Posted by Wade on November 16, 2002 at 22:24:10:
In Reply to: Re: Orchestra tuning posted by js on November 15, 2002 at 12:27:18:
We usually are "tuning" as we warm up. You can hear people across the room from one another playing lines, stopping, and switching keys to match another player for a moment to check things. After we have all been working individually in the same room for 15 to 20 minutes we are pretty darn close to one another. The tuning notes (an A given once to winds and brass and again to the strings) are mostly provided as a final reference. The brass tend to tune about 10 cents flat (just a bit low, really) in order to stay in the ballpark with the strings. Since strings go flat when the temp rises, they tend to dive to about 20 cents flat over the course of a half-program. Starting out a bit low helps to keep things workable. All of the winds and brass do a lot of minor on-the-fly pitch adjustments on stage.
Once one of the old Philly players was asked how they managed to play so well in tune with one another. His response was that they rarely played perfectly in tune; rather, they all played "equally out of tune" as a matter of course. An interesting viewpoint, to say the least.
Pitch is very fluid and requires a player to abandon the tuner at times in order to match with the "aggregate pitch level" of a large ensemble. When YOU are pegging the tuner but the bulk of the strings are 10 cents flat, then to the listener YOU are ten cents sharp! Pitch is a "majority rules" situation, wherever it drifts. When we have subs with little experience, pitch is usually the biggest hurdle for them. ("But I was right on the dot with my tuner in the Green Room; why am I so sharp?" Usual response: "I don't know; pull out!")
Wade