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© Daniel K. Robinson - 2010
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Pitch&Intonation
By Daniel K. Robinson(2 0 0 9 )
Singing out of tune is an abhorrent thought for nearly all singers. I would
venture to say that it is the number one fear for beginner singers. Many singers
in their first singing lesson spend much of their time preoccupied with ‘hitting
the right notes’ and spend very little time focussing on how the ‘right notes’
might be achieved. What is it about ‘singing out of tune’ that conjures so much
fear? Almost certainly it is the fear of being deemed, by the listener, inept at the
activity of singing. “If it is generally accepted that musical ability is a distinct
type of intelligence, then reproducing pitches with the voice is one aspect of
musical intelligence. It is a type of musical expertise” (Russell, 1997, p. 96). No
one wants to be thought of as lacking ‘intelligence’, and most singers don’t want
to be considered as lacking ‘musical expertise’.
But is the greatest difficulty reproduction of ‘pitch’? The Oxford Dictionary of
Music defines pitch as, “The location of a sound in the tonal scale” (Kennedy,
1994, p. 679). Over my years of teaching I have observed that very few people
have trouble with the singing of a single pitch accurately. The difficulty arises
when the singer starts to move from one note to the next. This movement
between pitches is called ‘intonation’. Again the definition provided by The
Oxford Dictionary of Music is helpful. “The act of singing or playing in tune. Thus
we speak of a singer or instrumentalist’s intonation’ as being good or bad”
(Kennedy, 1994, p. 433). The challenge is not the singing of a single note, but
the singing of the collection of notes that makes a melody.
Because most beginner singers centre 100% of their focus on singing the notes
accurately they often inadvertently form muscular tensions which lead to poor
intonation. To illustrate, consider a child learning to ride a bicycle. Many children
commence their learning to ride with the assistance of ‘training wheels’. Training
wheels enable the learner to remain upright thus eliminating the fear of falling
over and hurting themselves. However, the training wheels also limit many
capabilities required for riding a bicycle. Speed is generally reduced and the
ability to turn the bicycle is hindered. The learner has stayed on the bike…but
that’s all! When singing in tune is the main focus the singer will often employ a
lot of extrinsic and intrinsic muscle tension which will ultimately reduce vocal
agility (moving freely and quickly between notes). The singer feels secure
because they have a sense of correct pitch, but good intonation ultimately
suffers.
The beginner singer should be encouraged to forego perfect pitch in the initial
stages of learning in order to attain correct management of the laryngeal
muscular. This can be difficult for the beginner singer whose whole focus to-date
has been on singing accurate pitches, but perseverance will result in a more free
voice which will eventually lead to better intonation, not to mention greater
agility, stronger tone and superior vocal stamina. Sometimes a step back can
empower many steps forward.
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