rom the moment the left hand meets the fingerboard,

the beginning string student and his or her teacher are faced with
one of the greatest challenges of string playing:intonation. Teachers
must work diligently and creatively to help their students set their
hand positions right and train them to listen constantly. So it is a big
step forward when the hands no longer wander, the finger spacing
is fairly well set, and students are able to play reasonably well in tune
on their own. Of course, teachers continue to assign scales and correct
pitch problems when necessary, but with so much else to be done to
help students progress through their intermediate stages of playing,
the focus at lessons easily veers awayfrom specific intonation study.
For advanced students, this non-specific attention to intonation is
probably not enough. Teachers can pursue intonation work with students
in such a way that their intonation skills continue to improve on par
with their advancing technique and musicianship. Teachers need to be
sure that students really know and understand how to listen and choose
their intonation.
,-"i,. "Of course, we can tell our students what we hear: "The D-flatneeds
to be lower," or "You're going sharp in your high positions." But we
cannot install our ears on our students, and we certainly can't do the
playing for them. In order for them to make the transition from
advanced students to fine, independent musicians, teachers must
help them develop the listening and tuning skills they need so that
they can begin to choose the most beautiful intonation themselves.

advanced

helping students
understand
what they hear
>> Cornelia Watkins

86 I AMERICAN STRING TFACHER I FEBRUARY 2004


In the book Teaching Genius, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg
described one of the ways Dorothy DeLay would coax her students
to play well in tune:
"Play it again. Really listen. What is wrong?"
"Well," someone might say,. "l think the B-flat is out of tune."
"Are you sure that note is out of tune? Play it again.
Play it again."
"Yes, that note is out of tune."
"Why is it out of tune?"
Sometimes I'd get so mad I'd yell, "t don't know! Why are
you getting paid? What is this, I'm teaching mysett?"
Certainly the process would have been less time-consuming for
DeLay-and less annoying to her student-to have simply said, "The
B-flatis out of tune." But she knew that it was more important that
her student knew it was out of tune, and that the student knew why
it was out of tune-and not just that the finger was in the wrong
place. Our advanced students should begin to do both: notice when
a note or passage is out of tune, and be able to answer the question
"Why?" well enough to discover the most beautiful intonation.
We can help them by offering small but potent lessons in ear
training, acoustics, music theory, and history that relate directly to
•
•
what it means to play in tune. As their awareness increases, students
begin to refine their ability to listen and make artistic choices about
their own intonation.
ear training and tuning
A good starting point to help students refine their intonation skills
is honing their ability to hear intervals, and the easiest intervals to
hear well are perfect intervals. From their earliest lessons, students
have heard the sound of fifths to tune their instruments, and have
learned to use unisons and octaves to test certain notes. But to go
deeper, I want to be sure my students know why perfect intervals
sound perfect.
With my own rather crude drawings, I show my students what
the sound waves look like and how they line up 1:1, 2:1, 3:2, and
4:3-though I often wish I had an oscilloscope so I could really
show them this. We experiment with playing perfect intervals out of
tune, hearing the beats of sound waves banging against each other,
and listening to those beats slowlyand gradually converge as the
intervals are adjusted into "perfect" alignment. Such ear training
heightens students' listening sensitivities and increases their ability
to fine-tune a perfect interval that is slightly out, rather than leaving
it as "good enough."
The next step is to contrast these sounds to all other consonant
intervals. Students are challenged to decide on a comfortable rela-
tionship between, for instance, an F-sharp against the open A string
when they have just spent the last few minutes tuning perfect inter-
vals. After growing accustomed to the clarity of a perfect interval,
the beats of a third come as a shock to their ears, whereas, in the
past, it may never have bothered them before-a very positive sign
of more attentive listening! But of course these intervals require
our tolerance of beats, so I have my students continue to listen and
experiment until they have adjusted for the most satisfactory rela-
tionships. We'll also change between major and minor thirds and
sixths so that they can listen for the quality of the sounds that make
the shift from major to minor so intrinsically different.
At this point, we can venture into listening to the more dissonant
intervals of seconds, sevenths, and tritones, which are the most diffi-
cult to hear. According to Glenn Schellenberg, associate professor
in the Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology
at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of
Toronto (OISE-UT), "People are very good at detecting small shifts
in frequency-so are infants. Detecting that an interval is mistuned
slightlyis much more difficult. Detecting a mistuning to a consonant
interval (P5, octave, etc.) is easier than detecting a mistuning to a
dissonant interval."
Students find dissonances less challenging when they hear them
in a musical context, so I often demonstrate how these intervals
want to resolve. When students hear a tritone of F-sharp and C
resolving to G and B, or an augmented sixth of E-flat and C-sharp
moving outward to an octave D, they focus their ears on the musical
direction of the notes in the dissonance, making the dissonance
FEBRUARY 2004 I AMERJCAN STRING TEACHER I 87
 continued from page 87
easier to accept. Of course, even though dissonant intervals clash
by nature, their sounds should not be confused with pitches that
are simply out of tune with one another. Bychoosing two adjacent
notes that are easy to tune, such as a G and an A, students can learn
the sound of a major second and use that as a model for all other
seconds they hear.
In a short amount of time, such an ear training lesson leaves
students much better equipped to recognize all diatonic intervals.
Practicing with a drone becomes an excellent wayfor students to
work because they are more attuned to the variety of consonant
relationships and much less likely to reject dissonant relationships
as sounding bad.
tuning with open strings, harmonics,
and perfect intervals
The electronic tuner has recently become standard equipment for
most music students, and while it is a great tool, the tuner is not
what creates beautiful intonation. Rather, it is the sound of the rela-
tionships between the notes played, and the relationship of those
notes to the open strings. The essential ground rule is this: we use
well-tuned open strings as our stable points of reference to which
we tune all other notes. As such, all fingered Es, As, Ds, Gs, and Cs
• are pitches that have virtually no flexibility in tuning-they simply
must be in tune with our open strings. As long as the strings are
true, unisons and octaves tested to the open strings and their har-
monics through the third partial give us the most accurate tests for
these pitches. I have my students explore as many of these tests as
they can find and help them fill in the blanks when they need assis-
tance. Once they are familiar with these tests, students can learn to
relate other pitches-Bs, Fs, and all chromatic notes-to these stable
reference pitches.
Es are a real bother to tune on cellos, though, because without
an E string, the only test is the harmonic on the A string, one to
three octaves higher than any E we play in the lower positions. Stu-
dents may be tempted to test the E to the A string because it's a
fourth-a perfect interval, after all. But this method opens a real
Pandora's Box when it comes to intonation.
Nevertheless, when the question arises in a lesson, I take my
students through this experiment: First be sure your instrument is
tuned well to an electronic tuner, then set the tuner aside and play
the fourth below, tuning the E to your open A string, listening for
the best interval you can find with no beats:
~: 3 primary sacrifice that came with this equalization was the need to
Now relate that E back to the open D, or check it with your tuner.
What did you discover? Next, play the major sixth below, adjusting
the E to the open G string until you find the relationship that has
the fewestbeats (be sure to explore out to the boundaries of what's
too sharp and too flat before you decide):
88 I AMERICAN STRING TEACHER I FEBRUARY 2004
I)
o
Again, check how the E you found relates to the open D, the tuner,
or, for a real shock, play that pitch against the open A string. Wow!
First the E was sharp, then flat, and yet both sounded like perfectly
good Es in each separate acoustical context.
Finally, find the E that your tuner says is in tune, and play
that pitch with your A and G strings. What do you hear? Are you
satisfied with the sound of either of those intervals? So what's
going on here? As complex as the reasons are, I use these questions
as a point of departure for very intriguing conversations with my
students about the history of tuning and how it relates to present-
day tuning problems.
music history and tuning
To give them some intellectual stimulation and historical perspective,
I like to take my students back to the very early days of polyphony,
when perfect intervals were considered the only true consonances
because of the purity of the sonorities. Here is a concise way of
explaining the history of tuning systems to students:
When monks chanted in highly resonant stone cloisters,
unisons, octaves, fifths, and fourths were obvious choices to use as
their primary intervals because those intervals rang clear and true.
Beat-less thirds and other intervals from the harmonic series were
also used, but anything dissonant was used sparingly and always
resolved to perfect intervals.
This type of intonation, based on the purity of perfect intervals
of the overtone series, is referred to as just intonation and was the
basis of most tuning for more than two thousand years.' But by the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with the development of key-
board and fretted instruments, just intonation became increasingly
problematic. Keyboard instruments that were tuned with just fifths
had a pitch discrepancy at the end of the tuning cycle,which meant
that certain key modulations were almost unbearably out of tune,
and often instruments needed to be retuned to accommodate a
piece in a different key. Trying to correct the problems that just
intonation caused, theorists began exploring other tuning possibilities,
and the development of various temperaments made it possible for
a keyboard and fretted instrument to be acceptably well tuned in
any key.'
Ultimately equal temperament was established, and every half
step was given the same measurement, defined as 100 cents. But the
tighten the fifth by two cents, and therefore widen the fourth by the
same amount. So while unisons and octaves have remained the
same, the fifths of equal temperament are smaller, and the fourths
larger, than acoustically pure fifths and fourths ofjust intonation.
The adjustment is subtle, so when we tune our strings now, we
are generally accustomed to hearing them slightly closer together
than an acoustically perfect fifth, and tend not to think of them as
being out of tune. But if we go back to the appropriate to the musical circumstances.
problem of tuning our E against the A string When students encounter such a spelling
to find the perfect fourth with no beats, the in a piece, we sing, play, and listen to the
revelation of how sharp it is to our tempered intonation, and ultimately the practical difference between two different Es: one
system can be startling! The reason the E advantage of being able to play in any key that would fit as the stable third of a C major
that sounds good against the G string is flat outweighed the special expressive possibility chord, the other as a leading F-flat that
is that low E is the beatless sixth (5:3) from of one note attracting another. But we have craves resolution to the E-flat. To keep our-
the overtone series that was used unques- the opportunity and the advantage over selves honest, we'll look at the tuner and
tioningly for centuries. If you're a cellist or equal-tempered instruments to make a sub- see how much they might vary from an
violist, try the harmonic under E on the C tle change to a note like an F-flat, to make equal-tempered E. Through such attentive
string. It's probably close to the E you found, it more melodically expressive when it is
almost 16 cents flat to the tuner.
The fact that our tuning system has
inconsistencies is often a surprising revela-
tion to students, many of whom consider
intonation a grievous personal problem. I
am happy to relieve them of that small por-
tion of blame. Yet the burden is still on us
as string players to make the intonation
sound right. The realization that there really
is more than one way to play in tune is not
bad for an advanced player because, from
that point, there is only one real answer:
listen. Intonation is never absolute but always
relative-relative to the acoustics of our own
instrument, relative to the pitches around
it, whether they are melodic or harmonic
in nature, relative to the other instruments
we play. As we play, we simply must listen
well and choose what sounds best.

music theory and tuning

As students progress, their music becomes
more complex and the more enharmonic
spellings of notes they see in their music,
especially confounding-looking ones like
F-flats and G-double-sharps. Students who
have had little or no music theory often
find these spellings downright maddening.
If needed, I'll give a basic theory lesson
on how scales and triads are built, and the
use of leading tones in tonal music-and
why those weird-looking notes are not there
just to torment the student personally!
But, invariably, the next question is whether
an F-flat really is the same note as an E,
which leads to an exploration of attractive
intonation, also known as tendency or expres- Peter Zaret & Sons Violins, Inc.
sive intonation. 1-888-VIOLIN2 (846-5462)
The introduction of equal temperament 5767 Mayfield Rd.> Cleveland, OR 44124
was the great stabilizer and equalizer of 9500 Brooktree Rd.· Wexford, PA 15090
email: pzaret@concentric.net

FEBRUARY 2004 I AMERICAN STRING TEACHER I 89

 continued from page 89

awareness of tuning, students can begin to make astute choices about pitches that satisfy
the ear and the needs of the music.
How much we can allow ourselves to use expressive intonation will always depend
upon the type of music, instruments we play, and our role in the piece. Is it solo Bach
or the Carter Sonata? Are we playing in a quartet or in a section in an orchestra? Are we
playing the melodic line or a supporting harmony? Equal temperament has become the
established measure of what is considered in tune and is therefore essential to master,
so working with a tuner is a must for students. But the music we play on our instruments
should always be an extension of our inner voice, and the most beautiful intonation will
not always come out of the external structure of tempered tuning. I would never want
students to begin a piece like Bruch's KolNidre feeling obligated to equal temperament,
when what they need to be doing is singing the music from the inside and playing that
C-sharp in the first phrase where it gives the music its most potent expression.

seeing the bigger picture

Students should always have a repertoire of hands-on practice techniques so that their
study of intonation remains practical and applicable to their instrument and the pieces
they play (see Practical Advice for Intonation Study on page 91). Of course there will always
be times during lessons when other important issues demand our attention, and a com-
ment such as "the G-sharp was flat" is the best way to handle an intonation problem.
These in-depth explorations of intonation are not for every student at every lesson,
and, in fact, should probably take place only when the occasion seems right and the
student seems ready for a new step. Obviously, this work takes some extra time out of
a few lessons, but for the advanced player, it is time well spent. Once our students' ears
are more attentive and focused, and their minds are engaged, they begin to listen to
themselves with understanding, and take on more personal responsibility to choose their
pitches well.
If Dorothy DeLaycame back to life and asked one of my advanced students the question,
"Why is the B-flat out of tune?" it would be my goal that any of them could say, "because
it wasn't a pure fifth with the F," or, "because it wasn't in tune with the B-flat in the piano
part," or, "it wasn't leading down toward the A strongly enough." When students can hear
their intonation with that kind of clarity,focus, and understanding, they have what it takes
to make playing in tune a conscious choice, and they are on the road toward wonderful,
independent artistry. (j)

1. Barbara Lourie Sand, Teaching Genius (Portland, Oreg.: Amadeus Press, 2000).
2. Email correspondence with author.
3. TheHarvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Don Michael Randel (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap
Press, 1999)
4. For several clearly explained and interesting discussions on temperaments, visit www.thetuningcd.com/
intonation_links.htrn.

90 I AMERICAN STRING TEACHER I FEBRUARY 2004