Just got a new Peterson "StroboClip HD" tuner to play with.  It has many preset tunings, but 1st I'm just interested in finding out how out of tune my actual basic fiddle tuning has been.  

...oh, yeah - it's out. 🙄

I was truely grateful that Mark had suggested I try the "Intonia" app software, a couple months ago.  When I checked it out, I felt it would be too hard to read while I was playing.

Now, I've found "6 Tips to Significantly Improve Your Intonation" from the Violin Lab Channel on YouTube.  These are GREAT tips, but at 13:10, Beth Blackerby compares a Bb to a slightly sharp Bb, with the "Intonia" software - drove me nuts! 🤪 ...maybe you all have better hearing than I do. (lol)

Definitely worth watching - different, she talks about using TE tuner app for drones, too.  GregW has recommended drones from somewhere, but shoot - I forgit.

...can't tell you all how happy I am my new little "StroboClip" tuner actually shows battery usage!  Now, if it just transforms my intonation... well, amazing things could happen. 😏

- Emily

I had a rude awakening last night. 😳 

Anyone who's heard me play knows I don't have perfect pitch - far from it, but I think I get close enough to tell what a note is. 

That said, I do play a lot by ear - and trust that what I hear is close... but last night, I had my doubts. 

It's not new for me to try playing music written for, or played by other instruments, so I played along with a trumpet from a video score last night - and got thrown for a loop.  I was getting along pretty well, just playing by ear, but there were some complicated riffs that were hard to discern, even at the lowest speed. 

I thought I looked closely at the score in the video, but when I played the riff - it didn't sound like the video audio.  ...was my Edgar out of tune?  No.  Was my intonation THAT bad? 🤔 ...debatable. (lol) 

Seriously, it had me worried!

Turns out the play-along score in the video was in a different key - than the audio! 

So, I inquired - here's the answer I received: 

The recording and transcription are both in F concert, however in this transcription the trumpets/horn aren't transposed. 

"Did you know that not all instruments sound like a C on the piano when you play a C on the instrument??" Concert Pitch Transposition

So, back to my OP for this thread, C is a C is not a C!

I suppose this is the same as someone in Baroque tuning, or a down-tuned Cajun fiddle following standard notation for fingering, but my brain keeps shouting at me - this is all LUDICROUS! 

...reading the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy version I want to play - guess it's not much worse than learning Alto Clef - PITA. (lol) 

I know there's a few members here, that play some of these instruments and are WAY ahead of me on this, but I don't know how your ears/brain handle it - respect!

- Emily

@ABitRusty -

You'd think, right? 

I was never in Band - my Daughter played flute, but that's already a Concert pitch instrument.

There's a cheat sheet for the instruments that aren't Concert Pitch C, but this is wild. 

...and there's more than Bb instruments mentioned at Bandnotes.com (my linked source).  Here's an excerpt: 

Clarinets, bass clarinets, trumpets, tenor saxes and baritones playing treble clef are Bb instruments: when they play a C it sounds like a Bb on the piano. So, if they want to play a concert Bb scale, they start on a C (they have to think up a whole step). Concert C is their D, Concert Ab is their Bb. 

By the time you are an eighth grader, you should know your scales (right off, no hesitation and without looking up key signatures or asking what note you start on or anything!) for the following concert pitches :

• Concert C
• Concert F
• Concert Bb
• Concert Eb
• Concert Ab
• Concert G 

And... you should be able to find your scale for any other concert pitch that a conductor may request.

I don't know how they learn the notes others are playing, but hear a different pitch, other than my examples of Baroque tuning or down-tuned/alternative tunings for the fiddle.

...idk, my brain is fried.  I'm going to hear a pitch, maybe even a micro-tone, somewhere within an octave - as it relates to piano... might not even be the right octave, because I only care about what I can comfortably play. 🙄 

BUT, it appears I'll just have to do a little 'transposition' on the fly if I want to learn this particular piece of music I like. 

What's really bad, I bought a trumpet to give to one of the Grandkids, later this year - now I have absolutely NO idea how to teach anything about pitch with it!

@ABitRusty -

IT'S AN EAR WORM! 

He was a famous fiddle man from out Chicago way
He had a funky style that no one else could play
He was the top man at his craft
But then his number came up and he was gone with the draft
He's in the army now, a-fiddlin' reveille
He's the boogie woogie fiddle boy of Company B

They made him play the fiddle for his Uncle Sam
It really brought him down because he could not jam
The captain seemed to understand
Because the next day the cap'n went out and drafted a band
And now the company jumps when he plays reveille
He's the boogie woogie fiddle boy of Company B 

...it's NOT going to go away - I've already started! 

@ABitRusty -

Thanx!

I watched too much Star Trek while growing up... the wrath of Khan. 🤭 

...if anyone else gets infected by this ear worm, check out: 

Boogie Woogie on Violin, Viola & Cello Thread