Find your instrument
The third column is the note you play when the director calls for concert B♭ — the single most useful fact for a band player and the one a guitar tuner has no reason to know.
Woodwind
Tuned at one joint — barrel, headjoint, cork or reed — and then played in tune by air.
| Instrument | For concert B♭, play |
|---|---|
| Flute | concert pitch — written B♭ |
| Piccolo | concert pitch, an octave up |
| Alto flute | written F (in G) |
| Oboe | concert pitch — written B♭ |
| English horn | written F (in F) |
| Clarinet (B♭) | written C (in B♭) |
| E♭ clarinet | written G (in E♭) |
| Bass clarinet | written C (in B♭) |
| Bassoon | concert pitch — written B♭ |
| Contrabassoon | concert pitch, an octave down |
| Alto sax | written G (in E♭) |
| Tenor sax | written C (in B♭) |
| Soprano sax | written C (in B♭) |
| Baritone sax | written G (in E♭) |
Brass
One main slide calibrates the whole instrument; valve slides fix combinations that do not add up.
| Instrument | For concert B♭, play |
|---|---|
| Trumpet | written C (in B♭) |
| Cornet | written C (in B♭) |
| Flugelhorn | written C (in B♭) |
| French horn | written F (in F) |
| Mellophone | written F (in F) |
| Trombone | concert pitch — written B♭ |
| Euphonium | bass clef concert, treble clef in B♭ |
| Tuba | concert pitch — written B♭ |
Percussion
Pitched percussion is checked rather than adjusted — except the timpani, which are pedalled.
| Instrument | For concert B♭, play |
|---|---|
| Timpani | pedalled to the score |
| Marimba & mallet percussion | fixed at manufacture |
| Drums | lug matching, no fixed pitch |
The tuning-day routine, in the order that works
- Play for five minutes before anyone tunes anything. This is the step that gets skipped and it is worth more than everything after it. Brass rises about a cent per degree Fahrenheit as it warms, and woodwind air columns behave the same way. A band tuned cold is a band that will be sharp for the rest of the rehearsal.
- Tune the low voices first. Tuba, bass clarinet, baritone sax, contrabassoon. They are the hardest to move, the slowest to speak, and the reference everyone above them will unconsciously match — so setting them last means everyone else tunes twice.
- Then the rest, section by section, at mezzo-forte. Not softly. Most wind instruments go flat quietly and sharp loudly, so tuning at a dynamic nobody plays at produces a band that is in tune only at that dynamic.
- Check octaves within each section. Two clarinets an octave apart reveal more than either one against a dial, because a shared error against the tuner is invisible and a disagreement between them is not.
- Re-check after the first piece. The instruments have changed temperature and so has the room.
What a band tuner has to do that a guitar tuner does not
- Transpose. Most of the band reads a different note than it sounds. See the transposing instrument tuner.
- Move the concert pitch. A=440 is not universal — many ensembles sit at 442. This dial runs from A=400 to A=500.
- Read genuinely low notes. A tuba’s pedal register and a contrabassoon’s low B♭ at 29 Hz are below where most tuners commit to an answer. This one reads to 20 Hz, with an octave display so a harmonic cannot be mistaken for the fundamental.
- Show cents rather than a green light. “In tune” hides the number you need in order to find out that your third-space C♯ is always eight cents sharp.
Frequently asked questions
Why does a band tune to concert B♭ instead of concert A?
Because most of the band is built in B♭ or E♭, so concert B♭ is a comfortable, well-centred note on almost every instrument in the room — written C on the trumpets, clarinets and tenor saxes, written G on the altos and baris. An orchestra tunes to A because the strings have an A string and the oboe, which cannot easily adjust, sets it. Concert A on a band instrument is often a poor note to tune on.
Everyone tuned individually and the band still sounds out. Why?
Usually temperature and dynamics rather than setup. Brass rises roughly a cent per degree Fahrenheit as it warms, so a band tuned in the first five minutes is a different band twenty minutes later. And most wind instruments go sharp when played loudly and flat when played softly, so a section that tuned at mezzo-forte will not agree at fortissimo. Tune warm, and re-check after the first piece.
Should students tune with the transposition setting on or off?
Off, at first. A beginner who only ever sees their written note never learns that their instrument transposes, and the first time they play with a piano it is a mystery. Tune to concert pitch so they see that their written G is the same sound as the alto next to them and the trumpet’s written C — then turn the setting on later as a convenience, once the concept has landed.
Can I put the whole section on the same settings?
Yes — the tuner’s settings live in the URL. Set the concert pitch and transposition you want, use the share control, and send that link. Everyone who opens it arrives with the dial configured identically, which removes the most common source of disagreement in a sectional: two people measuring against different references.
Which notes should I check besides the tuning note?
The ones that are wrong by design on your instrument. On any valved brass instrument, 1–3 and 1–2–3 run sharp. On any saxophone, written C♯ at the top of the staff runs sharp. On a flute, the C♯ and the third octave. A single tuning note tells you the instrument is calibrated; the scale tells you where it will actually let you down.
Related
- Transposing instrument tuner — the full written-to-sounding table, with a preset link per instrument.
- Metronome — the other half of a sectional.
- Auf Deutsch: Stimmgerät für Blasinstrumente