Much of the discussion so far has focused on how to improve your singing
using your body, managing your vocal cords and practicing with vocal
exercises. In this section we will talk about some of the technical aspects of
singing. This is not intended to be an in-depth discussion but rather one that
introduces you to the basic theory of singing.
Pitch
Pitch is a term used to indicate how high or low a note is, and is based on the
frequency of vibrations made by waves of sound. Each note on the scale is
defined by the number of vibrations produced each second.
Everyone sings multiple pitches which make up the range of notes discussed
earlier that are associated with voice classifications. In other words, you can
sing different pitches along a scale of notes, but the high and low notes you
can comfortably sing will depend on your vocal qualities.
When you are learning to sing, you will learn about relative pitch. You will
learn to recognize the C note (for example) as the absolute pitch, and then
hear the notes that surround that C as relative pitch.
Each pitch, or note, is assigned a letter – A, B, C, D, E, F and G. The letter
assignment is an absolute pitch reference. A C is a C! When the singing
instructor says to sing the E note, you will know exactly what note he is talking
about.
To sing better, you will need to learn how to recognize absolute pitch and then
practice so you can accurately match the note with your voice. From that
absolute pitch, you can then begin to practice singing ranges of notes
Intervals
How do you stay in tune? It is not just by recognizing pitch. You also need to
understand intervals. An interval is the distance separating two notes or
pitches. There can be a smaller half-step or a larger whole step.
With singing lessons you will learn to recognize the distances between the
two pitches. Does this remind you of relative pitch? It should, because when
you are hearing the intervals you are actually working with notes around a
base note. In this case the relative pitch note is usually the lower note in the
notes comprising the interval.
Rhythm and Timing
“I’ve got rhythm, I got music…who could ask for anything more?” That’s a line
from the famous song “I’ve Got Rhythm” written by George Gershwin. But why
would rhythm make anyone happy?
Rhythm is synchronicity of your singing with the music, and can even
incorporate your body movements. Rhythm addresses how long you need to
linger on a note while singing. Each note in the song you sing will have a note
value which is the beat of the music.As you learn to master rhythm in your singing
lessons,you will learn about
whole notes (4/4 beat), half notes (half of a whole note), quarter notes (half of
a half note) and eighth notes (half of a quarter note). The number of beats in
a measure determines how long you hold a note. A measure is simply a set
of four beats. So a 4/4 beat means there are 4 whole notes in one measure.
Here’s another old expression people use a lot: It’s all in the timing! Of course
they are often referring to how they time their investments. In music, there is
a time signature. This is a number that looks similar to a fraction and appears
on the written music.
The timing signature tells you the number of beats you will find in the
measure, and it also tells you what the overall beat is to be. So a 4/4 written
on the music means there are 4 quarter beats in the measure and the basic
beat is a quarter note
The importance of taking lessons is probably becoming clearer by the minute
as you read. This is a very short description of rhythm and the time signature.
There is so much more to learn like dotted notes, tied notes, slurred notes and
rest. You will also need to learn how fast to sing the notes (tempo), when to
change the tempo, and when to hold a note.
Key
Music is written in a key. The key is the central note around which the music
is written. When someone says a song is written in the key of C, then C is
your point of reference for singing the song.
Range
There was some discussion of range in the section that discussed the
different types of voices. Range is the high and low notes you can comfortably
sing without straining your voice. For example, a bass singer would have
difficulty singing a song written for a tenor unless the key is changed - and
doing that can significantly change the song.
One of the steps in learning to sing better is identifying your range. As you
progress, you can extend your range to higher and lower notes than those in
your tessitura. Extending your range involves diaphragm and breathing
control.
Sight Singing
Sight singing means being able the sing music without hearing it played first.
To be able to sight sing takes a good understanding of the notes written on
paper, the musical notations giving you instructions about things like tempo
and key, and the notes on the scale.
It takes a lot of practice to successfully sight sing. You need to be able to look
at sheet music and “hear” the absolute pitch first and then how the relative
pitches sound. As you learn to sight sing, you will sing plenty of patterns while
learning to identify melodies.
In 90 days?
It may seem as if there is simply too much to learn to be able to sing better in
90 days. A lot of terms have been introduced, but you can sing better in a
short period of time just by learning how to control your breathing. Yes…that’s
right…you will see some singing improvement quickly by practicing your
breathing exercises and correcting your posture.
As you have seen, there are many different techniques and exercises you
learn that will fully develop your voice whether you want to sing at home, on
stage, or in a studio. You may not even be fully aware of your true singing
ability because you have not tested your voice range and don’t know how to
interpret song instructions. This is why taking singing lessons can be so
important.
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