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Why the oboe tunes the orchestra (fwd)

I have come across three general reasons why the oboe has been
historically used to tune the orchestra.

The overtone structure (number of harmonics as well as their relative
strengths) is more similar to that of the strings' in that there are far
more, and of greater individual intensity, than that of the other wind
instruments.  A greater percentage of the acoustical energy of a given
note is distributed throughout the harmonics than of the fundament.
This allows the strings to match up their overtones with those of the
oboe more easily than with, say, the clarinet or the flute.  The flute,
for instance, (and similarly the organ pipe) have relatively few and
quite weak overtones - nearly a pure sine wave.  This is why pipe organs
have numerous ranks of 'lingual' (reeded) pipes to balance their
'labial' (open) pipes, and have entire sets of 'tierce' pipes to
individually reinforce the octave, fifth, seventh, etc. overtones of a
given fundament pipe.

The second reason I've heard is that 'back in the good old days' when
woodwind technology was not as good as it is now the tuning range of the
oboe was far less than in contemporary instruments.  Thus the oboe,
being relatively fixed at one pitch, was tuned up or down to by the rest
of the orchestra.  I can't, however, personally vouch for the accuracy
of my information on these limitations to the early oboe.

The third reason is related to the first in that, as a result of the
timbre of the oboe, its sound 'cuts' through the general hubbub of the
orchestra and can therefore be heard by everyone in the room.

Interestingly enough, the characterization of the oboe's sound as being
the "purest' is diametrically opposite of what you would expect by the
use of that term.  A sine wave is by definition a pure note: 100% of the
acoustical energy is in the fundament.  The oboe sounds like an oboe
precisely because it has a greater percentage of its acoustical energy
distributed amongst its harmonics as compared to its fundament - check
it out with your pocket spectrum analyzer.  Assuming, of course, a good
player; otherwise it just sounds like a duck! (wry grin).

Finally, as a tuba player myself, I can vouch for the reason many bands
tune to the tuba: it's easier to see the pencil mark on the tuning
slide!

I welcome any comments, opinions or other information you may have to
make my understanding of this more complete and accurate.

Kevin Petersen, Tuba
"I play loud and work cheap"

P.S.  I have found Passport Design's ENCORE program to be buggy and
their help desk utterly impossible to reach.  Several friends of mine
use FINALE and, steep learning curve aside, swear by it.  I've seen
score and parts from FINALE and they look really sharp - nearly typeset
quality.

One of the greatest advantages of any of these programs in my mind is
the ability to listen to your work and use your ear to 'proof' it out
for errors before pulling the score and parts -- TAKE NOTE MAECEANAS
(publishers of Lowry Sketchbook).  And, of course, there are no copying
errors in the parts as well.


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