Improving Intonation and New Tools

Listen

Musicians must develop is the ability to play in tune.  Although I practiced diligently, this was the main weakness in my own musicianship.  Eventually, I developed to where faulty intonation is not a problem most of the time but it has taken decades of inquiry, study, time, and practice.  The good news is that I have learned much about the topic.  I believe that the best prescription for a superior sense of pitch is childhood listening and singing as Shinichi Suzuki advocated throughout his career.  But of course if you are reading this and the time machine has not been invented, then you might be looking for another solution.  My first recommendation is to listen to a lot of classical music. Listening is how we absorb the intervals associated with western tonality.

Sing

Naturally, musicians must do more than listen in order to play in tune.  We practice fundamental techniques, repetitive exercises, to better control our instrument, and we want to practice smartly.  When throwing a ball one does not consciously calculate the angles and force required then willfully manipulate all muscles involved; one simply looks at the target and allows the body do those calculations.  The same is true for musicians.  The target is the sound in one’s head, and if that is strong and you have enough mastery over your instrument, then you will hit the target.

So how do we establish that target, the “sound in one’s head?”  When you sing or whistle a correct pitch or melody, you have proven your ability to hear and reproduce music in tune.  The ear (the mind, really) has led the charge and the body followed.  This occurs naturally for many of us.  If however, you can not sing a tune without modulating, then choose an easier tune.  Start where you are, even if it’s just a scale or Mary had a Little Lamb.  Record yourself.  Everyone has weaknesses and this one, if it is yours, must be addressed for your playing to be accepted.

To some degree, most of us can sing or whistle a simple melody in tune.  A problem sometimes occurs when you add the instrument into the equation, so we must strive to make the instrument an extension of ourselves like the voice. We practice for control, as mentioned earlier, but we also need a clear musical idea before we make a sound, just as one conceives words before speaking.  One should “hear” pitches, style, articulation, and timbre in his or her mind before playing them.  This is called audiation.  It is your sound concept, the target you are intentionally aiming for instead of just “letting fingers do the walking.”  Many do just that and get by, but better musicians are not guessing when moving from one note to the next.  Try singing a difficult, angular passage three times before playing it (use a keyboard for assistance if necessary).  Your whole concept will be stronger and intonation will improve along with phrasing and feeling.  Sing in tune, play in tune.  This Interval Chart by Jamey Aebersold may help you hear (audiate) intervals before playing them.

Buzz

Brass players are fortunate to have the tool of buzzing or resonating the mouthpiece at their disposal.  Buzzing can be treated like singing; it follows the ear, creating the tone that was first produced in the mind. Buzz in tune, play in tune.  The embouchure-mouthpiece combination is to the brass player as vocal cords are to the singer.

Buzzing accurate pitches will produce better tone quality on the instrument than buzzing “close” and relying on the instrument slotting as a crutch.  It’s a piece of the puzzle: articulate, buzz the desired frequency with your instrument the proper length, support with air, and these facets align to a centered, rounded tone quality.  To this end, one of my former teachers uses a sing, buzz, play method for improving intonation.  Singing establishes the target, buzzing reinforces it and aims the embouchure, and playing then matches the sound concept.

If you cannot buzz your entire playing range (or nearly so) then you might have strength and embouchure issues to clear up over time with a teacher.  It could be that you need to build strength by practicing more, and/or that you need to develop your embouchure in a different way.  Here is a very brief, simple embouchure lesson: say “M.”  With the lips in the resulting position, place your mouthpiece and blow a centered hole in that lip formation without puffing the cheeks.  This is actually easier on an instrument than as a free buzz or on the mouthpiece alone because you don’t have to try so hard to keep the “M” together; that happens automatically on the instrument.  Still, great players can play and buzz music.  Consult an instructor if you can not.

Tuner Ups and Downs

I also recommend the limited use of a tuner.  When it comes to actual tuners I prefer those that use a needle as opposed to the digital kind, which seem slower to respond.  Tuner apps however, respond quickly and sensitively.

Tuners can be useful for learning several things: approximately where tuning slides should go, where the trombonist’s hand slide should go, what the embouchure feels like when playing various notes in tune, placement of specific notes, whether or not the notes are steady, and whether or not notes remain steady through dynamic changes.

A major drawback to using a tuner is the tendency to adjust pitch because of what we see rather than what we hear. To counter this problem close your eyes, play a note where you think it is centered with a natural, relaxed embouchure, sustain, and open your eyes.  The tuner will reveal your accuracy.  If an adjustment is needed, make it with your tuning slide(s) rather than the embouchure.  Repeat this process of finding pitch centers by ear, checking the tuner, and adjusting slides rather than the embouchure.  If you are a trombonist, you can use this method to check and adjust your hand slide positions.

You want to be able to play your instrument in tune as it would read on a tuner for a solid base line.  However, tuners do not tell the whole story.

Much More to It

Once you can sing and buzz in tune, once your embouchure is reliable and consistent, and once you can sound your instrument in tune according to a tuner, then you are off to a good start but have only scratched the surface of the real challenge of intonation.  That challenge lies in several areas: tendencies of your individual instrument, the overtone series, tendencies of your colleagues, melodic intonation, and harmonic intonation.

During performance, trumpet players move third and first valve slides, hornists adjust pitch with their right hand, tubists adjust a tuning slide with their left, and trombonists adjust slide positions.  This is partly due to the fact that instruments have tendencies.  They play out of tune in a certain direction for certain valve combinations or partials. Wind instruments play sharper when hot, flatter when cold, and are affected by our breath.

The nature of the overtone series or harmonic series is another reason that musicians must adjust their instrument and embouchure during performance.  The overtone series requires adjustments for playing with good melodic intonation and pure beatless intervals during harmonic passages.  So if you have “solved” your particular instrument and play scales and solos with the tuner needle in the center then it’s still not quite right.  For example, in unaccompanied music you must account for the demands of melodic intonation by raising the leading tones (major sevenths) as they head up towards Do.  Here is a melodic intonation chart from an early edition of Thomas Kociela’s Intonation Repair Tool (2003):

Interval Adjustment from Equal Temperament
Unison and P8 None
m2 +4 cents
M2 +4 cents
m3 -6 cents
M3 +8 cents
P4 -2 cents
TT none offered
P5 +2 cents
m6 -8 cents
M6 +6 cents
m7 -4 cents
M7 +10 cents

When playing with other musicians, you must react to your colleagues’ tendencies and the demands of harmonic intonation by lowering the major thirds, for example.  Here is a harmonic interval chart from the same source, and it is in agreement with a similar chart from A Study of Musical Intonation by Christopher Leuba (Prospect Publications, Third Printing, rev. 1977):

Interval Adjustment of Upper Note to Create Beatless Intervals
Unison and P8 None
m2 +12 cents
M2 +4 cents
m3 +16 cents
M3 -14 cents
P4 -2 cents
TT -15 cents
P5 +2 cents
m6 +14 cents
M6 -16 cents
m7 -29 cents
M7 -12 cents

Here is yet another chart with slightly different calculations from Stephen Colley’s TuneUp: CD-Based Intonation Training System (1994):

Interval Adjustment of Upper Note to Create Beatless Intervals
Unison and P8 None
m2 *
M2 +4 cents
m3 +16 cents
M3 -14 cents
P4 -4 cents
TT **
P5 +2 cents
m6 +14 cents
M6 -16 cents
m7 -29 cents
M7 -14 cents

*It was somewhat impractical to calculate the adjustment required to play a pure minor second, however “it’s really cool when it’s in tune and beatless!  Put the CD on the tonic side, [match the pitch,] and lower your slide very slowly. You will hear the interaction of the beats. The texture is very coarse, but it is there. (It’s a little wider interval than you expect.)” – Stephen Colley, July, 2002

**”The tritone . . . belongs to the V7 [chord] if you use it in Pure Harmony. The interval occurs between the M3 and the m7. By playing the V7 chord in tune, you have dealt with it.” – Stephen Colley, July, 2002

Charts only go so far to helping us in real world situations.  Here are three products that each come with a brief text and a play-a-long CD for improving intonation:

Intonation Repair Tool

The TuneUp Intonation Training Systems

The Intonation Tutor

Final Note

Intonation is a skill that can always be refined, even by those who seemingly have never had difficulty with it.  True masters of intonation seem to intentionally color certain notes by manipulating pitch.  It is all a part of total musicianship.  Itzhak Perlman said in his 70s that his hearing is improving with age, so surely we can all continue to grow.

Internet Articles and Interactive Websites

Product Websites (books with play-along CDs)

Texts

Author Title Publisher
Barbour, James Murray Tuning and Temperament:
A Historical Survey		 Da Capo Press
Leuba, Christopher A Study In Musical Intonation Prospect Publications

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This was the December 2003 Article of the Month for the now-defunct Bowtie Brass website.

Written 12/1/2003, revised 8/24/2006, links added 7/9/2008, revised 8/23/2012 and 12/26/2016