[Perform-Talk] Tuning the Orchestra

[Ella Yu]

Hi all, Community orchestra violinist/violist here. I have no experience
with tuning apps so I did not initially respond to the question. That said,
I do think there's a difference between an oboist tuning the whole
orchestra and everyone else tuning to the oboist. I also have perfect pitch
and I do trust my ears, but if I put myself in the shoes of an oboist
tuning a whole orchestra, I would very likely want to be at exactly A440 or
A442 or whatever the standard is, so tuning myself to a reference pitch of
some kind would likely be necessary. For a student orchestra and if the
stakes aren't too high, if I have a very good idea mentally of what A440
is, I could probably just trust my ears, but I do think there's that extra
layer of responsibility to be exact if you're the oboist tuning the
orchestra.

On Fri, Sep 5, 2025 at 5:24 PM Leslie Hamric via Perform-Talk <
perform-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> First of all, congratulations for making it into the student Orchestra.
> I'm a cellist and I play in the Elmhurst Symphony so I know all about
> tuning to the oboe. Couple questions. Do you have perfect pitch? If so, you
> could absolutely trust your ears. I don't like the talking tuner app
> because I don't find it accurate. I have perfect pitch and it drives me
> crazy. another app that you could use is metronome and tuner or temple
> perfect. These apps are accessible and they have where you can select a
> note and it'll play it. You could match your pitch to that. I like your
> tuning fork idea.
> Leslie Hamric
> Cello and Braille Music Teacher
>
> > On Sep 5, 2025, at 5:39 PM, Elena D. via Perform-Talk <
> perform-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> >
> > Dear NFBPAD Members,
> >
> > My name is Elena De Nooy. Hopefully, this message is landing in
> > the discussion forum. I apologize if it is not; this network is new to
> me.
> > I have just joined a student orchestra, the only one playing oboe. This
> > will mean that I could be responsible to tune the orchestra. My plan is
> to
> > turn on a tuning fork, then match my pitch to it. Preferably, an actual
> > tuner would tell me how in tune my A actually is. I think it would be
> best
> > not to just trust my ears for this, but also to know for certain how I am
> > doing. I installed an app called "Talking Tuner" on my iPad, but I do not
> > think this will work since the note must stop before it tells me if I am
> in
> > tune or not. Of course, this will not be able to happen in orchestra
> since
> > the note must be sustained for the duration of those matching to my
> pitch.
> > Do you have any accessible ways I could make tuning feasible?
> > Thank you very much for your help.
> >
> > Sincerely,
> >
> > Elena De Nooy
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