INTONATION: The control of overall pitch level and individual pitches in relation to other relevant pitches.

Good Intonation is: Properly controlling the pitch level of every note played, relative to the pitch level of any note(s) played immediately before, and any note(s) played simultaneously.

Group Tuning Before Making Music The purpose of having everyone in the ensemble tune their instrument to the same reference pitch is to get roughly close to the same overall pitch level, so that fine tuning each note as you play will be easier to accomplish! This is merely a starting point for real tuning.

When tuning your instrument in a group setting you should: 1) Remember that the temperature and humidity of the instrument, and the playing environment, as well as embouchure formation and conditioning, significantly affect overall pitch level. Therefore, you should always warm-up before tuning your instrument to a reference pitch. 2) When the reference pitch is sounded, do not begin playing immediately. Listen to the sound long enough to hear it in your mind.

3) When tuning your instrument, DO NOT adjust the pitch by changing your embouchure, hand/finger position, etc. These are means of fine tuning individual notes. The purpose of group tuning is to get the overall pitch level as close as possible to the others with whom you will be playing. 4) Make all adjustment to your instruments’ overall pitch level by changing the length of the sounding chamber, or the tension of the vibrating object. (Remember the principle Longer = Lower & Shorter = Higher) Also, be aware of how much instrument length change is required to significantly affect pitch.

5) Ideally, group tuning should be done on a pitch that is a known to be a good note for every instrument. However, there is no single pitch that is a good choice for every instrument. Therefore, a group should tune to several different pitches, focusing on the instruments for which each pitch is a good note, when that note is sounded. (A good note would be one that is easily played with a good clear tone, and is close to the center of the overall pitch level of the instrument being tuned.)

6) Be certain you are using a correctly formed embouchure, when checking the tuning of your instrument. Avoid playing notes at the extremes of your pitch range, unless you have fine control over those notes. 7) Be certain to maintain a steady volume and flow of air when tuning your instrument.

8) Take care not to move your jaw, tongue, fingers/hand, or anything else that can affect the pitch, or volume of your instrument, while you are tuning your instrument to the reference pitch. 9) Once your instrument is tuned as closely as possible to the overall pitch level of the group, THEN you can work on adjusting (fine tuning) the pitch level of every note you play.

Fine Tuning Note: If you as a player can not independently adjust each of the tone controlling variables, you will not have control of your level of pitch. (See presentation on TONE for an explanation of tone controlling variables.) Fine tuning is accomplished by making small adjustments to your embouchure, finger position, hand position, jaw position, air flow etc.

The Two Planes of Pitch Fine Tuning Horizontal – Melodic Vertical – Harmonic As a member of an ensemble you must be aware at all time of the nature of your part. You must know if it is melodic or harmonic, and tune accordingly.

Horizontal or Melodic Tuning When you are playing a melodic musical idea you must hear it in your mind and be certain that each interval of pitch change is correct. When a stream of pitches moves up and down, each move should be an exact distance (Interval)

Vertical or Harmonic Tuning When you are playing a note that is a part of a chord or other multi-pitch sonority, you must fine tune your pitch level for each note played based on its’ relative highness or lowness as compared to the other pitches in the sonority at that instant. Harmonic tuning is best accomplished by correctly spacing the various pitch intervals in a multi-pitch sonority using (just intonation)

JUST INTONATION Just intonation is based on the Harmonic Series as defined by Pythagoras. His theory of sound states that there is a natural mathematical ratio for every interval. These intervals are not exactly the same as equal temperament tuning gives us. Therefore, pitches must be adjusted in order to make the interval sound correct. It is the distance between the various pitches that matters, not the exact highness, or lowness as indicated by a chromatic (equal tempered) tuner.

Pythagorean Illustration of Harmonics

The Harmonic (Overtone) series with indications of the natural deviation in cents from equal temperament tuning.

The sum of an interval and its’ inversion is 9, except for an octave

Pitch Interval Adjustment Table (Changing Equal Temperament to Just Intonation) Pitch IntervalInterval Distance Adjustment in Cents (1 cent =1/1200 of a 8va) + 50cents is up a ½ step - 50 cents is down a ½ step Perfect 5 th + 2 cents Perfect 4 th - 2 cents Major 3 rd -14 cents minor 6 th +14 cents minor 3 rd +16 cents Major 6 th -16 cents Major 2 nd + 4 cents minor 7 th - 4 cents minor 2 nd +12 cents Major 7 th +12 cents Augmented 4 th -10 cents diminished 5 th +10 cents Perfect OctaveNo adjustment

Ideas to remember: Most tuning problems in a group are actually misplayed/wrong pitches. Good Intonation is about interval distances, not an exact frequency of vibrations/second. Therefore, if two people are playing an interval, and both adjust their pitch in order to make the intervallic distance correct. It does not require the player with the upper pitch to adjust as much. (In other words they should compromise on pitch level to make the interval sound correct.) Tuning with equal tempered instruments, such as keyboard instruments, and keyboard percussion, can be difficult at times.

NOW… TUNE IT OR DIE!!!