In most ensembles you try to tune every instrument to the piano. That's because most instruments can be retuned on the fly,

but the piano takes a little bit more time to retune,

so you want to use that as your standard.

In orchestras, however, everyone usually tunes to the oboe.

I think it's because the oboe is so piercing and easy to hear, but also because oboe players are always

so in tune, aren't they? Oh, And the Welcome to Strong Songs, a Podcasts, a Podcasts, about Music. I'm your host Kirk Hamilton, and as always I'm so glad that you join me to talk about music

that's tuned to the piano and music that's tuned to the oboe and sometimes music that isn't

tuned to anything at all.

It's a listener question mailbag episode this time around

and I've got a bunch of your questions to go through.

So put on some headphones,

find a comfortable place to sit, and enjoy the show. I of course don't mean to malign oboe players with my

suggestion that they are not always in tune though of course all woodwinds are

sometimes out of tune. Oboe is a tough instrument, man, I play a lot of read instruments, but I don't play double read instruments,

and I've always been impressed by the challenges posed by that ambushor, specifically the

Oboe ambushor, which really requires a lot of pressure to play especially to play with a consistent and good sound and when you play an instrument like that out of tune it really cuts through and does not sound good.

So props to all the oboe players out there and to all the double-read players listening. I respect you and I do not know how to play the instruments that you play.

So welcome back to the show. Boy, it sure is a time in the world right now and I know that

we're all feeling very separated from one another. A lot of people are under quarantine.

Probably almost everybody listening to this is in some way or another closed inside their

living space, and that can be really hard. I mean if you're living alone, especially, but even if you're

living with roommates or people that you maybe don't see that often or know that well,

...