Intonation Problems

Trumpetlover · Regular Member Joined: 25 Feb 2003 Posts: 29

Hello All,

I am one of Dr. Wilken's brass students, the same one that posted the topic on High C. Anyway, I have been noticing that I sometimes have severe intonation problems. It seems like one of my favorite pass times is to play sharp. I don't understand why I can have days when I'm right on and then have so much trouble playing in tune. Oh, by the way, for those of you who don't know I'm a Type IV player, maybe this has something to do with it.
Also, I've been trying to play with a little higher horn angle, and to place the mouthpiece from above and right on the "sweet spot."

Any Advice would be greatly appreciated,

Trumpetlover

Wilktone · Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2003 4:10 pm Post subject:

Hey, quit wasting your time surfing the net and get back to work! Oh, wait a minute, that's what I'm doing!

I'll tell you one thing I've noticed about Trumpetlover's ear. Often times I'll walk by our Music Listening Center when he's working there and he's got some jazz going and he'll be singing along with some Wynton Marsalis solo - dead on. Then I ask him to match pitches with me in lessons and there's a switch that turns off in his head and he struggles. It's better when I play trumpet and ask him to match those pitches, but there's still a difference. For some reason he thinks about these things differently and can't apply what he does for fun with trumpet playing.

Back to work!

Dave W.
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wilktone.com

elbobogrande · Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2003 5:06 pm Post subject:

Trumpetlover,
Does this occur most frequently when you're playing by yourself with no accompaniment? If so, I was the same way, and I still am, to a degree. I had/still have some intonation problems with solo playing and even when playing with someone playing the same thing--monophonic stuff, really. I have less of a problem when there's harmonic stuff behind what I'm playing--ie in ensembles.

The work I've done to improve intonation was, for the most part, done without touching my trumpet. I work on lots of ear training and it's helped a good deal. I'll sit at a piano and pluck out a starting pitch to a song or a scale, sing the passage(on la or in solfege) and check my pitch after a few measures. It's not really the most fun thing to do, but I can really tell I'm getting better. As my intonation improves in singing, I can at least hear when I'm wrong when playing my instrument. Ear training is pretty universal, as far as its usefulness in all methods of trumpet playing, and all aspects of musicianship, so it couldn't hurt.

Hope this helps,
John

_________________
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John Cox
Phoenix, AZ
home/work (480)361-3607
theblueone2002@aol.com

[ This Message was edited by: elbobogrande on 2003-03-04 20:08 ]

[ This Message was edited by: elbobogrande on 2003-03-04 20:12 ]

No BS · Veteran Member Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Posts: 141

How is your sound? Good solid centered trumpet sound=in tune

BeboppinFool · Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2003 6:06 pm Post subject:

airdyn · Heavyweight Member Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Posts: 579

Hi...this is a great question from a Type IV...intonation. The first thing I look for is the tongue position while sustaining...the first choice of a Type IV, if the tongue is sufficiently long, is to adopt the Type V tongue for slurring and sustaining. This is because more often than not, the tongue acts as a "blowing impediment" and is just in the way i.e. disrupting the path of the air column, thinning out the sound and obviously making the pitches "sharp".

Secondly, the Type IV is inherently "sharp" or nasal when such a high compression embouchure is there. The Type IV needs to "thicken" his/her sound ... this is accomplished by backing off on too much flexibility exercises and staccato playing , practice sustained tone(ala Type V tongue) and doing many Legato Tongue exercises, say The Concone Studies, Ballad playing, etc.
I would tell most IV's to warm-up on the Legato Spider Web Routine...
Many things will work...these are what I would do first.
I am looking for some Type IV's to comment on this Intonation Problem...what did they do about "playing sharp"?
Dave S.

[ This Message was edited by: airdyn on 2003-03-05 13:07 ]

scream · Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2003 10:31 am Post subject:

I too have a problem playing sharp (I'm a type IV and my tuning slide attests to that fact). Don't get transfixed into leaving your tuning slide where it used to go or where everyone else puts theirs. My slide is out a good 1 1/2 inches and may come out a little farther as the night progresses. Type IV's tend to get stronger as the night goes on and the tendancy to over-compress can get even greater. Other than that I would just keep working on matching pitches with a piano or other players a few minutes a day. Simple stuff like that. I also like Rich's idea of recording yourself and working that way.

The type V tongue, for sustaining and slurring only, is a long tongue type where the tip of the tongue rests in the gully below the bottom teeth. As you SLUR higher you press the tip forward in the gully, arching the back of the tongue for the upper register. This also helps stabilize and strengthern the lower jaw.

Hope this helps.......
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Paul Garrett
Sandy Springs, GA

The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.
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