I'm inexperienced. How do I get a good sense of pitch?

[Scott Sutherland]

If you are serious about this, I'd strongly urge you to consider purchasing a Tune-Up Systems "Basic Training" Book and CD. This is an invaluable tool in my opinion, and with time and patience, I believe you could develop a great sense of pitch using this product.

http://www.tuneupsystems.com/

[Chuck(G)]

Learning to sing (especially in a choir) can go a long way toward improving your sensie of pitch--and it's a great deal of fun.

just don't get old.

[WoodSheddin]

The hardest problem I had in school with tuning was picking which "center" of pitch to latch onto. It can be very difficult if everyone in the group plays out of tune with each other and even out of tune with themselves. This makes learning how to play in tune challenging.

Try to find better players to play with or try getting the parts to some ensemble music you own recordings of and play along.

[Tom B.]

I also would recommend the Tune-Up Systems book and CD as the best way to work directly on this.

But I was also once told by a wise teacher "If you want to learn to play in tune, play with others who play in tune". The more you can participate in small ensembles with other folks who listen carefully, the quicker you can develop these skills in actual perfomance situations. In groups where several players are struggling with intonation problems, I can't readily tell if it's me who's out, or somebody else. In groups where the other players are pretty solid intonation-wise, I am able to hear a problem sooner, figure out what's wrong quicker, and adjust quicker if it's me that needs to.

Tom

[Dylan King]

Listen to Ella Fitzgerald and Miles Davis.

[Richard Murrow]

You have many ways of improving your sense of pitch and many areas of musicianship that require different types of pitch sensitivity. Do you do some kind of solfege, either fixed or movable Doh? I don't care which, that's a debate for a different forum. Learn Solfege! Learn solfege patterns, doing major and minor scales, 3rds, 4ths, 5th's, 6th's, 7th's. etc. Sing Arban studies, etudes, solos, etc. using solfege. I promise this will help you sense of pitch and awarness of tonality.

Another tool is to take simple tunes that you know i.e., Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, sing the solfege and then play it in all keys, in all registers. Do any tune you can think of, make a list and you will be amazed at how it grows and how your ear grows with it. Gradually do harder tunes.

Also, work on your sound. Lots of SLOW long tones and SLOW lip slurs. REALLY listen to what you are doing. Get lost in the sound. You may not be aware of that aspect of your ear either. Sensitivity to tone is another aspect of the ear. Different people develop different aspects of their pitch/ear awareness at different times and different ways. You can too.

Think about players who never read music. We sometimes look down our noses at those folks because they don't seem as musically educated as we are, but often those are the kind of players that can play any tune in any key and hear the grass grow. We can learn much from those guys. Exercise Your Ear.

I teach ear training at the university level as well as making my tuba/euphonium studio do additional ear training exercises as a part of their studio grade. You can't get your ear TOO good, it can always improve, just exercise it. There are many more areas of ear training that we could get into, but this is a starting point. Get these things going and then get into an improvisation class, that will also help. It's also fun and when you learn to hear changes(chord function/progressions) you can also improve your credit rating and buy more tubas! In teaching ear training, I have never taught a student that I thought was tone deaf. It's all about desire and practice, but then isn't everything! I heard someone say once that, "you will never be a better player than your ear"! Get to work!

[tubatooter1940]

Jeremy,you have to play in tune.There is no way you can reach the goals you outlined without being pretty accurate in pitch.
There are many ways to improve.Working with a fine tuning machine or a trusted friend can give you a idea of how much of a problem you really have.Working in a recording studio gives you access to "fix"some or all stinkers you blow.But in a live performance your ear has to be within reason or your compadres in your band or ensemble will start to plot against you.In most cases an inexperienced player will gradually begin to
lip certain notes in automaticly as he goes along and with more experience
playing with others will do all the weird things (like slide pulling on a fast run)that we must do to make that horn sound sweet.
Please don't be too hard on yourself early on and give your sense of pitch a chance to develop.I agree singing with others,especially in harmony with the melody will develop a good ear.
Tubatooter 1940

[Art Hovey]

In addition to the good suggestions above, I would urge you to start fooling around with a stringed instrument. You can learn a lot about intonation by trying to tune a guitar and to get the chords to sound right. Bowing a cello or a bass is even harder and more educational. As groups, the only people with better pitch sensitivity than violinists are piano tuners.

[Leland]

Heck, just sit there with a piano and hum notes. Learn what it's like to hum the same pitch, and learn what it's like humming intervals (apart from octaves, fourths and fifths are the easiest intervals to hear).

Get rid of all the other mechanical stuff that gets in the way, because by simply pushing down a finger and going "hummmmmmm", all you have left to do is listen to pitch.

When I get in tune, I can't tell when my humming sound stops and the piano's sound starts -- it sounds like the same thing, only with a different color than either sound has on its own.

When you've got an idea of that, then sit there with another player -- a better player, and on low brass, if you can swing it -- and play some long notes together. Have this other player tune to you, so you don't have to worry about adjusting yet. Get the chance to hear what in-tune AND out-of-tune octaves, intervals, and unisons sound like.

If you work on this thoroughly enough, you'll begin to be able to hear whether any other interval is in tune -- 6ths, 2nds, minor 3rds, etc.

A tuner will help, because it'll help to show whether you're getting close to correct pitch. Once you can feel how to alter those pitches, you'll be closer to playing in tune with people around you, and you won't have as far to adjust to match them.

[corbasse]

I think you got most answers in the posts above. A few thoughts which helped me:
- Don't think about being "too high" or 'too low". Instead think of being in tune.
- Blend with the others. As a rule of thumb you can say that if your stick out of the ensemble, it is because you're out of tune! (in section playing it's: if you hear yourself, you're out of tune )
- Focus on a really beautiful sound. A good sound and good intonation tend to go hand in hand. (And you're more easily forgiven if it sounds good but slightly off-center, than if you're right on the mark but with the sound of a vacuum cleaner)