Hi
i just get my grade 6 violin result and i was shocked that the examiner had mentioned about the bad intonation in all 3 songs and scale.
it cost me many marks and i have to settle down with a merit.

i din`t realise that i had made so much mistake on intonation during that exam, is there any way that i could improve my intonation?....or maybe it is cause by the unaccurate tunning before the exam.

any advice would be appreciated, thanks

Ignore the inaccurate tuning before the exam - bad workman always blame their tools

Your intonation will improve if you listen carefully to your own playing. I have many students who, week in week out still have bad intonation on tunes they know quite well. Why? Because they aren't really listening to what they are playing. The fingers just get put down on the fingerboard without a discerning ear.

To begin with, play a two octave scale of G major, play every note double-stopped with the open string next to the one you are playing on. Learn to hear the intervals, especially octaves - octaves with an open string are useful landmarks. If this seems difficult at first and you still feel you cannot 'hear' the notes, get someone to accompany you on a piano as you play each note.

Play slowly and listen, adjust each note as you go, don't do as many do, waffle through it convincing yourself it sounds fine and it must be everyone else who is tone deaf - I have students who would want me to believe that! In time your fingers will learn the distances between notes, and at the same time your ear will grow more discerning - therefore allowing you to adjust your fingers as you play and compensate for strings that may go slightly out of tune while you are playing!!

were you nervous?? i find nerves often cause problems with intonation...

but anyway if you want to improve intonation its scales, scales, scales... knowing the scale of the key the piece is in fluently makes such a difference!

Don't know too much about violin specifics, but on the cello a number of "experts" recommend really simple double stop studies. They argue that introducing this topic early, rather than much later as an "advanced" topic, is the right way to go. Certainly, the primary intervals of 4th/5th/8th are absolutely obvious, and the subtleties of the two 3rds and 6ths emerges naturally.

The other thing to do is play regularly with an equally tempered accompanist, either a real human on a piano, or a playalong CD, or a MIDI program etc, adjusting your intonation to fit. Again, simple slow things first.

My intonation sucks at times too, don't worry...

P.S. Here's a really good introductory cello double stop book: http://www.musicroom.com/se/ID_No/036501/details.html - it uses simple well-known tunes which everyone knows.

thanks for your advices, guys.
i used to put a tuner in front when i`m playing scales.

Initially this is a good idea, but it's very easy to end up relying on looking at the little flashing light to tell you if you are in tune. You must learn to use your ears not your eyes when it comes to intonation.

The double-stop scale idea mentioned for the cello, is exactly the same sort of exercises as using an open string double-stop on the violin.

One bonus of the GSM exams is that they introduce double-stopped scales right from grade one - even if you are only playing open strings initially. Playing two strings together is a great way of learning to listen.

Drones

Drones are another way to help improve intonation. The website is for bassoonists and oboists but there's no reason why you can't also benefit from the drones.

When practising equal-temperament (on recorder), I like to play in unison with midi files. Ears are always better than eyes!

looks like i really have many ear trannings to do

Yes you apparently do. It might help if you do more aural tests with your teacher... singing/sight-singing excercises so that you can 'hear' in your head what a note should sound like before you play it. Listening to and identifying intervals on a piano is good too. Normally you will put your finger more accurately on the string (if you get in a reasonable amount of practice each week) if you can hear the note first. If you can't, then try singing the scale first either in your head or out loud accurately first before you even attempt to play it on your violin. If not sure, check and sing with the piano first.