Free Online Tuner for Clarinet

Why is it important to tune your clarinet?

Tuning your clarinet is crucial for several reasons:

1. Pitch Accuracy: Tuning ensures that your clarinet produces accurate pitches, according to the standard reference. This is essential for playing in harmony with other instruments in an ensemble or orchestra. If your clarinet is out of tune, it can lead to dissonance and a lack of musical cohesion.

2. Ear Training: Regularly tuning your clarinet helps develop your ear for pitch. By consistently adjusting your instrument to the correct pitch, you train your ear to recognise and produce accurate musical tones. This is a fundamental skill for any musician.

3. Ensemble Playing: In group settings, such as a band or orchestra, all instruments need to be in tune with each other. If one instrument is out of tune, it can disrupt the entire ensemble's sound. Tuning ensures that your clarinet blends well with other instruments, creating a harmonious and balanced musical experience.

The clarinet is a complex mechanical system where side holes, irregularities in the bore, and other physical parameters contribute to tuning issues. Naturally, musicians are aware of these problems; they're highly sensitive to them and adjust their playing to correct them.

Among these issues, one frequently mentioned by clarinettists concerns the lower-pitched notes in the chalumeau register and in the mid-range, which sometimes lacks depth and is often sharp in intonation. To address this, in the mid-range (medium), clarinettists must close all rings and some keys on the right-hand side or employ alternate fingerings for certain sustained notes (such as middle B-flat, Bb4).

How to use our Free Online Clarinet Tuner?

Using an online tuner with a microphone to tune your clarinet is super helpful. The online tuner will listen to the sounds you play and tell you right away if your notes are at the correct pitch. The online tuner also uses graphics, which help you see if your clarinet is at the correct pitch. This is great for new clarinet players because it makes it easier to understand and adjust the tuning. The best part is, you can use it whenever and wherever you want, making it easy to keep your clarinet sounding in pitch all the time.

Wondering how to start using our free online clarinet tuner with your device's microphone? Let's break it down:

Step 1: Click the "Allow" button on the tuner to let it access your desktop microphone.

Step 2: When your browser asks for permission to use the microphone, click yes. This allows the tuner to pick up the notes you play.

Step 3: Play the notes on your clarinet, while keeping an eye on the tuner. It will indicate which note you are playing, and the colours will let you know if it's too low (flat) or too high (sharp). Make adjustments accordingly.

Let's take the note A (sounding pitch) as an example:

Be careful! The clarinet is a fascinating instrument with a unique characteristic - it is a transposing instrument. Unlike concert-pitch instruments, such as the piano or flute, where playing a written C produces the same sound as the fundamental pitch of C, the clarinet requires players to play a different note to hear the intended pitch. For example, when a B-flat clarinet reads and plays a written B-natural, the actual sound produced is a concert-pitch A; so the clarinet sounds a tone lower than its written pitch. Do not hesitate to ask your clarinet teacher for advice!

In Tune: You're in tune when the correct note is displayed, and the pitch indicator is showing a green colour, as close to 0 as possible.

Too low: If the correct note is showing but the colour is orange or red in the negative values, you're too low (flat).

Too high: If the correct note is showing but the colour is orange or red in the positive values, you're too high (sharp).

Make sure the letter on the tuner matches the note you are playing. If not, it could mean your clarinet needs some further tuning adjustments.

Remember that background noise can affect the accuracy of the tuner, so try to tune your clarinet in a quiet environment.

Don't worry if tuning feels a bit tricky and takes some time at first. With practice, it will become a speedy and easier thing to do!

How to tune your clarinet step-by-step

Tuning a clarinet involves adjusting the length of the instrument to achieve the correct pitch. Here's a basic guide on how to tune a clarinet:

1. Choose a reference pitch:

Standard Concert Pitch is often set to A = 440Hz, meaning the A vibrates 440 times per second. We explain further on what "Hz" means. Make sure your reference pitch matches the one used by the ensemble or musicians you are playing with.

2. Warm up your clarinet:

Play your clarinet for a few minutes to allow the instrument to reach a stable temperature. This helps to ensure accurate tuning.

3. Play a B-natural on your clarinet:

Beginner clarinettists can check the pitch using any notes, but usually, the note used is B-natural, which corresponds to a sounding pitch A. This is because this note requires covering all the instrument's holes and offers a significantly more stable pitch.

Start playing a B-natural while having a look at our online tuner. It should display the note A. If the tuner shows another note, you're probably out of tune.

You're in tune when the tuner turns green and remains as close to zero as possible.

If the colours orange or red point towards the negative values, the pitch of your clarinet is too low (flat): raise it.

If the orange or red colours point toward the right, the pitch of your clarinet is too high (sharp): lower it.

4. Begin with the barrel:

Start by gently pulling or pushing the barrel. The barrel is the section of the clarinet that connects the mouthpiece to the upper joint. Adjust the position of the barrel by pulling it slightly, if you want to lower your pitch. Push it in, if you want to raise your pitch. When the instrument elongates, the pitch lowers; whereas when the body shortens, the pitch rises.

5. Check the upper and the lower joint:

Before adjusting other parts of the clarinet body, it's essential to consider additional factors that impact the instrument's accurate tuning:

• The type of clarinet itself: high-end clarinets encounter fewer tuning issues.
• The reed thickness: if it's excessively thin, your tuning will be lower.
• Air pressure: increased pressure lowers the pitch, whereas lighter pressure raises it. When playing softly (piano), the pitch rises; when playing loudly (forte), it falls.
• Embouchure: an embouchure lacking tone or being too open results in a lower tuning, while an overly tight embouchure causes the tuning to rise.
• Temperature: changes in heat can affect tuning. Cold can cause an instrument to go flat; warm can cause an instrument to go sharp. It's useful to be aware that the longer you play the clarinet in one sitting, the sharper it may become.

If even by adjusting these elements you feel that your clarinet is still out of tune, then you can move on to tuning the upper joint. Adjust the position of the upper joint in relation to the barrel. Pushing the upper joint in raises the pitch, while pulling it out lowers the pitch.

If you're too low: push the upper joint in the barrel to raise the pitch.

If you're too high: pull the upper joint out to lower the pitch.

You can do the same with the lower joint.

6. Check octave notes:

Play octave notes (the same note in different octaves) and listen for the clarity of the sound. Adjust the head joint position until the octaves are in tune.

7. Check all notes:

Play a range of notes throughout the clarinet's range, to ensure uniformity in tuning.

8. Re-check tuning periodically:

Periodically check and adjust the tuning, especially during long playing sessions. Remember to be patient and make small adjustments to avoid overcorrecting. If you are unsure or encounter difficulties, consider seeking guidance from a music teacher or a more experienced clarinet player. Additionally, practising with other musicians and using your ears to adjust to their pitch can further enhance your tuning skills.

💡 Our tips for tuning your clarinet:

• Make sure you have warmed up your clarinet by blowing into it, or by playing for a few minutes before you tune up.
• Have fun adjusting the tuning! Making it higher or lower by adjusting the embouchure helps to develop your flexibility and a deeper understanding of the instrument. This occurs while simultaneously adjusting the tuning while playing.

How often should I tune my clarinet?

Tune your clarinet every time you practise! Clarinets can be quite sensitive: even a small shift in temperature, humidity, or a gust of wind can throw an instrument out of tune, and it's not your fault!

What does Hertz mean?

Simply put, "Hertz" (Hz) measures how many times a sound vibrates in one second. A = 440Hz means the note vibrates 440 times per second.

Historically, musical instruments were tuned at different standard pitches. For instance, Baroque Pitch is A = 415Hz, and in the Classical period it was around A = 428-430Hz. A = 432Hz, known as "Verdi's A", is considered mathematically consistent with the universe, offering softer and brighter tones, said to be clearer and easier on the ears. Today's Concert Pitch is considered to be A = 440Hz.

While it might be better suited for experienced players, you have the option to adjust the Hertz value of our tuner to meet your specific requirements. For beginners, seeking advice from your teacher is highly recommended!

Tune your clarinet and start playing!

Your clarinet is all tuned up and ready to go! At Tomplay, we have a diverse selection of clarinet sheet music that caters for all tastes and skill levels, with accompanying backing tracks included.

Discover thousands of sheet music arrangements for the clarinet, with high-quality audio accompaniment tracks. Our sheet music catalogue for the clarinet contains numerous clarinet-piano duets with accompanying backing tracks, trios, quartets and quintets; with the possibility of taking out the clarinet part, in order to play along with the rest of the ensemble; as well as several pieces with an orchestral accompaniment.

Whether you enjoy playing classical, pop, rock, jazz or film scores, choose from more than 5,000 backing tracks arranged for clarinettists of every level, from beginner to pro. It's the end of low-quality MIDI sound and hello to sonorous inspiration! All our scores contain accompaniment backing tracks, expertly recorded by professional musicians.

TAILOR-MADE FUNCTIONS:

• No more low-quality MIDI playback: Tomplay gives you access to more than 80,000 music scores that contain high-quality recordings to accompany you.
• Tempo Adjustment: Users have the flexibility to modify the tempo of our audio accompaniments, tailoring practice to a suitable skill level.
• Self-Recording: The app offers a self-recording feature, allowing users to record their performances and review progress.
• Annotation Tools: Musicians can annotate scores with fingerings, bowings, customised highlights, text additions, and more.
• Print Scores with your own annotations.
• Passage Looping: Musicians can loop specific sections of music, for more focused and efficient practice.
• Tuning Fork for re-tuning string and wind instruments.
• Integrated Metronome.
• A live Visual Aid to show placement on the tone holes and keys for individual notes, while learning a new piece.

Tomplay is an application trusted by more than one million musicians in 157 countries. Be inspired to join us and let the music begin! 🎶

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Looking for inspiration to play music on your clarinet?

You can explore our blog where you will find many articles for clarinettists. We share tips and our recommendations on sheet music to play. From 10 easy clarinet songs for absolute beginners (with sheet music) to The 10 most beautiful Christmas pieces to play on the clarinet (with sheet music) there is a lot of content that caters for all tastes and skill levels!

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