Beginner question about intonation -- please help!

PreTrumpet · New Member Joined: 20 Nov 2018 Posts: 2

Hi all,
I'd like to start trumpet, but I have pretty bad ears. I can't tell if music is out of tune unless it's really obvious (like with Blues music, for example).

Should I stay away from the trumpet, or is it possible to learn where the valve corrections need to be made, without relying too much on one's ear?
(I'd learn another instrument like piano or guitar, but an injury in my left hand makes it impossible.)
Thanks very much for any input!

HERMOKIWI · Heavyweight Member Joined: 24 Dec 2008 Posts: 2581

Everything about playing, learning, hearing, understanding and appreciating music is a process. Everyone has deficiencies at the beginning. With knowledge, practice and experience you can improve your abilities and cure deficiencies. You don't know until you try.

Give yourself a fair opportunity to master playing the trumpet. The deficiencies you mention are not good reasons to give up before you start. Dive in, make an effort and see where that effort leads you.
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TKSop · Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 11:11 pm Post subject:

Couldn't agree more with previous poster - the key is you'll learn.

zaferis · Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 6:36 am Post subject:

+1 HERMOKIWI

Not knowing much about you, I'd venture to say that you're not that different from other beginners. "Ears" are a part of learning the trumpet (and other instruments). A plus that you recognize that weakness.
Make an effort to strengthen that. As you've probably found, practicing the trumpet has its limits (chops fatigue pretty quickly) so, add some singing and piano playing. Both will not only help your recognition of pitch but also your understanding of music.

Keep Pluggin'
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Nixer · Veteran Member Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 129

One thing that made a big difference for me in learning to actually hear what I was playing was to learn to tune my guitar.

When I started trumpet waaay back in 5th grade, and through college, I didn't play any other instrument. I never really appreciated the need to learn to listen to those around me and play in tune. After college I set the trumpet down for 30 years and played guitar instead. Once I picked up a horn again it was amazing how much more aware I was of how badly out of tune I was capable of playing. Having been forced to tune the 6 strings of the guitar over all those years gave me at least some practice in listening.

Work at it, you can do it.

Brassnose · Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 9:22 pm Post subject:

And, if I may add, don't fool yourself by constantly looking at a tuner. In an ensemble, intonation is also about adjusting to everyone else ... even getting only two trumpets to REALLY sound good together is some work. But the good news is, if you practice and listen carefully to music you will get there. My personal experience is that listening to live performances of brass groups or symphonies with a lot of brass can teach a lot about intonation if you listen carefully. Recordings do not do work quite the same for me.

Took me only 30 years to understand intonation - not to say I am really good at it. It is work in progress. One thing that helped tremendously is taking up the bass trumpet - lots of room to screw up intonation but a really good setup for ear-embochure correlation training. Plus a lot of fun, too.
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cheiden · Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2018 2:20 pm Post subject:

Playing at the highest level requires developing a really good ear. But to play at as hobbyist you can probably get by with only modest ear development. It's possible to choose gear with tighter slots making harder to lip note out of tune. As for methods, the James Stamp method helps refine how to play to the center of the slot largely by feel.
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PreTrumpet · New Member Joined: 20 Nov 2018 Posts: 2

Thanks very much for all the advice, folks! I was afraid I'd have to work on my ears independently of the trumpet (I'm lazy by nature), but if there's no choice in the matter, so be it.

Andy Del · Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2018 4:13 pm Post subject:

trumpetmandan · Regular Member Joined: 28 Nov 2018 Posts: 44

Ear training and good trumpet playing go hand in hand; the more you develop your ear, the quicker you will be to self-correct and improve your trumpet playing. Likewise, the more you practice the trumpet, the more you will develop your ear.

The most important ear training you can do as a beginner is to listen to as many great trumpet players as you can - ingrain good sounds into your ear right from the start. Just listening as well as singing, as others have suggested, will improve your ear by leaps and bounds. Good luck!