Free Online Bassoon Tuner

The bassoon is a non-transposing, concert-pitch instrument. Its parts are written in bass clef and move up to tenor clef for the high register, but in both clefs written pitch equals sounding pitch, so the tuner applies no transposition and the note name you see is the note the room hears.

Bassoon pitch is set by three things working together: the reed, the bocal, and your air. The reed is the biggest single variable. A long, wide, or thickly scraped reed plays flat and slow to respond; clipping the tip, narrowing the throat, or adjusting the first wire raises pitch and brightens response. A reed that has just come out of water is flatter than the same reed ten minutes later. Before deciding your instrument is out of tune, crow the reed alone and play a few notes, most bassoon tuning problems are reed problems wearing a disguise.

The bocal is your mechanical adjustment. Bocals are numbered by length, and a longer bocal, a higher number, lowers overall pitch while a shorter one raises it, typically by several cents per step. Many players keep two bocals for exactly this reason: one for an ensemble at A440 and one for a group that sits at A442. Because the bocal also changes response and resistance across the range, changing bocals is a real decision rather than a quick fix, so make it deliberately and then leave it alone.

Bassoonists normally tune on A3 (220 Hz, the top line of the bass staff), then confirm with a second note such as F3 or the A an octave below. Orchestras take their A from the oboe, usually A440, with A441 or A442 common in professional groups; concert bands generally tune to a concert B flat at A440. Use the reference control to match your ensemble rather than adjusting the reed to hit a number nobody asked for.

Register tendencies are strong on the bassoon and worth knowing. The bottom of the range, roughly F2 down to B flat 1, tends to sit flat and speaks reluctantly; it needs a relaxed embouchure, an open throat, and a lot of steady air rather than more lip pressure. The notes around open F3 and G3 vary widely between instruments and are often the sharpest notes on the horn. The tenor register from around A3 upward wants flick keys, or the whisper-key technique your teacher prefers, to speak cleanly; a note that cracks on entry will also read badly on the tuner. Above D4 the instrument generally trends sharp, and half-hole accuracy becomes a pitch issue as much as a response one.

The most common problem in practice is biting. Because the bassoon reed is soft and the range of lip control is enormous. It is easy to force any note into tune with jaw pressure. That fixes the tuner and ruins the tone. Aim instead to find the setup, reed, bocal, air, where the horn sits near centre on its own, and use the pitch history to confirm it: a flat, level trace across a sustained note means the note is genuinely stable, not merely being held there.