The Quest to Play in Tune

Written by Professor Kimberly Cole-Luevano, Clarinet

First and foremost, it is important to recognize that good intonation in playing clarinet is dependent upon several "fundamentals." In your quest to improve your intonation and listening skills, you'll want to consider the following principles before anything else. Make sure these elements are the best they can be, and good intonation and the ability to play in tune will come much more easily to you.

Instrument: It is best to play a good quality instrument. Generally, the more well known brands: Buffet-Crampon, Leblanc, Yamaha, and Selmer, are tuned and adjusted fairly well at the factory to modern pitch standards. Older instruments, those that you might inherit from your relatives or find in the want ads of the newspaper, might not have as good overall intonation. The bores of wooden clarinets tend to shrink over longer periods of time, and this adversely affects the tone and intonation of the instrument. Additionally, older instruments were someTimes, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif tuned to different pitch centers.
Mouthpiece with appropriate reed strength: A mouthpiece's internal shape can greatly affect your intonation. Upgrading from the "stock" mouthpiece to a higher quality mouthpiece is a relatively easy and cost effective way to improve your tone and intonation. Ask your private instructor or your ensemble conductor for recommendations of reputable brands. Next, make sure you are playing the correct strength reed for the mouthpiece, as no two mouthpieces, even those made by the same person, are exactly alike. A reed should be resistant enough to provide a good core and cover to the sound (so the sound isn't bright or edgy) but not too hard to blow or fuzzy. If your reed is too soft, your pitch will likely be low. (flat.) Similarly, if it is too hard, you will have to apply undue pressure to the reed in order to get it to play. This will likely make your overall pitch a bit high. (sharp).
Tone quality: TONE QUALITY ALWAYS AFFECTS INTONATION!!! When trying to solve intonation problems, ALWAYS consider tone quality first. Aim for a warm, round, "chocolate", "velvet", covered, and focused tone that is fully supported at all dynamics and in all registers of the clarinet. I believe that one should always try to use a "blending" type of sound when matching pitch of others. Work to hold your support, and consequently your sound, steady at all dynamics and in all registers. Which other elements are essential to good tone quality?
1. a well-developed embouchure. You should make sure that you are keeping your bottom lip firm, your chin nice and smooth, and using equal and adequate jaw pressure. Beware of using excess pressure, often referred to as BITING. Biting prevents the sound from being blend-able, warm, and cover and causes it to be harsh and shrill. Biting typically results in poor intonation as well!
2. proper breath support. Make sure you are playing with a steady and constant stream of "pressurized" and supported air. Lack of breath support can cause pitch to be either flat or sharp! Beginnings of notes and ends of phrases are places to pay extra attention to your breath support and ensure it is remaining steady and constant.
3. Shape of oral cavity. You want to be sure you are focusing the air into the mouthpiece with an arched tongue. Think of saying "hee" or hissing like a cat to feel what shape your tongue should be in. Avoid letting your tongue stay flat inside your mouth as in an "AH" sound.

As stated, the three items above are the very first to consider (and continue considering!) when learning to play in tune. Assuming these items are well in place, you then need to learn to "play in tune with yourself." What I mean by that is that you need to learn what the pitch tendencies of your instrument are. To develop an overall sense of reference, it's good to try to keep each note on your clarinet close to the "O" mark on your electronic tuner. (though even playing a note at a straight-on "0" still doesn't guarantee it will be "in tune." Keep reading!) What are some considerations for this?

Get an electronic tuner to help you in your quest. The best are those that have a needle/digital display AND sound output. Unfortunately the best ones are also the most expensive. It's always better to have SOMETHING than nothing, however. You can start with a more inexpensive tuner and upgrade whenever possible.
Unfortunately, because of the shape of the bore of the clarinet and the placement of the register key, the clarinet is inherently out of tune….which is to say that the different registers have their own particular intonation tendencies. The first step to correcting these natural tendencies of your instrument is to know what they are! I recommend making a chart of each note of the clarinet. Next, using an electronic tuner, play each note at a medium dynamic level and with a nice, focused sound. Note what the tendency of the note is WITHOUT making any adjustments. You want to learn the honest placement of each note on your instrument. REMEMBER THAT EACH INSTRUMENT, MOUTHPIECE, and PERSON are different. While there are some general tendencies of the instrument, you'll need to determine the pitch of your own instrument rather than relying on anyone else's finding.
EACH REGISTER of the clarinet must be tuned. It is best to tune/adjust all octaves of these notes rather than just the singular concert A440 or Bb that is played because you want to get a good overall sampling, not just a one note sampling. Tune to the note played (Usually A440 or Bb) first and adjust, then tune to each octave of the note and adjust accordingly.
You must adjust at the joint of the clarinet closest to the note you are tuning. Too often, I notice that students pull out from the barrel joint ONLY. A more reliable approach is to adjust at the MIDDLE joint in tuning your initial concert A (played as a B on a Bb clarinet) or a concert Bb (played as a C). In tuning the notes an octave above, you would adjust from the BARREL. In tuning an open G, for instance, you would adjust at the BARREL joint. Typically, we adjust only at the barrel and in the middle. However, in extreme cases, you can also adjust at the mouthpiece joint or at the bell joint. Remember, if you are sharp, that is, high to the tuning note, you will PULL OUT. If you are low to the tuning note, you will push in.

So now you've figured out the tendencies and tuned overall, but you still have problems. How to fix and improve those tendencies? What are some further considerations?

Barrel? If you are playing with good, focused sound, and trying to blend and are still are constantly and consistently flat or sharp in all registers, you might want to consider a different length of BARREL. Typically, the barrel for a Bb clarinet is 66 millimeters in length and 65 millimeters in length for an A clarinet. So, on a Bb clarinet, you may need to use a 67 millimeter barrel if you are always sharp, or a 65 millimeter barrel if you are consistently flat. On an A clarinet, you may need a 66 millimeter barrel if you are consistently sharp and a 64 millimeter barrel if you are consistently flat.
Temperature affects pitch! When a clarinet is cold, its pitch is always LOWER than normal. When a clarinet is warming up, its pitch will rise. Although you might think you are in tune at the beginning of a rehearsal or concert, your pitch will go up if you are playing constantly or if there are bright, hot lights. You will need to keep listening and adjusting to maintain the same initial pitch level. Similarly, if you are in tune at the beginning of a rehearsal and don't play much, your pitch may likely be lower than the initial pitch center.
Dynamics affect pitch! Assuming that you are playing with solid embouchure and correct oral cavity shape, your pitch will DROP when you play louder and will GO UP when you play softly. These tendencies can be corrected by proper breath support and SLIGHT adjustment in embouchure pressure and/or firmness. You can also add/subtract fingers or use alternate fingerings to help. (more on this below.) If you have a section in a composition that is really soft (in contrast to a really loud section), it is fine to pull out your instrument at the appropriate joint to accommodate. Just remember to push back in when you play at louder dynamics again.
Nerves affect pitch! Consider what can happen when you get nervous. You may forget to take breaths which means your support won't be as solid. You may pinch a bit harder or "bite" with your embouchure….Biting will raise the pitch and restrict your tone quality! You may tense up in your shoulders and abdomen, again prohibiting a deep breath and corresponding breath support. You may tense up your throat which also affects pitch. The obvious solution to this is: learn to control your nerves. Remember to breathe deeply! Don't worry about mistakes, just worry about conveying the spirit of the music you want to convey.
The adjustment of your clarinet can affect pitch. Do some notes stick out because they are always "out" in relationship to others close by? It could be that the height of the key opening isn't quite right. Usually, if a key or pad cup doesn't quite open enough, a note will be slightly low (often the tone is also stuffy.) Similarly, if a key or pad cup is opening too far, the note may be slightly high. In these cases, it's best to seek the advice of a professional repairman to verify that this is actually the problem and to have the problem fixed.
Tuning rings! Do you find that you are almost always pulling out the same amount from either your middle joint or barrel joint? Consider getting tuning rings. Tuning rings are thin rings that you insert into the tenon to fill the gap left by pulling out. By using them, you don't have to worry about finding the placement each time&emdash;it will be uniform! Also, tuning rings help ensure more uniform pitch since they fill in the gaps left when you pull out.

We've discussed MANY issues with playing in tune. Won't considering all this ensure I'm playing in tune? NO! All these above issues are merely helpful hints… Remember that I said earlier that just because you can put every note at "O" on the tuner doesn't mean you play in tune?

That's because playing in tune has to do even more with LISTENING and training your ears to fit with what's going on simultaneously. In general, you will have to slightly adjust every note tomake it sound in tune with whatever chord you're playing or whichever people you're playing with. Here are some guidelines and helpful hints for LISTENING.

Make sure to "internalize", that is, hear the pitch inside your own head before tuning and matching the tuning note given. LISTEN to the tuning note and sing or whistle it back to yourself. Make sure you're matching it exactly before playing. Then when you do play, you'll have a more accurate reference.
In tuning, tune at a medium dynamic. Remember that extreme dynamics affect pitch, so you just want a good overall impression.
In tuning, it's best to listen to the lowest voices for your pitch reference. That means as a clarinetist you'll often find yourself listening to the 3rd clarinets….or if you're a 3rd clarinetist, you'll listen down to the bass clarinets or tenor saxophones or horns or tubas. That's because these lower pitches are often more stable and often contain the primary notes of the chords. Similarly, if you play in octaves with another section in the ensemble, tune to the lowest note.
However, if you play in unison as a section of 1st clarinetists or a section of clarinetists, it's the job of the principal clarinetist to listen down and set the pitch. You should try to match whatever pitch the principal clarinetist is setting.
If your band happens to have a piano, marimba, xylophone in it, you'll need to listen to those instruments to tune because the pitch on these instruments is relatively FIXED. It can't be changed in the middle of a composition.
Know where to place your note in relationship to the key signature in which you play and in relationship to the main note of that key signature. Each note in an interval has a place where it will SOUND in tune with the chord or interval, and such a place isn't necessarily at "O". The following is a general guideline to help you "place" the notes so they SOUND in tune:
- Interval of a minor 2nd : raise significantly.
- Interval of a Major 2nd (2nd note of the scale, for instance): raise slightly.
- Interval of a minor 3rd (3rd note of a minor scale): raise significantly.
- Interval of a Major 3rd (yes, the 3rd note of a MAJOR scale): lower significantly.
- Interval of a Perfect 4th (4th note of either scale): lower slightly.
- Interval of a tritone: lower.
- Interval of a Perfect 5th (5th note of either scale): raise slightly.
- Interval of a minor 6th (6th note of descending melodic minor or a natural minor scale): raise significantly.
- Interval of a Major 6th (6th note of a major scale or ascending melodic minor scale): lower significantly.
- Interval of a minor 7th (7th note of a natural minor scale or descending melodicminor): raise significantly.
- Interval of a Major 7th (7th note of a major scale or ascending melodic minor): lower significantly.

A good exercise is to play with a tuner with an OUTPUT feature….one that will play pitches. Set the tuner output on the first note of a scale then play the given scale SLOWLY (in slow whole notes.) Listen for "beats"….wavers in sound that occur when you are not placing your intervals exactly. Try to eliminate the beats and wavering by slight adjustments to your embouchure orby adding/subtracting fingers.

Which fingers can I add or subtract to help?

To raise pitch, you'll need to OPEN a tone hole. Consider:

the right hand pinkie Ab/Eb key.
the left hand pinkie c#/g# key.
the right hand side keys, usually the bottom 2 side keys.
The right hand sliver (fork) key.
The left hand sliver (fork) key.

To lower pitch, you'll need to CLOSE a tone hole. Consider:

The right or left hand pinkie E/B key.
The right or left hand pinkie F/C key.
The right or left hand pinkie F#/C# key.

For throat tones, consider adding some (or all in some cases!) of the fingers down in your right hand. This will also assist in going over the break.

For notes that use only fingers in your left hand, you can (and most often should!) keep your right hand close to the tone holes to cover them a bit.

"Playing in tune" and developing your listening skills are LIFELONG quests. Hopefully these tips can help you begin your quest and answer some of your initial questions. As always, don't hesitate to write if you have any questions!

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