Fine Horn Intonation

Have you ever been told that you are out of tune? I have, and that is somewhat embarrassing, for I want to be known as a hornist who always plays in tune. So what are we to do if we are accused of playing out of tune? I hope to answer this question and give some practice techniques to help in our quest to play with perfect intonation. The following may be heavy reading, but think of it this way-- you will be saving lots of money, for it takes about five lessons to cover the eight points listed below.

To play in tune you must:

Achieve a full and centered sound. Do this by using good air support and blowing freely. Eliminate any tightness in your body, especially in the throat or lips. In addition, be sure your embouchure is correct. A few lessons with a competent teacher will give you guidance on correct air usage and embouchure placement.
Learn to play a beautiful tone that does not waver. That means you must practice long tones with correct breathing habits. Begin by setting your metronome to 60 beats per minute. Play low C at pianissimo. Crescendo for five beats and decrescendo for the next five beats. Hold the last note as long as you can while continuing to taper to nothing. Continue this long tone exercise up the scale as high as you can play without doing anything wrong to your embouchure. As you play these notes be sure to listen to your pitch and strive to keep it even. Use your tuning machine every other day and you will be able to gauge your progress in centering your pitches. Disciplined practice in long tones will result in a strong embouchure, beautiful sound with straight tones. And you will be amazed at your growth as a hornist.
Use correct right-hand placement in the bell. Move your hand forward until the large knuckles touch the bell. Be sure the back of the fingers conform to the shape of the bell. The resulting shape should be similar to a "swimmer's hand.". Look at the pictures in "The Art of Horn Playing" by Philip Farkas for a good example of a hornist's hand position. Avoid cupping the hand for this will muffle the sound, and worse, make it flat. If your hand is in the correct position you will be able to move the pitch up or down with very slight closing or opening of the hand.
Know your horn. In other words, use a tuning machine to discover tendencies of each note on your horn. For starters, pull your slides in proportion to their length. That is, the third slide is usually pulled about 3/4ths. inch, while the second slide is pulled about 1/4th. inch. The first slide should be pulled about 1/2 inch. These are just beginning positions and the slides will be adjusted as you continue. It is important to tune in the following order. Tune B-flat horn first. Tune the open notes, then first valve, next the second valve, and finally notes that are fingered 2-3 (adjust only the third slide). Repeat this order on the F horn. Be aware that valve combinations of 1-2 and 1-2-3 are sharp. Therefore, it is important to pull the second slide out a little bit more to compensate for the sharpness. Lastly, play the entire chromatic scale slowly while using the tuner to observe which pitches are flat or sharp. Do this last step several times to thoroughly know your horn.
Record yourself. The new minidisc recording machines are especially handy to use and are accurate in reproducing your pitch. The sound is enhanced by the quality of microphone you use. Try to obtain the best microphone you can afford.
Practice with another hornist. To begin, one person should hold a note and the other one play a scale based upon that note. This helps you to learn the sound of each interval. After you both have played a scale against the tonic pitch, play perfect fifths, fourths and octaves. These intervals must have no beats or vibrations. If you hear beats, use your right hand to test which way the pitch must go.
Ensembles often give us trouble because we have to match others who may not be in tune. Begin now to find what part of the chord you are playing. This takes time but is especially rewarding. If you know you are playing the third of a major chord you will know that you must lower the pitch a little to make the chord ring. On the other hand, the third of a minor chord must be raised a bit. The outer voices of the chord, the root and the fifth, must be perfectly in tune with no beats (Hopefully you have already played 5ths in step five).
Finally, never assume you are correct. Always seek to play in the center of the pitch and blend your sound with the rest of the players.

That's it in as brief a manner as I can write. Please contact me if you have questions about this or any other aspect of horn playing. All the best to you.

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