Intonation Advice?

[Cyrilee]

Hey, Tubenet!

I recently started playing on a 188 CC, and I've been noticing a few intonation issues. I have a tendency to play sharp on notes below the C under the staff, probably because I'm not blowing the right way to play low on a German horn. I know horns will have their problem notes, but this seems excessive, and it's more based on me than the horn itself.

That being said, I'm not 100% sure if this is a legitimate intonation issue or if it's simply one of unfamiliarity with the horn. What I've been doing is focusing on tone first while taking note of any pitch tendencies to see if I can ease into playing first, but I'm not sure if this is something I can expect to fix itself or not.

I know a lot of you are far more knowledgeable and experienced than I am, so I thought I'd ask here for any advice or suggestions you're willing to give. Is this something that gets better with just becoming more familiar with the instrument? Or should I start working a lot more on pitch studies with drones/tuners?

[MaryAnn]

See how far up and down in the slot you can move the pitch; people tend to push the note to the top of the slot because it feels more secure. For this I'd use a tuner or a drone to help you memorize the feel of those notes. Perhaps the slots of the notes you're talking about are wider than the slots of the higher notes, and you could be pushing to the top of the slot on *all* the notes and only noticing it on the ones you mentioned.
On my first double (French) horn, I noted the Bb side when used for low notes was sharp to the F side in the same range, and then noted that it was me and I had to play the Bb side differently than the F side if I wanted the low notes on the Bb side to be in tune. I was pushing them to the top of the slot. The correction became automatic after a while.

[GC]

What are you coming to the 188 from? Sometimes habits formed on one horn have to be undone or modified because of the response of a new one.

[oleirgens]

Hey, Tubenet!

I recently started playing on a 188 CC, and I've been noticing a few intonation issues. I have a tendency to play sharp on notes below the C under the staff, probably because I'm not blowing the right way to play low on a German horn. I know horns will have their problem notes, but this seems excessive, and it's more based on me than the horn itself.

That being said, I'm not 100% sure if this is a legitimate intonation issue or if it's simply one of unfamiliarity with the horn. What I've been doing is focusing on tone first while taking note of any pitch tendencies to see if I can ease into playing first, but I'm not sure if this is something I can expect to fix itself or not.

I know a lot of you are far more knowledgeable and experienced than I am, so I thought I'd ask here for any advice or suggestions you're willing to give. Is this something that gets better with just becoming more familiar with the instrument? Or should I start working a lot more on pitch studies with drones/tuners?

I am just an amateur, but I care about intonation. My favorite tool is an intonation table, containing all the notes in my playable range for my instrument, supplied with little (or big) arrows for the pesky out-of tune notes - and some alternative fingerings where necessary. The tuner is a great tool for making this table.

My experience is that all tubas have intonation issues, and that nearly all can be managed by adressing them in a proper way. Slide pulling, pitching up or down, alternative fingerings, shortening the MTS or maybe a trigger - YMMV. My experience is also that when you play the instrument, most of the intonation issues will disappear, because you use your lips and your ears and yourself will adjust more or less automagically to the special challenges you face for your particular horn.