Singing in tune

Perfecting the skill of singing in tune is often the biggest learning curve most people face when they start out. Some have the innate ability to sing in tune, while it can take more work for others. The good news is that most people can learn how to improve their singing: under 3% of people are truly tone-deaf and cannot differentiate between the notes they hear, whereas the other 97% can hone this skill with a little practice.

The best way to start practicing how to ‘match the pitch’ with your voice is to break it down one note at a time. Choose a piece of music that you like, and make sure that it’s not overly high or low for your voice – understanding where your vocal range sits will come as you progress your singing practice. Often part of the problem we have hitting the right notes is because they are outside our comfortable and natural vocal range. If you can rule this out, you are one step closer to singing in tune.

Now that you have your chosen piece within your vocal range, listen to the first note of the vocal part. Concentrate on the note, and if possible play this on an instrument as well. Imagine the note in your head, and then hum along to match the note. Is your pitch too high or too low? Repeat this exercise on the first note, moving your singing note up or down until it is a true match.

When you have your first note perfectly in tune, try this exercise of ‘pitch matching’ on the second note in the same way. Work through the first line of your song, moving through all of the notes one at a time.

The next task is to move accurately from one note to the next. Slowly working through your vocal line in this way will help to identify any leaps between notes that need extra attention. Practice moving from the first note to the second, and then the second to the third and so forth, until you are able to accurately hit the correct pitch of several notes.

Playing the notes on an instrument really helps to hear and match singing pitch, but some singers don’t play an instrument or read music. This is where PlayScore 2 can help. The PlayScore 2 app will playback sheet music so that you can hear how it sounds, meaning you can simply focus on your voice during your pitch matching exercises. In the app, you can slow the tempo and loop sections of your music, which is perfect for working through one or two notes at a time. PlayScore 2 can be used as an interactive tool for learning music and singing in tune.