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Tuning is fundamental! In general, to my mind there are two main problems, related often. Your horn is likely not in tune with itself, and you are used to it being out of tune so it doesn’t really sound wrong. With an additional issue of tuning in ensembles ….
Tuning your horn
There is a kind of classic method for tuning your horn in the Farkas book, but it is kind of overkill. I also present my version of a system in the back of my warmup book, which I would suggest for the advancing player as reference. But there is a very short version of how to do it.
The number 1, first thing to do on a double horn is to balance the two sides of your double horn. On third space C, thumb down and open the pitch level should be the same!
At this point people often get stumped as they know the Bb horn is too sharp, but there is no separate Bb horn tuning slide on most horns. The key thing then is to raise the F side to match the Bb side and then pull the whole horn down with the main slide.
In any case, that is the main issue. But also note on most horns all or almost all the valve slides need to be pulled out something like a quarter to a half inch. If they are all pushed in, that can’t be right, horns are not made that way.
Chromatic tuner compared to your ear
Of course, in some ideal world your ear would have such perfect pitch you can hear everything. However, in the real world your ear is easy to fool. You get used to how things sound, especially when practicing by yourself. So the reality is that a tuner app is essential for everyone, so that you get used to being in tune all the time. It will help a lot, as if you are always very close to being in tune, to be exactly in tune is just a fine adjustment you can almost make automatically.
Ranges should match by now
For many players the ranges being in tune is taken care of by the two sides of the horn being in tune with each other. Sometimes, though, there are issues that remain, and sometimes the cause is a mismatch of your horn and mouthpiece. Or, in the context of our present horn world with cheap horns from China all over, just a bad horn!
Thankfully, for most players, again, if you have the two sides of your horn in balance that will totally fix the biggest intonation issues.
What about playing extreme dynamics in tune?
Another important point is that your intonation is or can be impacted by playing very soft and very loud.
The key exercise to work on this is to play crescendo-diminuendo exercises on a single note, preferably around the bottom of treble clef. For example play 12 counts, the first six making a very even crescendo from your softest dynamic to your loudest, and then the second half is a mirror image (with no lumps!) going to your softest note.
To do this there are “adjustments” you make to your embouchure. For the loud note you may feel your lips are more open or more relaxed than for the very soft.
Getting loud you are likely to at first push notes sharp, but with practice you may find that you actually go flat when you are loud, due to subtle overcompensation. It is really important fundamental to master, playing at different dynamics at exactly the same pitch level.
BONUS: An important story about tuning in an ensemble
I frequently tell students my philosophy about tuning in orchestra, and how I arrived at it.
The short version of it is, once upon a time, I won the third horn position in the Nashville Symphony. The person before me left without coming up for tenure. The rumor I heard was that they had played persistently sharp among other things. So my goal became to find the best intonation I could.
My solution was to focus for intonation almost entirely on the principal horn and the principal clarinet. I found if I was in tune with both of them, things were all good!
In my position I periodically would play first horn as well, and in that seat, I focused almost exclusively on the principal woodwinds.
What if your woodwind principals are not in tune? Good luck! But you might try to talk to them and mention that you are keying on them and that might help.
What about the trumpets? In Nashville, they seemed to fit into the framework that we formed between the horns and woodwinds. But in some situations, you will find that you, on principal horn, will have to adjust slightly between the pitch levels of the woodwinds and brass depending on context. It’s not ideal, but it is reality.
What about the tubas? Band directors tell you to tune to them all the time but I think reality is you have to tune to high voices and especially the principal woodwinds.
Oh, and never ever tune to the strings in an ensemble! They need to tune to us. I know this may sound a bit undiplomatic, but often the biggest issue creating intonation problems in a group is the principal players drifting upward with the strings. You need to not do that.
Podcast?
For more on the topics of the first three installments of this fundamentals series, check Episode 60 of the Hornnotes Podcast. And be sure to subscribe for more episodes.
A direct link to the podcast is here.
When the series continues the topic is breathing.
