There are several reasons why people sing out of tune.  I am only going to discuss the problems that generally good singers have.  I will cover the problem of not being able to “carry a tune” in another column.

 

The first problem is that of pitch recognition.  Many singers have a general idea of pitch, but have never been pushed to be more accurate, more picky, about being exactly on pitch.  Here are some ideas to help you be more aware:

· Have someone listen to you and tell you when you are out of tune

· Record yourself and only listen for pitch

· Make sure you practice with your music turned down enough to hear yourself very well.  This is a big one!  Many singers practice along with CDs that have the original artist on it and play the music too loud.  It’s okay to do that when you are beginning to learn a song, but as soon as you feel more comfortable with the song, you need to turn down the CD and also move away from the speakers so you can hear yourself.  Then, as soon as possible, beginning singing along with a karaoke CD, or your guitar, or whatever your performance accompaniment is going to be.  Go back and check the melody with the original artist occasionally to make sure you are being accurate.  I also recommend singing a capella (by yourself) to make sure you really know the song.  *If you don’t practice singing by yourself, you won’t be able to sing the pitches as accurately because you have not practiced independently.*  You often don’t realize you are out of tune when you can’t hear yourself well.  Then the habit of being somewhat out of tune will prevail when you sing alone.

· Remember to listen to the notes in the middle of the phrase, not just the first and last note. 

 

Other problems arise more from the physical use of the voice and body.  Many singers realize that they are out of tune, but can’t seem to fix it.  Here are some possible remedies:

· Many times the voice has a flat tone as well as a flat pitch that tends to be present during most of the phrase, not so much on particular notes.  This can often come from the soft palate being in too low of a position.  If you are like me, just telling your to raise the soft palate won’t work.  Most people don’t have voluntary control of this area, though some people can develop this voluntary control.  There are several things that the rest of us can do to help in this area.

· When you breathe in, breathe in through your nose, slowly and gently, like you are smelling a rose.  Take lots of time and feel the difference in the back of your throat.  You are relaxing the soft palate and raising it with this exercise.  First, do this with vocal exercises so you can take the time you need.  Then sing your song and put a large break in wherever you have a breath and practice this kind of breath.  If you are singing with a background CD, you will have to pause the CD every time you take a breath.  Then practice getting the same feeling in the back of the throat while you breathe in through your mouth.  Then practice your song with shorter breaths, almost normal timing,  and strive for this feeling with every breath.  Then see if you can maintain the feeling with normal length breaths.  But every time you have a break in your song, breathe through your nose again.

· Another thing that can help is what Lisa Popeil of Voiceworks calls the “ick face”.  It is similar to the exercise above, but has a little stronger reaction.  Pretend you are at a very fancy dinner, where your manners have to be perfect.  Your personal waiter brings your meal in a covered dish.  He removes the top just under your nose, and to your dismay—IT STINKS!!  What do you feel around your nose and upper lip?  When we raise the upper lip and flare the nostrils, for some reason the soft palate raises as well.  You probably raised your eyebrows as well.  Some people can just raise the eyebrows and improve their pitch.  You can try to sing with this “ick face” throughout the whole phrase or song, but make sure you watch yourself in the mirror to make sure you don’t look too silly!  Some classical singers take this to extremes, probably one of the reasons people tease them!

· A third remedy for the soft palate is to think of the swallowing muscles in the back of the throat.  See the picture to the left.  Find the palatopharingeal arch.  It is an arch of muscles that is pulled down when we swallow.  There are muscles that lower this area and muscles that raise this area.  In the previous exercises we were learning to raise this area.  Now we want to think of relaxing the lowering muscles.  When these muscles are relaxed the soft palate can rise more easily.  To help you with this breathe in with your mouth open and think of relaxing the arch, and thus allowing it to rise.  You may also think of it being a complete ring by imagining the arch as the top part of the ring and the base of the tongue as the bottom part of the ring.  So you will be thinking of relaxing the tongue and allowing it to rest in your mouth.  Remember, here we are just relaxing, not trying to make this ring any larger.

· Another physical reason for singing out of tune, especially singing flat, is that the singer does not have the proper breath support.  Breathing is a very extensive subject that I cannot deal with in detail in this column, but here are a couple of short ideas that may help.

· Make sure you have enough air flow, that there is enough air passing your vocal chords.  If the vocals chords don’t have the airflow they need to vibrate efficiently, then muscles have to engage to make up for the lack and this limits the mobility of the larynx and can cause pitch problems.  Remember, high notes need more air flow (more for women) and sometimes more air pressure (more for men) as well.

· Also, to help the soft palate raise, especially on high notes, think of the air coming from your lungs, through your trachea, past your vocal chords and then pretend that it goes straight up, out the top of your head.  I pretend that the air is massaging my soft palate to keep it relaxed, so it will be able to rise.  If you are relaxed and energetic in your singing, your soft palate WILL naturally rise the higher you go when singing in your classical voice if you do not inhibit it.

· When singing in your contemporary (lean) voice in the higher range, you will need more air pressure because the vocal chords or tenser.  Try firming your upper abdomen on the high notes.  Occasionally, people will firm too much, so if this does not work, try a softer approach.

· Also, if you are trying to do as your voice teacher or choir director has taught you and not move your shoulders or ribs during breathing, you may have caused another problem. Yes, we want the primary mover of air to be from the diaphragm/abdomen movement, but the problem arises when the singer immobilizes this upper area, but holds it still in the lowered position instead of the raised position.  I had this problem for years!  I never understood what the problem was.  It caused pitch problems, and it caused me to have problems holding out long phrases.  Both my pitch and long phrasing problem were erased when I figured this out.  This idea is a whole article by itself, so I can’t give you much detail here.  Hopefully I can do an article on breathing soon.  It’s a hard subject to do in writing.  I should make a DVD.

· General tension in the neck area can also cause pitch problems.  If you are tense, your body is unable to do what you are asking it to do.  This is one of the big problems many people who can’t “carry a tune” have.  But I see it in other singers as well, but usually not as severely.

· Many women have trouble singing in tune in their high contemporary (lean) voice.  Remember that the higher lean voice has a different feel to it, and a different production.  If you try to use the same voice on the top that you use on the bottom it will be too heavy, probably too tense, and you may not be able to go high enough.  Try the “valley girl”, high loud talking sound.  Say “hi” on a high note with plenty of volume, as though you were trying to get someone’s attention across a large room, then slide down.  With that same feeling of high talking,  start and the bottom and slide back up.  You will probably be able to go much higher without switching into your classical (head) voice.  Remember to slide so you are less likely to switch into the classical voice.  This is a hard concept to understand without hearing samples, so give me a call if you need help.

 

This is not an exhaustive list of possible reasons for singing how of tune, and how to fix them, but I hope this will shed some light on the subject and give you a place to start!

1. Hard palate

2. Soft palate

3. Palatopharingeal arch

4. Uvula

Patricia Feltmann,

Singing instructor

Tip of the Month

Singing in tune

February 2006