pitch, in aviation: see airplane; airfoil.

pitch, in music, the position of a tone in the musical scale, today designated by a letter name and determined by the frequency of vibration of the source of the tone. Pitch is an attribute of every musical tone; the fundamental, or first harmonic, of any tone is perceived as its pitch. The earliest successful attempt to standardize pitch was made in 1858, when a commission of musicians and scientists appointed by the French government settled upon an A of 435 cycles per second; this standard was adopted by an international conference at Vienna in 1889. In the United States, however, the prevailing standard is an A of 440 cycles per second. Before the middle of the 19th cent., pitch varied according to time, place, and medium of musical performance; since the classical period the trend has been gradually upward. The relative pitch of a tone, in contrast to absolute pitch, is an expression of its pitch in relation to the pitch of some other tone taken as a standard.

pitch: see tar and pitch.

In music, position of a single sound in the complete range of sound; this quality varies with the number of vibrations per second (hertz, Hz) of the sounding body and is perceived as highness or lowness. A higher pitch has a higher number of vibrations. In Western music, standard pitches have long been used to facilitate tuning. A confusing variety of pitches prevailed until the 19th century, when the continual rise in pitch made some international agreement a matter of practical necessity. In 1939 the A above middle C was standardized as 440 Hz. Seealso interval; tuning and temperament.

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Pitch may refer to:

In music:

• Pitch (music), the property of a sound or musical tone measured by its perceived frequency
• Range (music), the distance from the lowest to the highest pitch a musical instrument can play
• Vocal range, the distance from the lowest to the highest pitch a human voice can produce
• Musical tuning explains pitch systems and pitch standards
• Absolute pitch and relative pitch
• Definite pitch and indefinite pitch

In speech, language, hearing, and signal processing:

• Pitch accent, a variation in pitch to give prominence to a syllable or mora within a word
• Tone (linguistics), the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning
• Paralanguage, the use of pitch (as well as volume and intonation) in speech to carry emotional meaning
• Pitch (psychophysics), the perceptual correlate of the frequency of a sound wave
• Pitch shifter (audio processor), an electronic device for modifying the pitch of sounds
• Pitch detection algorithm, an algorithm to estimate the fundamental frequency of speech or musical instrument

In nature:

• Pitch (resin), a viscous liquid, derived from plants or petroleum products, often used for waterproofing and sealing
• Pitch Pine, a tree species rich in resin

In recreation:

• Pitch (baseball), the delivery of a baseball to a batter
• Pitch (sports), a playing field for various sports (especially in British and Australian English):
• Cricket pitch
• Football pitch
• Pitch (vertical space); used in climbing and caving
• Pitch (card game), a bidding, point-taking card game
• An open outdoor area for various activities:
• Camping pitch
• Concert pitch
• Busker's pitch
• The place where a busker performs is called their pitch
• The raising of a tent
• The delivery of a golf ball with backspin
• The delivery of a shoe in a game of horseshoes

In sales:

• Pitch (filmmaking), a sales pitch in the movie industry
• Elevator pitch, a very short sales pitch
• Pitchware, a synonym for adware

A measure of angle or incline:

• Pitch (flight), an aircraft's attitude as nose up or down
• Pitch (boat movement), similar movements to aircraft - Pitch, Roll and Yaw
• Blade pitch, the angle of a propeller
• Roof pitch, the ratio of vertical over horizontal measurements in carpentry

A measure of distance between like items:

• Dot pitch, the distance between dots in a computer display
• Thread pitch, the distance between threads on a screw
• Links of roller chain and bicycle chain
• Seat pitch, the distance between a point on one airline seat and the same point on the next
• Also, the distance between:
• complete turns of a helix or coil spring
• teeth on a gear
• film perforations
• scanlines in video processing
• leads from an integrated circuit

In arts and literature:

• Pitch (film), a movie by Kenny Hotz and Spencer Rice
• Sales Pitch, a short story by Philip K. Dick

See also

• Pitchfork
• Pitch Black