- Christian H.

Christian,

Although the term ‘tone deaf’ is thrown around with the assumption that improvement is impossible, I simply don’t agree. The ability to ‘stay on pitch‘ or ‘match pitch‘ has more to do with listening and distinguishing a note than it does with the action of vocally reproducing it. We are language-based creatures and we learn to speak through imitation. Eventually we learn to imitate other noises, such as animal sounds, in such cases, even ‘tone deaf’ people do just fine reproducing sounds.

The key to improving your ability to match pitch, or sing the same note that you hear, is learning to listen closely, forming a clear mental image of the note you are about to sing. This is a discipline, and it’s best to start with some simple exercises:

1) At a piano keyboard, play various notes that are higher and lower than one another (notes on the left are lower, notes on the right are higher). Just listen to the notes and get used to what a higher note sounds like compared to a lower one. Have someone else play notes - two at a time - and try to determine (without looking at the notes they’re playing on the keyboard) whether the second note they play is higher or lower than the first.

2) Next, try to match a pitch that you play on the keyboard. Play the note three times, slowly, leaving space between the times to play it. Listen to the note, try to imagine what it sounds like. Then, when you play the note a fourth time, try to sing the same pitch. If you’re not sure whether you’re matching the pitch or not, try sliding your voice up and down and see if it seems to “match” with the piano pitch anywhere.

Eventually, after a bit of practice training your ear you should be better able to determine and reproduce a pitch. Just remember, even the best singer will go off pitch sometimes if he/she stops listening and thinking about what note they are about to sing.

Most of all, Christian, don’t be discouraged. Keep training your ear and enjoying to sing!

~ Rebeqa

Do you have a voice or performance question that you would like to ask Rebeqa?
Click Here To Ask!

Permalink Comments