Double Bass Intonation - How, where and when do you teachers start?

[David Potts]

There are often threads that start by asking for advice on using drones or tuners to improve intonation or muscle memory for note finding. After much debate about intonation that often hijacks the original intention of the thread poster I am often left wondering how other teachers go about teaching it to beginners.

Of course there can be lines or marks on the fingerboard, electronic tuners and drones but there are also basic concepts such as structures, for example -

What is a scale, an octave, a fifth, a tone, a half tone, an arpeggio or broken chord?

Many beginner systems/tutors use children's nursery songs because the ear has been programmed from a very early age to confidently hear the various steps between notes. But there are often beginners who have never had this exposure or who just can't sing in tune.

How and when do you teachers go about laying down the foundations for understanding and producing good intonation. There is also so much knowledge about reading music, bowing, fingering and putting everything together to impart in a logical manner during the early stages..

Your thoughts, please.
DP

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

With my students it's all about singing and getting them to hear what they're trying to play in tune before they attempt to reproduce it on their instrument. I tell them that their ability to sing in tune represents what they are truly hearing, so we will often work on that and then transfer the passage we have just sung on to the instrument; at this point, we can work on what the physical manifestation of the intervals we just sang would be in the hand, and the various options for fingering the passage.

I won't go into a whole drone monologue here, but I do use them in the singing phases as well, often having the student sing directly into the speaker cone so that they can feel the "sweet spot" of each pitch; when transferring to the bass, I focus on the notion that just as there is a kinesthetic sense of "in-tune-ness" in the air and vocal chords when singing against a fixed pitch, there is a similar sense to be had on the
bass in the fingertips and body, and that one only has to become more aware of the feeling of the vibrations to begin to utilize it.

 

[damonsmith]

I try to spilt things up and attack it from all side. I have them practice the correct left hand shape with out sound. I have them sing. I have them play Simandl.

I also look for the weakness: can they not hear it or not play it?
If they have a sharp ear but can't make the fine adjustments in the had to get the note, we'll focus on that. If they just are not hearing the note, we'll work on singing it.
I use that first Vivaldi Sonata in Bb and the first line goes up to an Eb, which is often a bit of trouble for most students and singing it usually gets it.

In my experience really working through the early Simandl etudes still does wonders.

 

[mcnaire2004]

I'm not an experienced teacher. But when I do teach I teach what helped me. The first thing was repeating a note on the same pitch. For example, if you are doing vomit scales in the key of C, the first think I would try and get them to do is to play the same C they played last time. Once they hear that then they can start getting the other notes every time.

 

[powerbass]

I am a student, not a teacher. The consistent message my teacher stresses for proper intonation is left hand position (Simandl). My intonation suffers because of improper left hand strength, finger position and note precision. drilling the fundamentals of hand position and shifting is essential combined w/ear training.

 

[David Potts]

I had time to think about this subject some more. Probably what best describes my usual initial approach is as follows -

(1) Pick very easy teaching material to start in First Position. For this purpose I use "Tricks to Tunes", Book 1, by Audrey Ackerman, an Australian publication. It only utilises the D and G strings and completes D Major in Third Position near its end.
(2) This book begins with simple notation and then open D string. Here I use the simplest bow hold with thumb outside the frog. It is easiest for drawing the bow at 90 degrees to the top two strings and gives time to set up the sitting or standing position and LH arm height.
(3) The first fingered note in this book is E on the D string and then F sharp, etc, until the D Major scale is slowly built up. Interspersed are nursery songs and simple tunes that use the notes learned so far. So for quite a while the hand is stretching and spacing a whole tone.
(4) To tune this E I first get my beginner to explore the sound of a 5th, using A on the G string and open D. Sometimes I use a pencil mark on the fingerboard so they can see its distance from the open G. Then I say E is beside A and use E to open A string to hear that 5th. I don't use tapes to mark notes - pencil lines are easy to wear off or erase.
(5) All the time I am assessing my student's sensitivity to pitch variations as I start to establish their basic LH shapes. I try to keep their fingers arched even if the youngest kids can't quite comfortably stretch a whole tone.
(6) I do relate new notes back to open D but I don't use it often as a drone. Because they can be both seen and heard I relate F sharp to both D and G, and B to G and D.
(7) When it comes to completing the D scale I start by hearing the octave D accurately, using the 1st. finger with thumb in the base of the neck. I use the sound of the top D to set the pinkie on the same note and then set up the hand shape and smaller spread of fingers. I teach the D scale descending because it is easier than ascending and the hand is returning to a position that they already know. The scale ascending comes later, when they are also using the notes in tunes.
(8) At the end of "Tricks to Tunes" I move across to "I Bags The Bass", Book 3 (First Position) by CHris Belshaw, another Australian teacher. This contains many of the same tunes, has almost no fingerings and includes 2nd. finger notes and playing all the notes across four strings in simple keys.
(9) This is when I might change the bow hold to the more common thumb placement, still not talking much about the finer points of how the right arm should move the bow. That comes later, after First then Half Positions in the Simandl Tutor. Here I also start to talk about shifting and introduce some more repertoire in parallel to avoid boredom.
(10) Students can usually work fairly quickly through the above books. It is not necessary to do every tune in the "I Bags The Bass" book before jumping to Simandl First Position and insisting more on good intonation produced by good LH hand shape and careful string crossings.

I base much of my thoughts and later instruction about intonation on both seeing and hearing the structure of a scale as a concept that is applied to any given starting note. Each Major and minor scale is made up of two tetrachords (literally "four sounds"). I use the metaphor of mentally and physically throwing a succession of bull's eyes with a dart. I don't advocate using metronomes, drones or tuners a lot because I want students to internalise rythm and pitch and not rely heavily on external crutches. Having said that the best external crutches are to play with people who are stronger and more secure than you, or accompaniment by a well tuned piano. They are the ones who suffer while waiting for you to improve!!

I can see the value in singing and "do re me" training but not every beginner comes able to sing in tune or with prior exposure to our nursery tunes (and our Western musical structures in general).

Cheers everyone,
DP