Intonation

Between each semitone of the scale, there are infinity of tones possible, thatswhy is not good enough to practice with the scale with 12 semitones. We need a scale with more possibilities to identify when we are wrong or right.

There are scales with quarter tones. It is better to work our intonation with this scales because it gives us a clearer map of all the possibilities of being wrong in each note.

It is important that we are very aware of the quarter tones, because the timpani is a instrument that change with regularity of intonation (up if the weather is hot and dry) and (low of the weather is cold and wet).

There are apps with piano quarter tones that can help us to differentiate the quarter tones better.

Is up to us to practice with this if we want to understand better when we are right and when we are wrong.

Also, when we tune the timpanis, is important that we use both, our fingerprint and our fingernail, to approximate better the intonation in the right place.

With the fingerprint we hear easier the harmonics of our tune.

With the fingernail we hear easier the main note of our tune.

We have to make the perfect approximation between these two sounds to make the better intonation possible.

Thanks for reading,

Daniel