What pitch for tuning tenor and bass?

[el gaitero]

Any proven advice here?..we tune our bass drum to the chanter low A ...how about the tenor drums?

[Kelly the boy from...]

Our very minor Grade 4 band tunes the higher pitch tenors to the arpeggio, eg C, E & H-A. The largest tenor would be L-A, an octave above the Bass Drum. Music is then written to accomadate which tenor plays what to be as melocically pleasing. More than 4 tenors, I imagine, would pick out less dominant notes of the scale to play when appropriate.

[AB_Koupal]

It sort of depends on the drums you have and the notes you want to highlight from the pipe tunes. I like to have a high A, usually a 14x12" or 15x12" drum; other notes I like are F, E, and D. 16 inch drums are good for G, F, and E notes typically, 18 inch drums can reach those lower D and C notes.

[Margaret]

Tyler Fry has a good youtube video on tenor drum tuning, and which notes to tune to depending on size of corps (iirc...)

[el gaitero]

Thanks Margaret....

[pancelticpiper]

Not a drummer, just a piper with some music theory background.

Just guessing from the music theory standpoint, drums could be tuned

Bass: Tonic B-flat (piper's written Low A)

Tenor: Dominant F (piper's written E)

Tenor: Subdominant E-flat (piper's written D)

Since hundreds of pipe tunes are written in the piper's written key of D Major (sounding E-flat Major) a Tenor playing that note would do dual-duty, playing the Subdominant in "A" tunes and the Tonic in "D" tunes.

On the other hand, A-flat (the piper's written Low G) is a vital note in many tunes, functioning as the Dominant in the vast number of "A-G tunes" (tunes with the Tonic A but the Dominant G).

Just guessing that such a Tenor would be found only in larger Mid-sections.

Do Mid-sections actually do these things? Or is it something that works in theory, but hasn't been found to work in a real-world Drum Corps?

[AB_Koupal]

On the other hand, A-flat (the piper's written Low G) is a vital note in many tunes, functioning as the Dominant in the vast number of "A-G tunes" (tunes with the Tonic A but the Dominant G). Or is it something that works in theory, but hasn't been found to work in a real-world Drum Corps?

The issue with trying to hit that piper's Low G is that it is below Low A, if I understand things correctly, and therefore needs to be an even larger drum than the bass drum (28 inches in diameter and typically either 14 or 16 inches in depth) in order to be able to tune that low. A drum of that size would be extremely unwieldy to wear on a sling let alone march into the circle with and is not used (to the best of my knowledge) in pipe bands. I've seen some large ones used by some Bagads in Brittany strapped to racks but If i recall correctly they tune their instruments a little differently than we do.

I've shied away from D in the past because of how notoriously difficult it is to tune on the chanter, if I've understood the gripes I've heard from pipers over the years correctly, but I will reconsider it now reading your point about the preponderance of D Major tunes.

[pancelticpiper]

I've shied away from D in the past because of how notoriously difficult it is to tune on the chanter, if I've understood the gripes I've heard from pipers over the years correctly, but I will reconsider it now reading your point about the preponderance of D Major tunes.

Yes D (sounding Eb) is a problem note on some chanters. From my experience the problem is that D is more sensitive to blowing pressure than most of the other notes.

You'll hear a Pipe Corps sounding well in tune on a tune that doesn't have any D's, then when they switch to a tune that does have D's the Pipe Corps' tuning suddenly sounds much worse.

When you really hear bad D's is when the last tune in a band's medley ends on D. The pipers are trying to bleed excess air from the bag while at the same time giving adequate support to D.

I've heard even great Grade One bands have out-of-tune final D's.

I think bands are wise to select tunes that avoid D's, luckily there's a vast number of such tunes.

[EquusRacer]

In addition to D, I find that Fs can be problematic. If there are judges' complaints on tuning, it's often regarding D and F (and I agree with panceltic's comment on blowing. Back on topic, however:

I get the bass drum tuning. I'm a bit confused on tenors, both in regard to dominant and subdominant, as well as when there is "voicing" with different sized tenors.

[Margaret]

A C and E are pretty common depending on the size of your corps. If you are not a grade 1 band, then you can keep your voicing simple. Generally one person tunes drums in many bands, so default to your D/S? Do you have a range of tenor drum sizes? or are they all one size? Is their scoring complicated or simple:? Many factors go into tenor tuning, and you can get lost down a rabbit hole you might not need if the corps is small.

[EquusRacer]

A C and E are pretty common depending on the size of your corps. If you are not a grade 1 band, then you can keep your voicing simple. Generally one person tunes drums in many bands, so default to your D/S? Do you have a range of tenor drum sizes? or are they all one size? Is their scoring complicated or simple:? Many factors go into tenor tuning, and you can get lost down a rabbit hole you might not need if the corps is small.

Thanks, Margaret. You know our band; simple scores. We do have different sized tenors; but I don't know if there are two or three (I think just two). You're so right about not complicating things.

[Margaret]

KISS is the key. You can get pretty complicated and score way above your band's ability to play stuff well. And having stewarded for enough pipe band judges, they would prefer to hear simple played well, rather than difficult played poorly - the same goes for non-competition bands, it can be frustrating to play super hard stuff when you're not quite ready (which doesn't mean players shouldn't challenge themselves, but we've all heard "that one band" murder tunes, and wonder why their pipe major chose that route).