Recently, the intonation of bands and orchestras has been receiving increased attention and investigation.
Intonation is often one of the standards by which judges rate a competition performance.
When descending into the intonation battleground, begin with the premise that instruments can never be tuned perfectly and, consequently, the process requires vigilant effort to attain at least satisfactory results. Before jumping into technique issues with students, remember that regularly checking the component tuning mechanisms of all instruments is imperative to proper intonation. For beginning students, the responsibility falls upon the band director to check the students' instruments. Eventually, students are encouraged to learn how to check these instrument mechanisms for themselves. This is ultimately best because making proper adjustments to an instrument depends heavily on the performance nuances of the player of that instrument.