Band Tuning A4 = 440 Hz · band instrument reference

Reference

What key is it in, what does it sound, what does it tune to

By Band Tuning editorial · Facts checked 15 September 2026

One specification sheet for each band instrument, with the answer in the first screen: the key it is pitched in, what a written note sounds as, the concert note it tunes to in a band and the frequency of that note, every figure from a published maker or university source. Plus a tuner that runs in the browser.

The pitch standard on every page

twelve-tone equal temperament

A4
440.00 Hz
Concert B♭4, the band tuning note
466.16 Hz
Concert F4, the low-brass tuning note
349.23 Hz
Formula
f = 440 × 2^(n/12), where n is the number of semitones above A4 (negative below)

The instruments

InstrumentFamilyPitched inSoundsTunes toHz
Trumpet brass B♭ a major second lower concert B♭ (B♭5) 932.33
Trombone brass B♭ at pitch concert B♭ (B♭4) 466.16
Clarinet woodwind B♭ a major second lower concert B♭ (B♭6) 1864.66
Saxophone woodwind E♭ (alto), B♭ (tenor) a major sixth lower concert B♭ (B♭4) 466.16
Flute woodwind C at pitch concert B♭ (B♭6) 1864.66
Oboe woodwind C at pitch concert A (A6) 1760.00
Bassoon woodwind C at pitch concert A (A4) 440.00
French horn brass F (double horn F/B♭) a perfect fifth lower concert B♭ (B♭4) 466.16
Tuba brass BB♭ (also CC, E♭, F) at pitch concert B♭ (B♭3) 233.08
Euphonium brass B♭ at pitch concert B♭ (B♭4) 466.16

"Tunes to" shows the first tuning note of the source's band routine at its highest octave inside the instrument's sounding range; the sheets list every octave and the second note where there is one.

The tuner

The browser tuner reads your pitch from the microphone against A4 = 440 Hz, names the nearest note and the cents off, and shows the written note for the instrument you picked. It also plays each instrument's tuning notes as reference tones, which needs no microphone at all. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account: the page does the arithmetic itself, with a pitch detector written for this site.

How a sheet is built

A statement gets onto a sheet when a published source states it: a maker's printed catalogue for bore, bell and key; a university theory textbook and a college instrument collection for transposition and range; a university band-methods handout for the tuning routine; a physics department's page for the pitch standard. Each sheet cites its sources by number and dates when they were read. The frequencies are the one thing not copied from anywhere: they are computed from the standard by the formula above, so the same note has the same figure on every page and in the tuner.

Where a source does not state something, the sheet says "not stated" rather than filling the gap. Two instruments the archive writes about, the recorder and the marching percussion, have no sheet yet for that reason. The rule, the sources and how to report an error are on the sourcing page.

From the archive

The site began as a blog about band instruments. Those 89 posts, on buying, selling, renting, choosing and caring for instruments, are kept at their original addresses and as written; each links to the sheet for its instrument, and the sheets link back. The newest six:

Sources and last verified

  1. Equal Temperament, and The A 440 Pitch Standard (HyperPhysics), Georgia State University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, read 15 September 2026.
  2. Intonation Tendencies of Band Instruments, MUS 461 (W. Brainard, 2011), PDF, Grand Valley State University, faculty pages, read 15 September 2026.
  3. Frequencies are computed on this site from A4 = 440 Hz in twelve-tone equal temperament, f = 440 × 2^(n/12) with n the number of semitones from A4, and rounded to two decimals. They are not copied from any source.
  4. Method, corrections and what we do not publish: how tunings are sourced. Page checked 15 September 2026.