Tuba Intonation
The most important part of learning to play any instrument in tune is learning to recognize whether a pitch is sharp, flat, or in tune by listening. It's not as simple as just pressing the right buttons! Using a pitch reference like a piano keyboard while singing or buzzing on the mouthpiece will help train the ears to recognize relative intonation in real time. This is a skill that must be developed over time and adjusting to pitch must become an automatic habit whenever the musician picks up his or her instrument.
The main tuning slide can be pulled out or pushed in slightly to change the intonation of the whole instrument. This is usually done at the beginning of a rehearsal or practice session, but it does not guarantee that the instrument will play in tune on all notes.
Electronic tuners are a good reference to get the instrument close to the proper intonation, but they cannot substitute for the skills mentioned above. They can, however, be useful when a musician creates a tuning chart for him or herself. A good way to do this is to have the musicians work with a partner. One person plays a chromatic scale slowly while the partner watches the electronic tuner, marking down whether and how much each note is sharp, flat, or in tune.
The overall intonation of the instrument is affected by many factors, including temperature, air support, embouchure, and maintenance. Dynamics can also affect the pitch with players tending to play sharper or flatter during extremely soft or loud passages of music. Musicians will need to experiment with all these factors to understand how to compensate for them.
Two other major factors that affect intonation are the overtone series and valve combinations. Each partial has a pitch tendency as does each combination of valves. Knowing these pitch tendencies, the musician can decide on the most in tune fingerings and compensate for the remaining pitch problems. Let's look at the overtone series and the valve combinations in more detail.
The main tuning slide can be pulled out or pushed in slightly to change the intonation of the whole instrument. This is usually done at the beginning of a rehearsal or practice session, but it does not guarantee that the instrument will play in tune on all notes.
Electronic tuners are a good reference to get the instrument close to the proper intonation, but they cannot substitute for the skills mentioned above. They can, however, be useful when a musician creates a tuning chart for him or herself. A good way to do this is to have the musicians work with a partner. One person plays a chromatic scale slowly while the partner watches the electronic tuner, marking down whether and how much each note is sharp, flat, or in tune.
The overall intonation of the instrument is affected by many factors, including temperature, air support, embouchure, and maintenance. Dynamics can also affect the pitch with players tending to play sharper or flatter during extremely soft or loud passages of music. Musicians will need to experiment with all these factors to understand how to compensate for them.
Two other major factors that affect intonation are the overtone series and valve combinations. Each partial has a pitch tendency as does each combination of valves. Knowing these pitch tendencies, the musician can decide on the most in tune fingerings and compensate for the remaining pitch problems. Let's look at the overtone series and the valve combinations in more detail.
Overtone Series Intonation
Please refer to the page on The Overtone Series (right-click to open it in a new tab) for all the pitches (up to the 16th partial) that can be played by each combination of valves. Let's look at just the first position for now. It has no valves pressed and is often called "open".
As you can see, when you double the number of a partial, you get a note an octave above. For example, the 2nd partial is an octave above the 1st and the 6th partial is an octave above the 3rd. The 12th partial is two octaves above the 3rd. Notes in these octave groupings have the same pitch tendencies. The first and lowest partial in a series is called the fundamental. The following pitch tendencies based on partial are generally true for most brass instruments, but they often vary from instrument to instrument. We'll only look at the most commonly used partials.
So, we can conclude any octaves of the fundamental will be fine "as is" and won't need to be adjusted. What about partials 3, 5, 6, 7, and 10? Different fingerings will need to be used for these notes. How does that work? Remember that, by changing the fingerings, we change to a different overtone series. Let's examine the note Ab3. In the overtone series for first position ("open") as shown above, we see that this note is the 7th partial, so it is very flat. Now, let's look at the the overtone series for third position (only pressing the first valve).
- Octaves of the fundamental (e.g. partials 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16) tend to be in tune.
- Octaves of the third partial (3, 6, and 12) tend to be slightly sharp. (Again, this can vary by model of tuba.)
- Octaves of the 5th partial (5 and 10) tend to be moderately flat.
- The 7th partial is very flat.
So, we can conclude any octaves of the fundamental will be fine "as is" and won't need to be adjusted. What about partials 3, 5, 6, 7, and 10? Different fingerings will need to be used for these notes. How does that work? Remember that, by changing the fingerings, we change to a different overtone series. Let's examine the note Ab3. In the overtone series for first position ("open") as shown above, we see that this note is the 7th partial, so it is very flat. Now, let's look at the the overtone series for third position (only pressing the first valve).
Ab3 is the 8th partial in the overtone series for third position (first valve pressed). As stated above, the 8th partial tends to play in tune. So, simply by using third position to play Ab3 instead of first position, the note will be in tune rather than very flat.
Position Pitch
As discussed above, we can solve some pitch problems simply by playing a note with a different fingering position, allowing us to play it in a more in-tune partial. We need to keep in mind, however, that each fingering position has its own pitch tendencies. The examples we used above, 1st and 3rd positions, were good because those two positions tend to play in tune. Let's look at all of the possible positions and their pitch tendencies.
Since not every note can be played in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd position, some will need to be played in positions that are generally less in tune. This does not mean that every note played in those positions will be out of tune. How is that possible? Let's put together the position pitch tendencies with the partial tendencies!
- 1st position: In tune
- 2nd position: In tune
- 3rd position: In tune
- 4th position: Slightly sharp
- 5th position: Slightly flat
- 6th position: Moderately sharp
- 7th position: Very sharp
Since not every note can be played in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd position, some will need to be played in positions that are generally less in tune. This does not mean that every note played in those positions will be out of tune. How is that possible? Let's put together the position pitch tendencies with the partial tendencies!
Putting It Together
When does it make sense to use one of the less in-tune positions? Sometimes the pitch tendency of a position can compensate and even almost completely cancel out the pitch problems of a partial. A great example is Db2 on the tuba. The best fingering is 5th position. Let's look at the reason why. Here is the overtone series for 5th position.
In this overtone series, Db2 is the 3rd partial. As we know, the 3rd partial is slightly sharp on most brass instruments. Since this is the overtone series for 5th position, however, the generally slight flatness of 5th position approximately makes up for the sharpness of the 3rd partial. That means that Db2 is mostly in-tune when played in 5th position.
Alternate Positions and Adjustments
The careful combination of overtone series pitch tendencies and position pitch tendencies will solve or reduce many of the pitch problems on the tuba, but there are many cases when this still will not be close enough. In those cases there are three possible options:
- Embouchure adjustments: If the embouchure is formed correctly and a fast air stream is being used, most of the notes on the tuba should sound in tune when corrected for overtone series and fingering position pitch tendencies. There are some that cannot be corrected enough this way, however. In those cases, it may be necessary to "lip" a note up or down by squeezing the embouchure a little tighter or relaxing slightly. Although knowing the pitch tendencies will help the player predict these problems, the ears should always be the primary guide to playing in tune.
- Alternate positions: If a student has trouble playing a note in tune and the embouchure adjustments are not enough to "lip" it in tune, the solution might be to examine The Overtone Series chart to find a fingering position that corrects the pitch problem. Keep the position pitch tendencies in mind! In addition, certain notes like C2 are so sharp due to both the overtone series and the position (3rd partial and 6th position - both sharp!) that an extra valve has been added to many tubas. Instead of using the normal 6th position valve combination of 1st and 3rd valve, a 4th valve can be used alone instead of those two. This also works for B1 (B natural a half step below C2). The best fingering for B1 is to use 2nd and 4th valve together instead of 2nd with 1st and 3rd, which would be extremely sharp. If a tuba only has three valves, then significant embouchure adjustments must be made. These fingerings are the preferred positions for those notes.
- Slide adjustments: As a last resort, the valve slides can be pulled out or pushed in slightly to correct pitch problems. The first valve slide on many tubas is positioned to allow the player to adjust its length easily with the left hand. One common adjustment made this way is for C3. This note is played in 3rd position (1st valve only) and is moderately flat due to being the 5th partial of the overtone series. Pushing in slightly on the first valve slide can bring the note in tune.
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