Okuzeka
Music vocabulary · Instruments and Voice

Tune

Meaning in music, with examples

/tuːn/verbCore term

In music, tune means: To adjust an instrument so that its notes sound at the correct pitch, usually by tightening or loosening strings or moving a part of the instrument.

In Turkish: akort etmek, akort yapmak

How it is used

You tune a guitar, a violin or a drum kit; 'tune up' is the phrasal verb used before playing. Orchestras tune to an A given by the oboe, usually at or near 440 Hz. A device that helps is a 'tuner'.

Example sentences

  1. Give me two minutes to tune before we start; the new strings keep stretching.

  2. The orchestra tuned to the oboe's A and the concert began.

Common collocations

  • tune a guitar
  • tune up
  • tune down
  • tune to A 440
  • tuning peg
  • out of tuneNot at the correct pitch, either because an instrument needs tuning or because a singer or player is slightly too high or too low.
  • pitchHow high or low a sound is. Pitch depends on the frequency of the sound wave: the faster the vibration, the higher the pitch.
  • instrumentAn object made or used to produce musical sounds, such as a piano, violin, guitar, drum or ney.
  • stringsThe section of instruments played with a bow, mainly violins, violas, cellos and double basses. It also means the actual strings on an instrument such as a guitar.
  • soundcheckA short session before a show, when the band plays on stage so that the sound engineer can set the levels for the audience and the monitors.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Instruments and Voice

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