HOT TO TUNE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

EACH OCTAVE IN MUSIC IS DIVIDED INTO 12 SEMITONES WITH A VALUE OF 100 CENTS EACH

I DO NOT USE THE TERM CENTS IN TUNING because most people who play music do not know what it means.

Today there are so many electronic tuners out there one no longer needs to use tuning forks. Yes they are still available.

One of the gotchas in tuning is trying to tune an, instrument particularly a Reed Instrument, like a clarinet or saxophone. A reed instrument note relies mostly on the players embouchure. (how the mouth, lips & facial muscles are applied to an instrument mouthpiece). One can extend or contract the pieces of a clarinet or an adjustable flute, but most of the pitch will come from a well developed embouchure.

However, an electronic tuner is a great tool for practicing playing in tune while developing their embouchure.

Gotcha number 2 is trying to use a tuner to tune a b flat clarinet with the tuner set to a chromatic scale. In other words with a tuner not properly set or worse yet a tuner that does not have the instrument key scale at all.