Obviously, players strive to play with good intonation (we hope), and teachers bear responsibility for informing students of instrumental pitch tendencies and providing strategies for adjustment. All strategies are predicated on performers’ abilities to hear and produce the correct pitch in tune and in context. Many of us have had the experience of playing next to someone who believed that their “instrument was tuned at the factory.” While usually a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement that we need to constantly remain aware of pitch, players who do not audiate well will struggle to adjust to large pitch discrepancies–never mind more subtle variations. Students need to learn mechanical and physical strategies to adjust their instruments, but these are of little use without a good understanding of the musical sounds they hear. When both aspects are working, it remains up to a player to choose a viable option for any given situation.
Mechanical
As seen in other sections, instrument manufacturers try to address the shortcomings of instruments in various ways. Obviously, a player should utilize her main tuning slide to get as closely in tune as possible to a given tuning note. But as soon as that pitch changes, all bets are off in terms of pitch center. Potential mechanical adjustments depend on the instrument, but include:
- Moving slides. A trombonist can make constant micro-adjustments to slide position to tune, but other instruments can also utilize this technique. Trumpets in particular are built with third, and sometimes first, valve slides that can move to compensate for sharpness.
- Fourth valve. A fourth valve increases the useable range of an instrument, but its use in tuning can be invaluable. Typically, it is slightly longer than the 1-3 valve combination (i.e. better in tune), and therefore substitutes for those pitches. Similarly, the 2-4 combination provides a more in tune substitution for the 1-2-3 combination.
- Compensating valves/tubing. As described here, compensating systems go beyond just adding one more slide and actually utilize a system of tubing to improve intonation, especially for low brass in the lowest ranges. Such systems allow players to use normal fingerings (with the additional valve) rather than having to adjust down a half-step for increased sharpness.
- Alternate fingerings. Because of the nature of the harmonic series (and the overlapping of pitches related to different positions or valve combinations) players often have multiple options to play a given pitch. For example, although we typically think of a written fourth space E on a trumpet as played with an open valve combination, it will also sound with a 1-2 combination or with the third valve alone. Each changes the intonation, and even timbre, slightly and serves as a potential tool to improve intonation.
Physical
Brass players potentially have two physical options for adjusting intonation:
- Lipping the pitch. Brass players must develop flexibility on their instruments, which is the ability to smoothly move between and among the many partials the instruments can produce, e.g. a trombonist playing an ascending Bb-F-Bb-D-F pattern remains in first position, and air and embouchure do the work. This same flexibility comes into play on a smaller scale with intonation. Players can bend, or lip, pitches flat or sharp with a combination of air and embouchure. Typically, this strategy is employed either in concert with mechanical options or in situations when mechanical options aren’t viable due to circumstances when speed is prohibitive or mechanical failure as we often find in student instruments, e.g. stuck slides. As bonuses, practicing lip bends can also help students develop embouchure control and better pitch centering.
- Hand position. In the case of the horn, a player may use her hand to make adjustments to pitch. Historically, this was actually the basis of producing pitches outside of the harmonic series before the advent of valves.
Finally, players need to remain aware of pitch when inserting a mute, which essentially shortens the instrument slightly and can cause the pitch to rise. Again, players need to determine the best approach when compensation is necessary.
Ranges
The strange case of the horn: upper harmonics and beginning range
Ranges of instruments