How to Match Pitch Like a Pro
Jul 29, 2024
If you’ve ever said “I can’t match pitch!” I have an exercise for you that has helped my students match pitch with a 95% success rate.
While most of my current students want to match pitch in order to raise or lower the average pitch of their speaking voice, this is an exercise that I used for years with my singing students before I ever taught gender-affirming voice.
It’s called the steps to vocalization.
Step 1 is to hear the pitch being played.
You can play the pitch you want to match on an instrument or produce with a keyboard app on your phone, but make sure you spend time ONLY listening.
Step 2 is to rehear the pitch in your mind’s ear (or imagine the note being played).
How does it sound? Does it have the same timbre as the instrument you played it on or does it sound like your voice or something else? If this step is difficult for you, try cycling through steps 1 and 2 a few times, play a note, then replay that note in your mind.
Step 3 is to prepare the note (or sing the note without sound).
What we want to do is create a connection between the sound in our mind and a particular configuration of vocal folds. This step probably feels the silliest, but it is the most crucial step.
Step 4 is to add air to the prepared note (or sing the note).
So without changing too much from step 3, breathe in and then sing the note. You can check your note accuracy with a tuner.
If the note your sing does not match the note you played, there is an issue with one of these steps. I recommend taking it slow and determining if you tend to sing lower or higher than the reference note and then adjusting your “note preparation” in step 3.
If you find yourself sliding into the correct note, cycle steps 3 and 4 a few times until the note starts cleanly.
I also recommend going a lot slower than you think you need to go. Eventually, this can all happen in one step, but at the start of learning to match pitch, you need to give your brain and body a lot of time to process.
If you want to do this exercise along with me, check out the video below!
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