Here is the question:
Why do violinists use a D minor chord on the piano when tuning the A string? Why use a chord (rather than just the A piano key), and why the D minor chord? How about using a D major chord, or an A minor or A major chord?
Here is my answer:
It’s just stubborn tradition more than anything. And it’s not universal.
I was concertmaster of an orchestra before I knew that little ‘rule’, and I went on stage and played an A Major chord (because I figured it was just as good as any chord. A is the tonic of A major, so why not?)
TALK ABOUT SCANDALOUS!!!!!!!
Later, it was explained to me that D minor is preferred because the quality of the minor chord settles the pitch and helps prevent us from tuning sharp. More importantly, we perceive the A differently when it is the 5th of a chord than we do when it’s the Tonic.
I was still unconvinced, it’s like…A should be A-440 no matter what.
Some places would play JUST THE A NOTE…and trust professionals to hear it accurately. Other places expect the oboe player (or, in the absence of an oboe player, the concertmaster) to play the A from the piano, tune their instrument to that A, and then play the A on their own instrument for the rest of the orchestra.
And we only go through this whole process when a piano is involved as a solo instrument. If a piano is involved in an orchestra program, then I believe it’s the job of either the oboe player or the concertmaster to come early, tune to the piano just before curtain time, and then give that A to the orchestra when it’s time to tune. This whole business about a D minor chord, or playing the piano, then tuning the oboe, then the oboe tuning the orchestra is silly.
In the symphony where I play, (leaving the name out to protect the innocent AND the guilty) our oboe player takes her job seriously. She always comes early and gets the A from the piano, if piano is involved. If piano is not involved, well, then she delivers an A-440 at tuning time. So we don’t have to have a circus in front of the audience or at the start of rehearsal. Things run more smoothly that way.
But last concert cycle we did, there was no oboe, AND there was a piano on stage….and the concertmaster didn’t get the A in advance….and she stood and gave an unreliable A from her violin. Everyone was grimacing and squirming, and it was terribly unprofessional.
You have hit a nerdy nerve for me! LOL
Hope this answers more questions than it raised. 😉