A creative way to practice intonation

Here's something I wrote just now in response to a topic on the Trombone Forum.

Somebody wrote:

One other problem I found while practicing my tuning: I can hear the note in my head before I play it. But when playing it, I will adjust to what I'm playing instead the other way. How could I improve that?

I want to play what I hear in my head, and don't play what my horn wants.

There's no substitute for simply spending hours doing it. Insist on the pitch in your head 100% of the time.

Here's a suggestion for a creative and effective way to practice the awareness of your own pitch intentions:

- Go into a fairly small practice room, as acoustically neutral as you can find, and bring with you your trombone and a blindfold.

- Practice slow scales and arpeggios with the blindfold on (I find that simply closing your eyes is not enough, as it occupies part of your attention to keep your eyes closed).

- Play in a good internal rhythmic framework (I recommend tapping your foot).

- Listen carefully that when you change from one pitch to another you do so exactly in time, and that the new pitch matches the one inside your head without taking any time to adjust. This will not happen right away, but stick with it.


Tuners, metronomes and recording devices are all good tools, but only if we use them to help focus and train our brains. Trial and error usually works...eventually, but I always try to speed up the process by paying attention to the thought process behind the intention, and use the external tools to serve that purpose.