Quote:
Originally Posted by Joel Larsson
Yes, well, what I tried to say was that if you play with a drone, you are likely to play what sounds best, i.e. a scale that's relatively in tune. But you must also be able to play in tune in all keys after you stop playing with the drone. You run the risk - and that was/is still my case - of never establishing an intonation that always works, or can work as a reference point to the relatively in tune notes. If you can play a chromatically in tune scale, you can relate all other notes to the ones perfectly in pitch; you must know where an absolute F# is in order to know where to play a low one, or in the end you may not know whether the note you are playing is high, low, or in tune, and that will most likely afftect the next notes as well, as it is easy to deviate from the 'truth' or absolute pitch of the instrument; everything relative needs something absolute in relation to which it is relative, or it could technically speaking not exist. Sorry for getting into philosophy here.  |
OK, so what you are saying is that the 3rd and 6th scale degrees are the ones to worry about? Unison is perfect, 4th is perfect, 5th is perfect, octave is perfect. Second is one whole step away from the drone, and the seventh is one half step below the drone. The only notes that have a chance to be "imperfect" with the drone are the 3rd and 6th. These are notes which will vary depending on the ensemble you are playing with.
Audiation- or internalizing the pitch, is the key to this. You must always hear the drone! Even when it is no longer playing. Also, I am advocating playing all the scales with it. Chromatic included. I have my students in the Rollez three octave scale study book, which each study concludes in a three octave chromatic scale. The drone works for these too.
The biggest point I am trying to make is:
If you can't hear it, you can't play it! Period. I feel that having students work with a drone forces them to play the "right" notes. I have thousands of hours of real time experience with this concept. It works. You can use your open strings, but that limits which scales you can play with the drone and which fingerings you can use. You need an external drone such as this:
http://www.navarrorivermusic.com/cello_drones.php
You can make your own with a keyboard, or even turn on a chromatic tuner to listen to.
I guarantee this will improve your intonation, unless you are a top professional player that has perfect pitch. It improved mine. Seven of the ten bass players in our senior region orchestra are my students this year- it works for them. Give it two weeks. If you don't feel it has helped your intonation I will give you your money back!
BTW, Joel- Pitch is not absolute... because no one is perfect. We are all relatively in tune or out of tune. Absolute pitch is a concept, not reality.
Brian