Tuning An Orchestra

Tuning an orchestra begins, interestingly enough, with the oboe. Why? Because the oboe is the instrument in an orchestra that is least affected by humidity. So, the oboist plays the A note and tunes to a tuning machine to begin the process. Tuning is simply changing the pitch of an instrument, which changes the frequency of the sound produced. Frequency is defined as the number of cycles per unit time. Increasing the number of cycles-per-second makes the note change, higher or lower. The frequency of the standard pitch A (most always defined as 440 Hz or 440 cycles per second) is known as concert pitch.