Band directors, private instructors, and college professors always say that musicians need to listen: to themselves and to the ensemble. As a teacher, one of main concerns is always “What exercises do I give my students to develop the skill-set we are working on?” I find myself constantly asking this question, and is typically one of the first questions I asked to other teachers during a clinic.
The first part of the lecture focuses on using drone pitches when teaching the student how listen to tuning beats. Along with the tuning beats that a student leans to hear, the student also begins to develop an even air column and buzz, as any little variation in their air will produce the beats. To try this out for yourself, head over to my page about Long Tones, and try out exercise 6.
The second part of this lectures covers the pro’s and con’s of equal temperament and just intonation for unaccompanied solo performances. Examples come from standard etude books to compare a live performance in two different temperaments. Again, the use of a drone helps to solidify pitch placement and possibly alternate fingerings to help achieve the desired tuning system.
The final part of this lecture applies this knowledge to orchestral excerpts. Strategies are provided to determine which drone pitch should be used during specific sections of each excerpt. This provides the student with a stable pitch center that adjusts when the harmonic structure changes