That's a great idea, but it probably mean FA to most people.

Doesn't mean much to musicians either.

Most of us don't have land lines.

Most of us do have cell phones and you can get free tuning apps on them.

Or you can get a decent electronic tuner for $20.

Those two things have made a huge difference in stabilizing a pitch center. Years back you never knew what pitch a band was going to have - might be 440, 415, 175, who knows? You had to be prepared to accommodate, and some instruments could only be tuned so far. Now amateurs don't play any better in tune, but they play out of tune around an agreed upon pitch, and that makes it a lot easier.

What you hear on recordings is always autotuned. I don't understand how that works, but it may be gradually training people to expect things to be in tune. Except Sailor Sabor, of course, who holds the record for the most out of tune National Anthem ever, at the CPAC 2021 last week.