I wish there was a quick fix to playing in tune, but there’s not. It’s a long process of training the ear. The process never ends. As a pro musician, I ALWAYS feel like I’m out of tune and striving to fix tuning. It’s a journey. Here are a few tips to help in that journey.
Tune to a fixed pitch but don’t stop there. We do this about once a week in my classes. However, I don’t have each student play the note and tune unless I hear problems and I’m trying to discover where it’s coming from. I teach the students that this gets them close – but it’s only one note and will change every time we play. Occasionally teach them how to hear the “waves” of out of tuneness. I’ll do this by having one person play and have another purposely pull out far. The students can hear the waves and can hear the waves get smaller as we bring the tuning closer – then finally the waves disappear.
Teach them that our ears hear flat better than sharp. I don’t know why this is the case. If they’re not sure which way to adjust for tuning, have them pull out. I even go the wrong way at times! Teach them, “If you feel like you are in tune, or if you know you’re in tune, you’re probably not.”
The interesting thing is that if you have good balance, and you have good tone, two thirds of your intonation problems will go away. Focus on getting students to play with good air and with good support. Remind them about the tuning slide for low D on trumpet. If they don’t use it, we go back and replay that spot.
Chorales! Chorales! More chorales. Check out Function Chorales which can be performed in any key.
Tuning is an every day, every rehearsal technique we must teach and incorporate.
James is retired from full time teaching. He has served private, suburban, and Title 1 schools and now teaches half time at a charter school. Find out more about James at www.jamesdivine.net Subscribe to his podcast Almost Everything I’ve Learned About Teaching Band.
Have you ever wanted to teach improvisation to ALL students but you weren’t sure how? Check out www.jazzfromthestart.com for a curriculum to teach improv as soon as students know 5 notes.
Pre-order a copy of my latest book, Almost Everything I’ve Learned About Teaching Band coming out June 2025.