Lesson 84: Virtuoso Studies, Part 4 — Intonation

Identify the four pitches on your particular recorder that are reliably out of tune.
Memorise an alternate fingering or breath-pressure adjustment for each of those four pitches.

Every recorder is slightly out of tune. The work is knowing where.

Each individual recorder has a small set of pitches that are reliably sharp or flat. The intonation work is not bending notes in real time, but knowing where the problem pitches are and what to do about them.

The diagnostic

Play each note of the chromatic scale at mezzo-forte against a tuner and mark which pitches read more than ten cents off. Common culprits on Baroque-fingered altos:

F sharp (high) — usually sharp by 15–25 cents.
G sharp — sharp or flat depending on the maker.
High C sharp — flat by 10–15 cents.
Cross-fingered B-flat — flat at low breath pressure, sharp at high.

Three fixes

Alternate fingering — consult a chart (Hotteterre, van Hauwe) and try the alternates.
Breath pressure — less pressure lowers a sharp pitch, more raises a flat one; use sparingly, the tone changes too.
Tuning the instrument — pull the joint to flatten, push to sharpen; once per session, not per note.

The drone drill

Play each note of the D major scale against a sustained D drone, listening for beats — the audible pulsing of two pitches slightly out of tune.

Each whole note played against a sustained D drone. Listen for beats.

The daily warm-up

Ten minutes per session:

Two minutes of chromatic-scale diagnostic against the tuner.
Four minutes of drone-drill on the day's key.
Four minutes of long tones on your four problem pitches, bringing each within ten cents.

Now play these

Telemann: Twelve Fantasias, TWV 40:104: Slow movements expose intonation; apply the drone work to its long notes.
Handel: HWV 362 — slow movements: Replay with the drone-drill discipline; the long held notes are the test.

When the drone drill produces no audible beats on any long tone, move on to Lesson 85.