Do you play in tune?

• Do you constantly maintain a uniform pitch standard in your practicing and playing? Or do you conform only when it becomes obvious that you are "out of tune?"
• Do you know what effect heat and humidity have on your own and other instruments?
• Do you know what the pitch-deviation tendencies of each of the woodwinds, brass, and strings are?
• Do you realize that if you and I play a duet and one of us is a little sharp, the other will feel quite flat?
• Do you feel less responsibility for the pitch when playing in a large group than in a small one?
• Do you blame everything on the strings?
• Do you know why we have to use the tempered scale in general, though we can't bear it in particular?
• Do you feel helpless about tuning?
• Do you try to anticipate the rise in pitch by tuning sharp in the first place?
• Do you tune sharp for brilliance?
• Do you think the oboe player is trying to outsmart you?
• Do you worry even half as much about being sharp as you do about being flat?
• Can you think of anything that sounds better than being in tune?

Алексей Зубов