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Music vocabulary · Music Theory and Harmony

Concert pitch

Meaning in music, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In music, concert pitch means: The actual sounding pitch used as a tuning reference, or notation where written notes match the sounds heard.

In Turkish: gerçek ses, referans akort perdesi

How it is used

Used in tuning, orchestral rehearsal, arranging, and notation. It often contrasts with transposed parts for instruments such as B-flat clarinet or trumpet.

Example sentences

  1. Before the recording, the principal oboe gave concert pitch so the woodwinds and strings could tune to the same A.

    Here, concert pitch is the shared sounding reference note that allows different players to align their tuning before performance.

  2. The arranger kept the score in concert pitch during editing, then prepared transposed trumpet and clarinet parts for rehearsal.

    In this sentence, concert pitch means notation at sounding pitch, used as the neutral master version before transposed parts are made.

Common collocations

  • at concert pitch
  • give concert pitch
  • written in concert pitch
  • pitchHow high or low a sound is. Pitch depends on the frequency of the sound wave: the faster the vibration, the higher the pitch.
  • keyThe group of notes and chords that a piece is mainly built on, centred on one home note. A song in the key of G major keeps returning to G as its point of rest.

More terms: Music Theory and Harmony

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