Flute Tuner

How to use the flute tuner

This flute tuner online listens through your microphone. Press Start tuner and allow it. Your microphone is analysed on this device and is never recorded or sent. Play one long, steady note at a comfortable dynamic. The flute tuner shows the nearest note with its octave number, how many cents sharp or flat you are, and a needle: Flat: tune up means push the head joint in, Sharp: tune down means pull it out.

Tap A4 or Bb4 under Tuning notes to hear the note your group tunes to, or pick an octave under Reference tone and tap any note to play along with it. On a computer, Space starts and stops the tuner. The flute is a concert pitch instrument, so the note on the screen is the note you read. What the cents and the needle mean is explained on the chromatic tuner page.

Tuning the flute with the head joint

To tune flute pitch you have one main control: how far the head joint sits in the body. Pulling it out makes the tube longer and the pitch lower. Pushing it in makes the tube shorter and the pitch higher. Move it a little at a time, play the tuning note again, and check the needle.

Flutes are built to be played with the head joint pulled out a little. One band teaching guide suggests no more than a quarter of an inch; if you need much more than that, something else is usually off, such as the cork. The cleaning rod that came with the flute has a line for checking the cork: slide it into the head joint and the line should sit in the middle of the embouchure hole.

Warm up before you tune: the same guide asks for at least ten minutes of playing before you check your pitch. Room temperature matters too: in a hot room the flute plays sharp and you pull out, in a cold one it plays flat.

Which note to tune to

Orchestras tune to an A given by the oboe, so a flutist in an orchestra tunes to A4. Concert bands usually tune to a Bb, because most band instruments are pitched in Bb; on the flute that is written and sounding Bb4. Some orchestras tune a little higher, at 441 or 442 Hz, so ask what your group uses and set the A4 box to match.

One note is not enough to set the head joint well. Flute teacher Jennifer Cluff suggests checking all three D naturals: low D, middle D overblown from the low D fingering, and high D. If they disagree, settle on the head joint position that puts them closest, then adjust single notes with your air.

Notes that tend to go sharp or flat

After the head joint is set, some notes still lean. Most flutes play flat in the bottom register and sharp in the top octave. Loud playing pushes the pitch up and soft playing lets it sag, so crescendos go sharp and diminuendos go flat. The amount and speed of your air and the angle of the air stream across the embouchure hole all move the pitch too.

Use the flute tuner to learn your own flute. Play a slow scale, hold each note for a few seconds, and note which ones lean. The flute fingering chart shows alternate fingerings, and the metronome keeps long tones even.

Flute range and frequencies

The standard concert flute is pitched in C and has a range of three octaves from middle C, or from the B below it when the flute has a B foot joint. This tuner listens across that whole range.

Playing piccolo? It sounds an octave higher than written; see the transposition chart.

More for flute: Flute Fingering Chart

Questions

More tools

• Flute Fingering Chart
• Tuner
• Metronome
• Transposition Chart
• Tone Generator
• Pitch Detector