Intonation (music)

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Intonation, in music, is a player's realization of pitch accuracy in music to oneself and across an ensemble. If musicians have "bad intonation", it means they play or sing out of tune. Intonation can also mean tuning.

[edit] Strings

In string instruments, intonation is more of a worry than in other instruments. Because most string instruments are unfretted, if a finger is too high or too low by even a fraction of an inch, the note will be out of tune. The process of gaining good intonation typically takes many years of playing to acquire and is arguably the hardest part of learning a stringed instrument.

The same principles of intonation that apply to strings apply to the trombone, because the trombone uses a slide instead of valves. However, the margin of error is much wider on the trombone as it has only seven basic slide positions on a slide length of over 80 centimetres. Therefore, intonation is a much smaller issue for trombone students than for learners of string instruments.