
Welcome to the Tuning Tutor!

Please read the following instructions if this is your first time using the program.

1. To begin working, select an exercise category from the tabs above (SINGLE NOTES, INTERVALS, or CHORDS).  Once you've selected a tab, the selection choices will appear in this box.

2. Check the boxes for the particular features you wish to drill (e.g. P5, A-440, Mm7, etc.).  SELECTING MULTIPLE OPTIONS within a subcategory will result in the Tuning Tutor testing those options at random each time you begin an exercise. If no options are checked from within a category, the Tuning Tutor will randomly choose one from all of them. Use the SELECT ALL and DESELECT ALL buttons for quick navigation through the options.  If you are unsure of the meaning of a certain option, hold your cursor over it for a few seconds, and a help box will appear. If you desire a particular pitch for the bottom note of the interval or the root of the chord, you may choose it from the BOTTOM NOTE or CHORD ROOT drop-down menus. 

3. Select the TASK and DIFFICULTY LEVEL from the EXERCISE OPTIONS that appear in the lower right-hand corner of the window.  Check the box labeled COMPARE WITH CORRECTLY TUNED VERSION to include a correctly tuned version of the tested sonority on the staff.  This correct version will be displayed with white noteheads.  To select a particular TUNING SYSTEM in which to work, use the drop-down menu on the far right-hand side.

4. To begin work, click NEW EXERCISE from the buttons under the grand staff on the left of the window.  For each exercise, select new options in the right-hand side of the box, or simply click NEW EXERCISE to continue working with the currently selected options.

If you wish to restart the exercise, click START OVER. This will ignore any options you may have changed.

Click CHECK ANSWER to have the Tuning Tutor rate your performance.

Click REVEAL ERRORS to show the errors on the score. If your task is marking notes, the Tutor will mark the notes correctly. If your task is tuning the notes, the Tutor will make the correctly tuned notes green and the incorrect notes red (the darker the red, the more out-of-tune the note is).

Click SHOW ANSWERS ON TUNING DIAGRAM to display the position of the correct tuning (green) and that of the sounding pitch (red) on the tuning diagram below. Click again to undo the display. The tuning diagram shows the tuning of all pitches relative to A-440 equal temperament. The diagram displays the pitch the mouse cursor is over, which may not be the selected pitch in tuning mode.

5. When working on each exercise, hold the mouse pointer above a note/chord to listen to it. Move the mouse pointer away from the score to stop sounding the chord.  WHITE NOTEHEADS are always in tune and should be used as a reference point.  Any number of BLACK NOTEHEADS (including zero) may be out of tune.  

To IDENTIFY FLAT OR SHARP PITCHES, first listen to each note, then click on it according to the following instructions to mark it:
- CLICK ONCE on a flat note that needs to be raised (the notehead will change to a triangle pointing up)
- CLICK TWICE on a sharp note that needs to be lowered (the notehead will change to a triangle pointing down)
- CLICK AGAIN on a notehead to unmark it

To CORRECT THE TUNING, click on the note you wish to tune, and use either the UP and DOWN ARROW KEYS on the keyboard or the MOUSE SCROLL WHEEL to raise or lower the note to the desired tuning.

For both of the above tasks, click the buttons underneath the staff to check the accuracy of your answer or begin a new exercise (see #4).

To COMPARE TUNING SYSTEMS, use the drop-down menus in the lower right-hand corner of the window to select the tuning systems you would like to compare.  Click NEW EXERCISE.  Two versions of the same sonority will now appear on the staff, one in each of the selected tuning systems.  Because each sonority is already perfectly-tuned within its system, you do not need to make any adjustments.  However, all the noteheads will appear in black, giving you the option of adjusting the tuning if you like.

6. If you are experiencing poor sound quality or delayed response, click ADVANCED SOUND OPTIONS... to customize the sound settings.

7. To return to this page at any time, click Help Me!

Notes on tuning system:

 * Equal: All semitones are equal, however there are no pure fifths (3:2 ratio).
 * Perfect: Bass note is tuned according to equal temperament. All intervals above it are tuned according to the following ratios:
m2: 16/15, M2: 9/8, m3: 6/5, M3: 5/4, P4: 4/3, Tritone: Square Root of 2. Compound intervals are the ratio multiplied by 2. Inverted intervals (M7, m7, M6, m6, P5) are the inverse of the ratio multiplied by 2.
 * Vallotti: non-equal tuning with A = 440 Hz. All fifths are pure except: Bb-F-C-G-D-A-E-B, which are equal to one another.
 * Werkmeister III: non-equal tuning with A = 440 Hz. All fifths are pure except: E-B, F-C-G-D-A, which are equal to one another. 
 * Meantone: non-equal tuning with A = 440 Hz. All fifths except D-A are equal to a pure fifth minus one quarter of a syntonic comma (81:80 ratio). This causes most major thirds to be pure (5:4 ratio).

Many thanks to Christopher Raphael for his helpful input and advice on making this program, as well as his skillful bass oboe playing, Christian Texier (http://pagespro-orange.fr/christian.texier/mididesi/) for permission to use his "Sonora" font for music notation, Maria Rodriguez (http://www.softpedia.com/developer/Maria-Rodriguez-38457.html) for her free Parrotdise icon, and also John Poole and his students, as well as Lana Bode, for their help in making this program.

Copyright (C) 2009 Gabi Teodoru & Christopher Raphael