Many musicians do not appreciate that the intonation of a player (i.e. playing in tune) is closely connected to the set-up of the soundpost and bridge.

In a small room, problems with a pupil’s intonation may not be apparent, even to the ear of the teacher. It can therefore come as something of a shock when the pupil plays in a larger space, and it is discovered that the intonation sounds inaccurate.

The best way to test this is to allow the player to perform in a relatively large space (for example, a school hall or church) and for the listener to stand at the back of the hall. If the player does not appear to be controlling the precise intonation, it may not be the player’s fault, but more than likely a fault in the set-up of the instrument. This issue is obviously of great importance when it comes to performing to relatively large groups of people in large halls, as the distortion in the control of the intonation becomes more apparent the larger the space.

At Beecher Acoustics these issues are attended to very precisely.