3 STEPS TO BETTER MIDDLE SCHOOL BAND INTONATION

BY: DR. SHELLEY JAGOW

When I visit various schools throughout Ohio, I am always impressed with the fine music making encountered at every grade level. But I must confess that I hold middle school band directors with great admiration and appreciation for their critical responsibility in teaching a multitude of music concepts in a child’s formative years. And one of the more obscure concepts to teach a young band is that of intonation. The following three steps should help music educators develop a method for achieving better intonation with young ensembles.

Step #1: Toning before Tuning

Tone quality must always take priority over pitch quality. Even with good tuning, your ensemble will not sound in tune if there are a variety of competing timbres/tone quality between homogenous instruments. The insistence on good tone is the responsibility of the ensemble director. Students cannot be expected to reproduce a sound that they have never heard.

Introduce students to characteristic tone qualities of a full band at every rehearsal. You can locate several archived concerts of the “The President’s Own” United State Marine Band, the United States Navy Band, “Pershing’s Own” The United States Army Band, and several others on professional YouTube channels. Introduce beginners to the proper sound of their instrument by utilizing resources such as: Instruments of the Orchestra by Utah Symphony, Meet the Musician with the Indianapolis Symphony, and Instrument Demonstration for Beginning Band by The United States Army Field Band. Young players may be more motivated by seeing peers closer to their age-group performing fun excerpts such as in the section demonstration by the Portland Youth Philharmonic

Always consider the many factors that affect tone quality such as air support, posture, embouchure, amount of mouthpiece, reed condition, mouthpiece quality, equipment condition, etc. Invest a few minutes at each rehearsal performing long tones in varying registers and at varying dynamics with the purest tone possible. Do not allow your ears to become complacent to mediocre tone. The “I’ll fix it later” approach only trains student’s ears to not be offended by poor tone quality.

Step #2: Activating Ears vs Eyes

There are many opinions as to the best method of tuning a band, yet none are really incorrect if the method promotes players to listen. Our goal is to create independent players with great ears! I like to tune concert bands to both a Concert F and Concert Bb. Concert Bb is a good tuning note for the majority of the ensemble as it works well within a practical range of the overtone series for most instruments. Using Concert F provides the horns a better tuning pitch than Bb, and it further allows the clarinets to tune throat tone G by adjusting with the barrel joint. (Keep in mind, however, that Concert F is a terrible tuning note for Eb saxophones, so please educate these players that this pitch is inherently sharp.)

Students should be instructed to tune with a full tone at a mf. It is helpful to articulate the note rather than simply sustaining. Sustaining a note often tends to trick the player’s ears into hearing a faulty pitch in tune after sitting on it for a short while. Articulating the note can help a player hear the initial pitch of each attack.

Try utilizing a game we call Pitch Barometer. Instruct the band to sustain a unison pitch and then point to one player to continue sustaining the pitch while the other players release their sound. (Create a friendly learning atmosphere because it can place less confident players on the spot.) The lone sounding pitch will immediately sound sharp, flat, or in tune with the released pitch. The reason this pitch barometer technique works so well is because the sum of the parts equals the whole. In other words, the whole sound moves to the closet in-tune pitch. Allow the players to determine the relation of their pitch to the whole, while encouraging them to follow their first instinct. If we think too long on the direction of our pitch, then our ears can be confused and not know which direction to move at all. The goal is for a student to independently and quickly identify pitch relations and make immediate adjustments.

Step #3: Identifying “Beats”

Teach students to listen for any audible “beats” in the sound of two instruments sounding a unison. If you can hear beats, then the sound waves are not matching each other. By adjusting embouchure, the student should be able to bring the two tones together to sound “beat-less”. One student should hold their pitch as steady as possible while the second student adjusts their embouchure in an attempt to eliminate audible beats between the two tones. If the student must firm their embouchure, then their pitch is flat to the other tone, and they must shorten the length of their instrument. If the student must relax their embouchure, then their pitch is sharp to the other tone, and they must lengthen the length of their instrument. A beat-less sound indicates that the two tones are vibrating at the same frequency, and are thus in tune.

Younger bands should first practice playing unisons/octaves in tune, followed by perfect fifths, then major thirds. The concept of balance comes into play when tuning intervals. Students must learn to fit their sound inside the lower sounding tones of the ensemble. And for the majority of chords in younger repertoire, students are required to properly balance the root, major third and perfect fifth. First sound the root and match tone to eliminate any beats in the sound. Then add the perfect fifth with slightly less volume than the root, while also listening to match tone and eliminate beats. Lastly, add the major third making sure it is sounded at a lower volume than the fifth. For young players, it is not too soon to instruct them how to sound the major third. You do not need to dive into the physics of harmonics or overtones or cents or ratios. Simply tell younger players to lower or darken their tone (and have them pencil in a down-arrow in their music). You will be impressed by some players that can immediately hear reduced beats in the chord.

Resources

• APP (iOS and Android) serves as an intonation resource for students and band directors. The app is an interactive, color-coded fingering chart for the full-range of wind instruments, providing alternate fingerings, inherent pitch tendencies, and tuning suggestions. The app also identifies the best tuning notes for each instrument, and provides tips on tuning each instrument in relation to dynamics, air speed and direction, and embouchure. The Director’s version includes all ten wind instruments, while individual instruments are available for download to each student. https://www. shelleyjagow.com/apps

• A video illustrating the affect of mouthpieces and reeds on tone quality: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrpKZPBnkhg

• A video illustrating what “beats” sound like when teaching intonation: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=HUyBuYUb450

Bibliography

Jagow, Shelley (2020). Teaching Instrumental Music: Developing the COMPLETE Band Program, (2nd ed). Chicago, IL: Meredith Music Publications, a division of GIA Publications.

Jagow, Shelley. (2012). Tuning for Wind Instruments, A Roadmap to Successful Intonation. Galesville, MD: Meredith Music.

Apps: https://www.shelleyjagow.com/apps