Intonation Innovations

Students have been exploring techniques for developing intonation skills this week. Several students have begun their musical journeys on piano -an instrument for which considerations about intonation are null. However, as un-fretted stringed instrument warriors, we violinists must turn our faces to the wind and work.

My favorite techniques lately have been to practice with a multi harmonic drone playing alongside. For instance, my students have been using a cello drone in B flat as they meditate upon the B flat Major scale.

Hearing a multi-harmonic, rich sound like a cello helps because it provides a consistent, complex, and resonant frequency spectrum that acts as a precise reference. The rich overtones of the cello, specifically the lower frequencies, create clear audible beats or “locking” sensations when the target instrument is in tune, resulting in a resonant sound. 

• Abundant Harmonics (Overtones): A cello produces a complex sound rich in overtones and harmonics (integer multiples of the fundamental frequency). These overtones act as acoustic markers that make it easier for the human ear to identify when another instrument’s string matches or perfectly resonates with it.
• Clearer Beating: When tuning, the interaction between the complex harmonic structure of the cello and another instrument allows the tuner to hear “beating” (a pulsing sound) that slows down and disappears when the notes are perfectly in tune.
• Fundamental Reference: The cello’s lower register offers a very stable, fundamental pitch, providing a solid, audible base (like a “choir of angels”) that is easier to match against than higher-pitched, thinner instruments.

In fact, during lessons while providing the drone with my violin, students and I could FEEL the clash of vibrations when we were not playing with precise intonation. My violin acts like a resonant body, causing the strings on my students instruments to vibrate in sympathy when they are in tune and vice versa, so the resonance increases when intonation is precise; it is something that can be felt and experienced.

Another favorite is to have the students play the root of their scale between each note as they ascend and descend. This techniques builds our experiences with intervals and invites deep listening.