Perhaps you’re very confident in your intonation. Then again, perhaps you’re not. If you’re in the latter group, you’re not alone – in fact you’re in the majority.

Rule number one: intonation counts. If you’re just playing without giving any thought to intonation, you’re almost certainly playing out of tune at least part of the time.

Rule number two: even if you’re completely obsessed with intonation, you probably won’t be perfectly in tune on every single note.

Intonation can be a scary concept for flutists. Unlike string players, it’s not something we’ve normally been taught since day one – so not as well ingrained in our psyches. Yet the high range of the flute (and even more the piccolo) lends itself to sounding particularly horrific when played out of tune (click here for a great article explaining why this is so). And the answers appear to be less straight forward than for questions about correct notes, dynamics, rhythms, and so forth – intonation reaches into a less concretely tangible realm – it appears that either you understand it or you don’t and if you don’t there seems to be no way in – and maybe your teacher didn’t really explain it in a way that you understood, so there you are out in limbo land.

The fact that flutists can pretty much get by with just putting down the right fingers without being terribly out of tune is great in some ways, but unfortunately, “pretty much getting by” isn’t actually playing truly in tune. Fortunately however, the majority of intonation problems are predictable and therefore possible to find and eliminate. It’s beyond the scope here to cover ALL possible issues for EVERY flutist and EVERY flute, but with a few tips you may be able to get rid of most of your intonation problems in time for the audition, as well as allaying some of the fear and trepidation you experience in hearing the word “intonation.” So never fear! Follow as many of these tips as you are able to apply, and you’ll be a notch ahead of where you were, as well as being better set up to avoid intonation issues in the future, and build on your success.

A few common intonation issues:

1)      high range tends to be sharp, low range tends to be flat. This is an overgeneralization, but something to watch for.

2)      forte tends to be sharp; piano tends to be flat.

3)      flutist go flat at the ends of phrases and/or when running out of air

4)      some notes are inherently sharp and some inherently flat, and this varies from one flute and one player to another. I’ve just done an internet search, compared with a few books I own as well as my own experience with my own and my students’ and colleagues’ experiences, and am finding that, beyond general agreement that the low range is often flat and the high range often sharp, specific note details appear to be a highly variable matter of opinion among the experts. IF you are confident with steps 1 – 4 and still have time before the audition, then start getting to know your flute better – notice which notes tend to be flat, and which tend to be sharp FOR YOU – on YOUR flute.

What to do about the above likely issues (please bear in mind that every suggestion listed below is in the “everything is relative” category – you may interpret this in an entirely different way than is intended – I’m hoping to break this down in the future – meantime please do check with a tuner AND your teacher to confirm that you’re on the right track):

1)      if sharp, aim down with upper lip, if flat blow more across with lower lip

2)      if sharp, part the teeth further – open wider – and aim down (maybe try sticking 2 fingers between your teeth to get the feeling of how wide you can be); if flat have teeth a little closer together and aim more across

3)      keep up diaphragm power even when short of breath, especially at ends of phrases. Take full breaths at every opportunity.

4)      work on consistent posture – stand tall and relaxed. Slouching will lead to flat playing and less overall control. Inconsistent posture will lead to erratic intonation. Consistent tall and relaxed posture will give you more room for embouchure maneuvers.

5)      In addition to listening carefully to the best of your ability, check with your tuner on any questionable spots– this will give you the idea of where changes need to happen. Better yet, get “The Tuning CD” and play with it daily – including specific sections of your audition piece (click here for Jennifer Cluff’s great suggestions on how to use it). Just a few minutes a day will move you in the right direction (more can wear out your ear to the point of temporary dysfunction – so this will be most effective as a long term project – be patient and persistent!).

6)      If you’re not able to correct the intonation with embouchure alone, it may be helpful to raise or lower your head for a specific note or section (use this technique only occasionally). The basic idea is that the angle of the air going into the embouchure hole will have a great impact on the pitch. However DO NOT roll the flute itself in or out – this is just a bad habit which will lead you into difficulties too numerous to list here.

7)      Since the Vermont All State audition is unaccompanied, the relative intonation of your flute to itself is what I’m focused on here. But it would be a good idea to get your flute tuned to your tuner, with A at 440 – which you can do by playing a note with your tuner and pulling the head joint out if sharp, or pushing it in if flat. (Also be aware that the way your head joint is lined up with the body can make a huge difference – so consistent line-up from day to day is important).

Regarding the first two movements of the Bach E flat Sonata specifically, here are just a few things to note (stay tuned – I hope to be posting links to other audition repertoire details for other years):

1. When shaping the dynamics of each phrase, be careful to avoid sharping the louder parts and flattening the softer parts.
2. There’s often triple trouble at the ends of phrases: first, you’re running out of air; second, you’re often shaping the phrase to end with a piano dynamic level; third, you’re often descending from the higher range to the lower range. ALL three of these elements lead to FLAT playing – SO check your phrase endings with the tuner or with the tuning CD and be ready to use your lower lip to aim up, with teeth closer together to help the air move more upward, keep the diaphragm pressure up and controlled despite lack of air (and plan your breaths so that even under pressure of nerves you’ll know you won’t run out completely) AND be prepared to assist by raising your head a bit if you need to. (If none of these work, ask your teacher and/or analyze whether you’re really doing the steps as mentioned – if it doesn’t make sense, a good teacher should be able to help you through this).
3. In the Siciliano there are several spot where you slur a 6^th upward – m. 3: C-A-C; m. 5: E-C-E; and so forth. Watch out! You inherently need embouchure shifts just to reach the upper note cleanly and jumping nearly an octave in tune requires major embouchure confidence. Spend extra time on these notes specifically – make sure that you can get the note to speak clearly AND in tune 100 times out of 100 in order to go into the audition with full confidence. In my experience, the A2 in measure 3 can be the worst culprit, since I find that A to be inherently flat generally, and reaching up from the lower C exaggerates that tendency.

This is really only a starter. It is difficult to cover the bases in print, so hopefully your teacher can help you fine tune this. For some, reading it in print doesn’t work because you’re not actually making the embouchure shifts accurately – and if this is the case you’re not alone! Some people need to put a couple of fingers between your teeth to really realize how far apart your teeth need to be in order to really aim down and bring the pitch down. Again, if it doesn’t work, find a teacher who can help, or use a different suggestion on the list and do the best you can.

Your goal is to start where you are and make a few improvements. I would doubt that many, if any, at the Vermont All State audition will have intonation that is truly perfect. But if you can eliminate the most common intonation errors, you will be ahead of the majority.

(Added note: I am hoping to put up a series of entries on intonation with greater detail and logically sequenced in bite sized pieces – I will attempt to update with a link here in the future).

Next week: Entry #4 – Falling in love with the music! (links below)

Click here for Bach Eb Major Sonata

Click here for Mozart Concerto in G

Click here for Bizet Menuet