One major difference between professional ensembles and many amateur ensembles is the focus on tuning instruments before the rehearsal or performance. Pros know how helpful this is, since it’s obvious how awful an out-of-tune band or orchestra can be – kind of like a car horn or the old nails-on-the-blackboard sound. I am constantly amazed at how some community musicians can play, sometimes side-by-side, and not hear (or intentionally choose to ignore?) the grating, nerve-plucking cacophony that ensues.
What is it about spending a few seconds tuning that seems to turn some players off? We musicians have all heard the old line, “My instrument was tuned at the factory,” but deep down, we know that joke’s not going to rub.
You can’t get away from the fact that tuning at the beginning of every rehearsal is necessary, or else you will ruin your ear and most likely embarrass yourself later. The more lax you are, the more mistakes will slip by, and the worse your performance will sound. It’s a matter of creating a habit, but many musicians have a few well-worn alibis they use to rationalize their tuning neglect.
“I’ll tune as I play.”
Constantly tuning as you play is an excellent practice that helps improve your ear. That’s what the professionals do, and that’s part of why they sound so good.
However, if you don’t tune with the rest of the group right at the outset, you leave yourself wide open for bad intonation during the first piece, maybe longer. While some conductors let that go during a rehearsal, a performance is an entirely different story. The audience remembers two things about every piece: the first note and the last note. If either of these is even a quartertone flat, they’ll hear it, and you might just get the evil eye from your conductor or band mates, too.
“It takes too long.”
Even tuning in score order (see below), it usually only takes a few minutes for the entire group to tune properly, but durations will vary. What does this entail? An orchestra Concertmaster plays an A for orchestra strings, the appropriate players match the note, then the C.M. plays a B-flat for orchestra winds, and they tune as well. A band (or wind ensemble) Concertmaster plays two B-flats – one for the woodwinds, and one for the brass, or sometimes a B-flat and then an F. Each tuning note may be sounded more than once for the group members.
According to Miles Hoffman’s The NPR (National Public Radio) Classical Music Companion: Terms and Concepts from A to Z, a score is “the written or printed music that shows all the instrumental and/or vocal parts that make up a composition. It includes notes, tempo markings, dynamics, special instructions, and, in the case of a vocal work, text. ‘All the parts’ may be as few as two, or as many as are heard simultaneously in an opera or symphony.”
The following are generic score orders and may not exactly reflect your director’s preferred tuning order. Also, other instruments, such as harp or piano, may also be used. Other percussion instruments that are not tunable are not included here.
Orchestral score order: Violins, violas, cellos, double basses, flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, French horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba, and timpani.
Band score order: Flutes, oboes, bassoons, clarinets, saxophones, cornets, trumpets, French horns, trombones, euphoniums, tubas, and timpani.
If you’re in another type of group (Rock, Dixieland, Jazz, etc.), your tuning note should come from the piano or other keyboard, especially for guitarists or other fretted instrument players, who should start tuning with the lowest (usually E) string. If your group doesn’t have keyboards, you could get a note from the lowest pitched instrument (usually bass or tuba), but it’s much safer to use an electronic tuner than to rely on your own ear.
“No one’s going to hear me, anyway.”
False. One part of the exercise is listening, but the other part is getting your instrument in tune with the rest of your section. If you’re not in tune, it will be noticeable! An in-tune section not only makes the entire group sound better, but also helps increase the morale of the group.
When rhythms and notes are played well, it gives many of us a good feeling on a very basic level. It reminds us of why we continue playing in the first place. So, when it’s your turn, listen as you play your note, and make adjustments when necessary.
Imagine being onstage with an ensemble and beginning a concert with the first chords of Rossini’s Largo al Factotum, Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, or Grainger’s Ye Banks and Braes O’ Bonnie Doon. Perhaps you’re playing certain unison passages (i.e. horns starting Jenkins’ American Overture for Band, clarinets beginning Chance’s Variations on a Korean Folk Song, or low brass playing the opening notes of Holst’s First Military Suite in E-flat). You may play the rest of the concert perfectly in pitch, but you will still be remembered for that awful beginning if you’re out of tune. Please do yourself, the group, and your adoring public a favor by getting in tune at the very beginning.
Musicians: How often do you encounter “tuning negligence”? Have you ever (tactfully) told a fellow musician they’re out of tune?
Directors: How often do you focus on tuning during rehearsals? What do you do to correct out-of-tune notes without embarrassing the players? If you conduct an amateur group, how often will you let out-of-tune notes go by?
Audience members: What do you think when you hear out-of-tune notes during a performance? Are you willing to ignore it because the group may not be “professional”?