| I'm not as qualified as Manny, either, but I have had my conductors and principal make some very good comments about my improved intonation. This is what I did:
1. Invest in a BERP. During the warm-up, I use the tuner function of my Dr. Beat to set a constant pitch, and begin a P5 above the sounding note. I listen for the resultant tone between the BERP (me, actually) and the tone. Then play (softly) either some "lip slur" excercises or scale passages.
2. During my lip flexibility practice I do the same, but set the tuner to the fundamental of the slur (the last note).
3. Practice in a very live room, and listen for the "ringing" of overtones-even at pp.
4. Sing! Sing! (let me say it again at the risk of being redundant) Sing!
A few years agao, there was a program developed by Coda Music Technologies (makers of SmartMusic and Finale) called Intonation trainer. The program enables you (among other things) to make a database of all the out of tune notes on your instrument, and how far off they are. |