Why tune to oboe

However, because of its structure, the oboe's pitch can only be changed by removing and inserting reeds. It is not possible to change how high-pitched the tones are the way that can be done by removing a clarinet's barrel or altering the tension of a violin's strings. The only way of altering the pitch of an oboe is to adjust the breadth or length of the reeds; it is nearly impossible to make any sudden changes on the day of a performance.

It is difficult to adjust the pitch of an oboe. Therefore, it would appear that the other instruments in a performance must be made to match, and that is the explanation of why the oboe is the standard for tuning.

Musical Instrument Guide. Make small goals for yourself - those are always the most achievable and worthwhile. Happy tuning! I am currently studying instrumental music education at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. I primarily play oboe and English horn, but have a background in many woodwind instruments.

Notestem is reader-supported. When you make a purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Why is Tuning Important? Have you ever listened to a performance and found yourself cringing? Amount of Reed in Mouth One of the ways that you can affect intonation is the amount of reed in the mouth. Embouchure Your embouchure also has a great deal to do with the intonation of your instrument. Air Support Your air support is essential to your success as an instrumentalist.

What does that really mean though? What does this have to do with intonation? Reeds Your reeds can also affect intonation. What Are the Tendencies of Certain Tones? There are also certain pitches, as with every type of instrument, that sit sharp or flat. Korg CA Chromatic Tuner. Simply set on the stand, turn on the power, and you're ready to tune your oboe. Buy on woodwind brasswind. Super Accurate. My personal choice for a tuner is the Snark Clip-On tuner.

The tuner has the ability to focus on one sound your oboe , which is stellar for while you are tuning an ensemble. I find that it helps me to keep my reference pitch more stable than any other tuner. Related Posts. Oboe Vs. Flute: Similarities And Differences. Oboe vs. Bassoon: Similarities and Differences. Popular Oboes: Marigaux These instrument families differ significantly from one another in their methods of sound production, and though they share a European heritage, to play together , accurate tuning from all members is an absolute must.

The concept of pitch standard involves a few different things: audio frequency, note-name and standard. For instance, the local tuning pitch of the principal oboe: A , refers to two separate concepts:. This note is referred to as the middle A, or A4. The middle C of the piano is the 4 th C from the bottom of the keys from the left side , hence A of that octave is referred to as A4. The lowest common note on the piano, the big growly A on the bottom, is an A0 zero. In historical performance practice, their note A would be set much lower, around A There are multiple tuning systems on how to distribute these 12 tones, meaning each tuning system may assign a slightly different pitch actual sound for a single note note from the scale.

A concert piano is likely to be tuned at equal temperament, where all 12 tones of an octave have been equally divided within that HzHz range, but a violin may be tuned in Just, Pythagorean, or any other tuning system.

Historically, the centre pitch has differed so much from one place to another, that the regional differences and moving pitches often drove musicians mad. Up to the late 16 th century, most sacred music was vocal, so the instruments — organs mainly, were built to suit the range of the human voice hence lower. However, when secular instruments such as violin and cornett were introduced into service, tuning became an issue, as sacred pitch differed from the opera pitch, chamber music pitch and military pitch, with heavy local variation; Composers of early 17 th th century were commonly notating music in more than one key on a need-to basis, to overcome regional and instrumental differences.

Many travelling musicians started to look for a portable solution to this problem. Handel carried his own pitch pipe, John Shore in the early 18 th century used a fork to tune his lute. The pitch pipes were like a small recorder, often fitted with a movable wooden plunger or piston, on which a scale of notes with a range of about one octave was marked. In Vienna, even piano technicians were using them for keyboard instruments, as recently as And some pipes were made to suit a few different pitches.

After Lassus began to incorporate string instruments into sacred services for the Bavarian Court in Munich around , other instruments started to trickle into the church, and the limited flexibility of woodwind instruments often determined the pitch setting: sackbuts were employed in sacred services in Emden in s, and Catharinenkirch in Hamberg was regularly using cornetts by s. The best cornetts were made in Venice, and they were often sold in sets with a common pitch system; and though much of the sacred music was made to match the human vocal range hence a bit lower , cornetts at a lower pitch were very difficult to master, as the tone-holes had to be placed wider in a longer body, requiring incredible finger stretches, which made it impossible for mere mortals to play.

Instrument makers had no choice but to make cornetts in a higher pitch. And as other families of instruments have joined the orchestra over the years, they followed suit. When the first orchestras emerged in the late 17th century, they were mainly formed of string players.

While the focus was on string instruments, oboists were sometimes used to strengthen the sound of the first and second violin section.

Longevity also has a lot to do with it: over time flutes, bassoons, French horns and clarinets drifted in and out of the orchestra; but oboes were nearly always written into orchestral scores.