Clarinet Tuner — Written vs Sounding Pitch, Barrel Tuning

The clarinet is a single-reed woodwind, and the standard soprano clarinet is built in B♭: when a player reads a written C, the note that sounds is a concert B♭, a major second lower. The tuner shows the sounding note, so you tune against a display one whole tone below the printed page.

How to use it

1. Start the tuner. Press Start Tuner (Microphone) and allow microphone access. The audio is analysed in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
2. Play one long note at a time. Hold the note steady for a second or two. The clarinet’s output is rich in harmonics, and a steady tone gives the detector its cleanest reading; a moving line does not.
3. Remember the display reads concert pitch. A written G shows as F, and a written C shows as B♭. Convert before you judge whether the needle is where it should be.
4. Warm up before you trust the reading. Clarinets rise in pitch as they warm, so a cold instrument reads flat. Play for a few minutes first, and blow warm air through the instrument while you wait.
5. Set the overall pitch at the barrel, then check the registers. Open G first, then the “tuning note C” above it, following the order the Midwest Clinic’s clarinet clinician guide recommends.
6. Play the tuning note your ensemble uses. If the band gives concert F, play written G; if it gives concert B♭, play written C. The display should read concert F or concert B♭ respectively.
7. Check the awkward notes. Throat A and B♭, the clarion register, and the altissimo notes above high C each have their own tendency; one in-tune long note does not prove the rest of the instrument.
8. Do not re-adjust the barrel for every note. Corrections to individual notes belong to voicing, air and alternate fingerings; the barrel is only the overall pitch.

Written pitch and sounding pitch

This is the single fact to get straight before tuning. Wikipedia’s article on transposing instruments states it plainly: “Playing a written C produces a concert B♭ on a B♭ clarinet.” The instrument sounds a major second — one whole tone — below what is written, in the same octave. The University of New South Wales acoustics resource gives the octave check: “For a B♭ clarinet, written C4 = sounding Bb3.”

The practical consequences:

• The display will always look a tone low. That is the instrument, not the tuner.
• You can read your part against the display. Subtract a whole tone from the written note: written C is concert B♭, written D is concert C, written G is concert F.
• Other clarinets differ. An A clarinet sounds a minor third lower, and the E♭ clarinet sounds a minor third higher. This page assumes the B♭ soprano, which is by far the most common.

How to read this tuner as a clarinet player

Written note	Sounds as	The display shows
C4 (written middle C)	B♭3	B♭3
G4 (open G)	F4	F4
C5 (the “tuning note C”)	B♭4	B♭4
Written G4 when the band gives concert F	F4	F4

Which note to tune to

• Find out what your ensemble uses. Orchestras tune to a concert A, usually given by the oboe. Wind bands most often use concert F or concert B♭; Yamaha’s intonation guide says both are “solid choices — familiar, stable and all over your repertoire”.
• In a band on concert F, clarinettists play written G. Because the clarinet sounds a whole tone lower, the written G is the note that sounds as concert F.
• In a band on concert B♭, clarinettists play written C. The written C sounds as concert B♭. This is the same note some method books call the “tuning note C”.
• For an orchestra’s concert A, play written B. The written B sounds concert A. Check which A the ensemble is using — the reference chips cover A415 to A444 — and match it before tuning.
• Tune the open G first, then the tuning note. The Midwest Clinic guide orders it that way and is worth following: open G is the reference for the lower half of the instrument, the tuning-note C for the upper half.

Adjusting the pitch: the barrel

The clarinet has no tuning slide. The whole-instrument length is set at the barrel joint, and that is what you use:

• Pull out to flatten, push in to sharpen. Selmer Paris’ guide puts it directly: “If you are sharp, pull out. If you are flat, push in.” Most players make the adjustment between the barrel and the upper joint, though the middle joint and the bell are also possible.
• A longer barrel plays flatter. Yamaha’s explanation compares it to pulling out a saxophone mouthpiece or a flute headjoint, and notes that replacement barrels are made in different lengths to change the instrument’s basic pitch.
• The effect is not even across the instrument. The Midwest Clinic guide explains that pulling out flattens the notes that sound from holes immediately below the pull more than notes farther down. An extreme barrel pull leaves the throat tones flat relative to the long fingerings.
• Do not chase individual notes with it. Selmer’s advice is explicit that constantly adjusting the tube for each out-of-tune note is impractical and throws previously tuned notes out. Use the barrel to set the instrument, then handle each note with air, voicing and alternate fingerings.
• Check the twelfths if the barrel is changed. A wider barrel makes the twelfths larger, so a clarinet whose clarion is sharp relative to the low register is helped by a narrower barrel, and one whose clarion is flat by a wider barrel. That is a job for a repairer or a teacher, not a roadside adjustment.

Common intonation problems by register

• Throat tones run sharp. Throat A and B♭ especially are sharp on almost every instrument, according to the Grand Valley State University intonation handout. This is also the register where pitch is easiest to bend, because the bore resonances line up less completely there.
• The altissimo tends sharp in experienced players. The same handout notes that young players learning the register often run flat instead — so the direction of the error can tell you whether the problem is the instrument or the air.
• Individual notes have names. Selmer’s guide singles out high C♯ as a sharp note and low F as a flat one (the article is credited to clarinettist Jenny Maclay). Treat such generalisations as a starting point and find your own instrument’s tendencies.
• Just because the long B is in tune does not mean the throat notes are. The UNSW tuning guide recommends checking throat G, low B and low G as a set.
• Breath support is the foundation. The Midwest Clinic guide is blunt that without support there is “no depth, stability, focus, clarity, or even color”, and it distinguishes support from merely blowing hard.
• Temperature moves everything. Cold instruments are flat and warm ones sharp; wooden instruments warm more slowly than metal, so a wooden clarinet takes longer to settle.

A short warm-up routine

1. Blow warm air through the instrument while you assemble and, if you are waiting, without making a sound.
2. Long tones from the chalumeau upward, listening for a steady centre rather than a loud one.
3. Mouthpiece and barrel exercises to set the embouchure and air without the instrument’s resistance.
4. Then tune — open G first, then the tuning-note C — and check the throat and altissimo notes against the display.

Accuracy and limits

• The display is in concert pitch. Most confusion on a clarinet page comes from forgetting this. A written G showing as F is the system working.
• The room matters as much as the instrument. A clarinet is directional and bright; in a band room the microphone hears the players around you as well. Tune in a corner, face a soft surface, or use a clip-on tuner in a full section.
• A cold instrument reads flat, not broken. Warm-up drift is large on a clarinet; re-check after a few minutes of playing rather than fighting the barrel.
• A single note is not a tuning. Check open G, the tuning-note C, and one throat note and one clarion note. Notes with different fingerings can disagree.
• A reed that is tired or unbalanced distorts the reading. A reed that has gone soft or is warped can drive the whole instrument sharp or make individual registers unstable. Try a different reed before adjusting anything.
• The barrel’s effect is uneven. If pulling the barrel to fix the top register leaves the throat tones flat, the instrument needs a proper setup check, not a longer pull.
• The configured range is 25 Hz to 2200 Hz. Every note of a standard clarinet, from the written low E to the top of the altissimo, sits comfortably inside it.

Safety

• Do not force a stuck barrel or bell tenon. Wood and cork bind with changes in humidity; twisting hard cracks tenons. Ease the joint free with a gentle rocking motion, and have cork replaced when it dries out.
• Warm the instrument before playing hard. A cold clarinet played loudly is both flat and more likely to crack at a tenon.
• Give the instrument time between play and packing. Swabbing after playing removes moisture that damages pads, and avoiding extremes of temperature protects the wood.
• Do not overtighten ligature screws. A crushed reed or a broken ligature is a bad start to a rehearsal; firm is enough.
• Support the instrument when you stand up. A clarinet dropped on a hard floor can crack the bell or bend keys — the cost of a moment’s carelessness is a repair.
• Protect your hearing in a section. A clarinet behind your ear is loud, and rehearsal rooms add to it. Take breaks in long sessions.