Matching Pitch

[Allen]

The other day, an amusing event occured when I was playing with my teacher. I sensed that I was a little sharp relative to him, and pulled a slide to play a bit lower. At the same instant, he sensed that he was a little flat relative to me, and pushed a slide to play a bit higher. Well, at least both of us were listening! We just had not decided (in advance) who was to set the pitch standard. He was trying to accomodate a student, and I was trying to match my teacher's pitch.

It made me wonder about how we should be tuning to each other in ensembles. For a duet, it's simple: one player leads. For more than two players, it gets more complicated. If there is a tuba section, there is how does the section stay in tune. Then, there's the issue of whether the tuba (section) should set the pitch of the ensemble, or should try to track the pitch of the rest of the ensemble.

I would like to hear comments on how others decide what to do, and how they implement their decision.

Allen Walker

[The Impaler]

As far as ensemble playing goes, the tuba section (in a band) always sets the pitch standard, as well as time and balance. It's just the natural way things occur. In any ensemble, the players' ears will automatically reference the lowest audible sound for time, pitch, and balance. Not because they want to, or they're trained to, but because that's the way our ears work. So, in response to at least a part of Schlep's thread, absolutely tubas are responsible for setting the pitch of the ensemble.

[Rick F]

In a section you're supposed to match your section leader's intonation. Art Lehman wrote about this in his book, "The Brass Musician". We just hope the section leader is listening to his pitch with the rest of the group.

[Rick Denney]

He was trying to accomodate a student, and I was trying to match my teacher's pitch.

The right answer is that both should align their pitch with the correct pitch for the note, the chord, and the key. (Yes, I agree that this is not always easy, espcially in ensembles with poor intonation skills.)

Where the problem is more prevalent is not within sections, but across sections. At rehearsal last night, we played the Holst first suite. I was the only tuba player, and we had no euphonium players at the rehearsal. The tenor sax player played the euphonium cues (unnecessarily) in the Chaconne, and played them considerably out of tune with me. I could possibly have adjusted my pitch to him, but in fact he was very sharp and I was not (for once). The conductor did the right thing in asking him to align his pitch to mine. The tenor sax player was less accustomed to listening for pitch across the band than with his section mates. My best contribution was to put out the cleanest sound I could to be easier to tune to.

In a big section, the section leader should set the pitch standard. Usually it's not necessary, however. The players who are good enough to adjust to the section leader generally don't have to be told to do so, and sections with players who won't align to the section leader probably lack the skill to do so in any case. Sections with one good player and several who can't adjust their pitches may put a burden on the good player to work with what he has in the section to make the section sound good, recognizing that this may cause other problems in the ensemble, but choosing that approach as the least damaging.

Rick "better at intonation than he used to be, but still struggling with it" Denney