A scordatura (literally Italian for "mistuning") is an alternate tuning used for the open strings of a string instrument. It is an extended technique used to allow the playing of otherwise impossible melodies, harmonies, figures, chords, or other note combinations. In music, tuning is the process of producing or preparing to produce a certain pitch in relation to another, usually at the unison but often at some other interval. ... The strings of a harp A string is the vibrating element which is the source of vibration in string instruments, such as the guitar, harp, piano, and members of the violin family. ... A string instrument (or stringed instrument) is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. ... Extended technique is a term used in music to describe unconventional, unorthodox or improper techniques of singing, or of playing musical instruments. ... In music, a figure is a recurring fragment or succession of notes that may be used to construct the accompaniment. ...

Scordatura in classical music

• H.I.F. Biber's "Rosary Sonatas" for violin and continuo. Aside from the first (Annunciation) and last works (Passacaglia, for solo violin) of this collection, where in the instrument is set to the common G-D-a-e tuning, the violin for each sonata is tuned to a different array of pitches. Sonata XI (the Resurrection) is a special case: in addition to a unique scordatura, the two inner strings of the violin are inverted between the bridge and neck of the instrument, thus attaining a tuning (from top string to bottom string) of G-g-D-d. (See the article on Biber for a photograph of a violin adjusted in this manner.)
• Mozart, viola in Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra. Changing the pitch of the open strings to a semitone higher was in this case probably primarily intended to make the viola sound louder, and so better discernable in the symphonic orchestra: indeed, increasing the tension in a string, not only sharpens the pitch, but also makes it sound louder, the loudest sound being obtained just before breaking.
• Mahler, scordatura violin soloist in the 2nd movement of his 4th Symphony. In this case the composer probably intended primarily the specific (tone)"color" of the sound produced by a scordatura violin, which is less suave than the sound of a standard tuning.
• Saint-Saëns, solo violin in Danse Macabre, where the E-string is tuned to Eb.
• Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird is a rare, perhaps unique, piece which calls for the entire violin section to retune a string, in order to play some natural harmonics.
• Bach's fifth cello suite requires the soloist to tune down the highest string from an A to a G.
• the cello in George Crumb's chamber work Vox Balaenae (scored for electric flute, electric cello, and electric piano). The traditional C-G-D-A tuning is changed to B-F#-D#-A, which serves to emphasize the key of B major that emerges in the final movement.
• Zoltán Kodály's solo cello sonata in B minor requires the cellist to tune down the two lower strings from G and C to F# and B, to emphasize the key with reoccurring B-minor chords.
• Ligeti's Violin Concerto
• Schnittke's Monologue for viola and strings
• Schumann's Piano Quartet in E-flat, Op.47, requires the cellist to retune the C string down to B-flat for the finale.
• In some double bass solo music, a specific solo tuning (F#-B-E-A) that requires a different set of strings is used. This is to allow the bass to be heard better over the piano or orchestra. With better instrumental technology and string manufacturing, orchestrally tuned (E-A-D-G) bass editions are becoming more common.

Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (August 12, 1644 – May 3, 1704) was a Bohemian-Austrian composer and violinist. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Figured bass, or thoroughbass, is a kind of integer musical notation used to indicate intervals, chords, and nonchord tones, in relation to a bass note. ... In music a passacaglia (French: passacaille, Spanish: pasacalle) is a musical form and the corresponding court dance. ... Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (August 12, 1644 – May 3, 1704) was a Bohemian-Austrian composer and violinist. ... Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (baptized as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart; January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791) was a prolific and highly influential composer of Classical music. ... The viola (in French, alto; in German Bratsche) is a string instrument played with a bow which serves as the middle voice of the violin family, between the upper lines played by the violin and the lower lines played by the cello and double bass. ... In the 1770s Mozart had been experimenting with the Sinfonia concertante genre, leading in 1779 to the Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra K. 364, which can be considered his most successful realisation in this cross-over genre between Symphony and Concerto. ... Gustav Mahler in 1909 Gustav Mahler (July 7, 1860 – May 18, 1911) was a Bohemian-Austrian composer and conductor. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The Symphony No. ... Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (IPA: ) (9 October 1835–16 December 1921) was a French composer and performer, best known for his orchestral work The Carnival of the Animals. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Danse Macabre (first performed in 1874) is the name of opus 40 by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. ... Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Russian: И́горь Фёдорович Страви́нский Igor Fjodorovič Stravinskij) (June 17, 1882 – April 6, 1971) was a Russian-born composer of modern classical music. ... LOiseau de feu (English: The Firebird; Russian: Жар-птица) is a 1910 ballet by Igor Stravinsky based on the Russian folk tales of the magical glowing bird (see Firebird) that is both a blessing and a curse to its captor. ... In acoustics and telecommunication, the harmonic of a wave is a component frequency of the signal that is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency. ... Bach redirects here. ... The first page from the manuscript by Anna Magdalena Bach of Suite No. ... George Crumb (born October 24, 1929) is an American composer of modern and avant garde music. ... Zoltán Kodály Zoltán Kodály (IPA: /ˈzoltaːn ˈkodaːj/) (December 16, 1882 – March 6, 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, educator, linguist and philosopher. ... György Sándor Ligeti (May 28, 1923 – June 12, 2006) was a Jewish Hungarian composer born in Romania who later became an Austrian citizen. ... Alfred Garyevich Schnittke (Russian: Альфре́д Га́рриевич Шни́тке, November 24, 1934 – August 3, 1998) was a Russian-German Jewish composer. ... Robert Schumann (June 8, 1810 – July 29, 1856) was a German composer and pianist. ... Side and front views of a modern double bass with a French bow. ... A grand piano, with the lid up. ... A philharmonic orchestra An orchestra is a musical ensemble used most often in classical music. ...

Scordatura in folk music

Scordatura is commonly used on the fiddle in folk music of Appalachia and the southern United States. The fiddle may be re-tuned in any number of ways in these musical idioms, but there are two common re-tunings. While the standard tuning for open strings of the violin is GDAE—with the G being the tuning of the lowest-pitched string and the E being the tuning for the highest-pitched string—fiddlers playing tunes in the key of D major sometimes employ a tuning of ADAE. In this tuning the open G string is raised to the A directly above it. Even more frequently used is a scordatura tuning of AEAE for music played in the key of A major. Among fiddlers this is referred to as "cross-tuning." In both of these scordatura tunings, scordatura facilitates a drone on an open string next to the string on which the melody is being played. Relatively well-known American folk tunes that are often played in cross-tuning include "Breaking Up Christmas," "Cluck Old Hen," "Hangman's Reel," "Horse and Buggy," and "Ways of the World." The fiddle is a violin played as a folk instrument. ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and for the common people. ... Areas included within the Appalachian Regional Commissions charter; other definitions of Appalachia often cover a much more restricted area. ... Southern United States The states shown in dark red are usually included in the South, while all or portions of the striped states may or may not be considered part of the Southern United States. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Drone can refer to many things: // In music A drone is a continuous note or chord. ...

GDAE is known in some North American Old-Timey fiddling circles as "that Eye-Talian tuning," the implication being that it is only one of many possibilities. Other tunings include:
Old-time music is a form of North American folk music, with roots in the folk music of many countries, most notably: England, Scotland, Ireland, and Africa. ...

• FCGD = Cajun Tuning (one whole step down from GDAE)
  
• GDGB = Open G Tuning
  
• GDGD = Sawmill Tuning
  
• GDAD = "Gee-Dad"
  
• DDAD = Dead Man's Tuning, or Open D Tuning, or Bonaparte's Retreat Tuning, or "Dee-Dad"
  
• ADAE = Old-Timey D Tuning
  
• AEAE = High Bass, High Counter (or High Bass, High Tenor) similar to Sawmill Tuning
  
• AEAC# = Black Mountain Rag Tuning, Calico Tuning, or Open A Tuning
  
• AEAD for Old Sledge, Silver Lake
  
• EDAE for Glory in the Meeting House
  
• EEAE for Get up in the Cool
  

See also

Slack tuning In guitar playing, an altered or slack tuning is one in which the intervals between the strings are unchanged, but all the strings are lowered in pitch by a given interval. ...

External link

• Violadamore.com: About Scordatura and the Viola d'amore