Singing for Pitch Accuracy

Obviously, one of the goals when singing is to sing in tune. We call that having pitch accuracy, which means you're hitting the notes correctly. This is also known as intonation.

Developing Intonation

Intonation is developed really by two things:

• Ear training: You learn to recognize the notes.
• Motor skills: More importantly, the more you practice and build up these skills, the more you work your voice. This helps develop fine motor skills that are essential for your singing voice.

The Major Scale Exercise

What we're going to work with first is the first five notes of a major scale. You might recognize this tune because it goes:

(add musical reference here)

So, if I add: You might recognize the beginning of EastEnders; the first five notes of that tune are the first five notes of a major scale.

Scale Notes

So basically, it's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Just sing it with the numbers for now. Ready?

And 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Lovely! Now let's come back down:

So it's going to be 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

And:

5, 4, 3, 2.

Wonderful! Let's put that together.

Full Exercise

So we're going to go:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Breathe. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

If you don't need a breath there, that's fine, you probably don't. But just take a little pause.

So that's our chord. We're starting on middle C, and it should be a comfortable range for most female voices.

Let's sing:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Just take a little pause in the middle. You don't need to breathe there, but you can if you want to.

Group Practice

Let's do it together after 4:

1, 2. Don't forget to breathe. 4.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5. And 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Lovely!

Humming Exercise

Let's do that on a hum. When you're humming, you might feel a little bit of resonance, a bit of vibration on the lips. That's great!

But make sure your jaw isn't clenched and your teeth aren't together. Keep a nice loose mouth.

The breath in the middle is optional, but we want a little pause or rest, as it's known in music.

Humming Together

Ready after four:

One, two, three. (On a hum.)

And very nice! Let's take that up.

Let's try that same exercise, but on an ng.

So it's going to be:

Remember that NG is like the end of sing, and we use that in our sirens.

But it's not a nasal sound; it should still have a very melodic, lovely tone.

Group Practice on NG

Let's do that together:

Two, three.

Lovely! Track on your own:

Ready? And.

And.

Lovely!

Moving on to Vowel Sounds

Let's move on to a vowel. We're going to do an oo.

So it's:

Two, three, and.

Lovely!

Now, let's move to an E.

So it's:

E. E, 2, 3, and.

Good.

Lovely!