Eight foot pitch

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Eight-foot pitch is a term common to the organ and the harpsichord. An organ pipe, or a harpsichord string, designated as eight-foot pitch is sounded at standard, ordinary pitch. For example, the A above middle C in eight-foot pitch would be sounded at 440 hz. (or at some similar value, depending on how concert pitch was set at the time and place the organ or harpsichord was made).

Eight-foot pitch may be contrasted with four-foot pitch (one octave above the standard), two-foot pitch (two octaves above the standard), and sixteen foot pitch (one octave below the standard). The latter three pitches were often sounded (by extra pipes or strings) along with an eight-foot pitch pipe or string, as a way of enriching the tonal quality.

The origin of all these terms is based on the fact that, all else being equal, a pipe or string that is half the length of another will vibrate at a pitch one octave higher. The length "eight feet" is based on the length of an organ pipe sounding the pitch two octaves below middle C.