Tuning Wind Instruments

Tuning wind instruments isn’t like tuning other instruments. If you are, for example, tuning a stringed instrument or a keyboard such as a piano then you will tune it based on the tension of the strings that are used to produce the sounds on the instruments.

Wind instruments, however, don’t come with strings and produce sound in a different way. So, in most cases you will tune a wind instrument by slightly lengthening or shortening the ‘barrel’ of the wind instrument itself to get it into tune. Some players will also use an electronic tuner to help them find and create the right tuning.

Some people think that wind instruments do not need to be tuned as such but the fact is that the environment in which you play an instrument can have a bearing on the sounds you create. You may find that issues such as heat, cold and humidity affect the tuning of wind instruments so your instrument may need some fine tuning according to where you are playing it. For example, you may find that a cold room will make your wind instrument go flat and a warm room will make it sound sharp.