Author: cjwright
Date: 2008-11-14 06:01
The reason why you shouldn't be the first person to jump in is obvious.
First of all, when a good group tunes, they hear the A, and let it settle in their mental ear. When there's a second oboe sound that jumps into the A right before everyone else tunes, it disrupts the mental snapshot of the A.
The second reason is that rarely does the 2nd oboe perfectly match the first oboe, and therefore it just takes the orchestra that much longer to tune. Whether it's the attack (which usually starts a hair sharper), or an extra second which exponentially multiplies as the rest of the orchestra tunes, it's simply is more efficient and polite to the rest of the orchestra for the 2nd oboe to wait until others have jumped in.
It's not a matter of snobbery, it's a matter of respect to the rest of the orchestra as well as the first oboe. And when you are responsible for laying down that A, and people do little things which drag a simple tuning note out of what should be 4 or 5 seconds long into 10 or even 15 seconds long, you get annoyed.
Having that said, I think it's worth people taking note;
The next time you go to hear a professional orchestra, take note as to:
1. How long the oboist plays the A before everyone else joins in.
2. How long the oboist keeps on playing the A until he stops and the strings finish doing their thing.
3. How long the whole tuning process takes.
Rarely do I hear 1. less than 2 seconds 2. more than 8 to 10 seconds 3. more than 15 to 18 seconds.
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