Tuning fork

What it means

The tuning fork is a two-pronged metal tool that gives off a fixed note after being struck. Its advantage lies in the quality of this note: it vibrates almost purely at its fundamental frequency, without appreciable overtones, and holds this pitch stable over a long time. This allows it to be used as a reference against which other notes are checked.

Musical use

Common is tuning to the note A above middle C, corresponding to the standard pitch; alongside this there are forks for other notes and for deviating pitch standards, such as are used in historically oriented practice. Compared with electronic devices, the fork has a disadvantage and an advantage: it shows nothing but only gives a note — but for this it forces one to listen. Whoever tunes by fork compares sounds and hears beats, instead of pushing a display to the middle, and thereby trains the ear.

The pitch of the fork depends on temperature, though far less than with string and wind instruments. To make the quiet note audible, the foot of the struck fork is set on a surface, on the body of the instrument, or on the skull bone, which transmits the vibration.

Bear in mind that a fork supplies only one reference note. The tuning system, that is, the relation of the other notes to one another, it does not prescribe; this is established by fifths, octaves, and beats.

The tuning fork was invented in 1711 by the English trumpeter John Shore. It produces an almost overtone-free note well suited for tuning. Today electronic tuners largely replace it.

Performance practice

Strike the fork against a knee or a soft surface, never against a hard object, and set the foot down; do not just hold it in the air. Sing the note back first, before you tune the instrument — this way you check your ear at the same time. Then tune by beats and check octaves and fifths before checking thirds. And tune only once the instrument has taken on room temperature.