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This month I want to address the subject of Proper Pitch Production while singing. There are a lot of times that people in the audience, even though they are untrained as singers, can tell that a singer sounds “off” in his or her singing. Not singing on key, or on pitch, is usually the reason singers sound “off” even to untrained listeners. No matter how good your presentation of a song is otherwise, if you are off pitch it spoils the entire thing. This subject usually affects tenor singers and bass singers more than others, because they are the ones that are singing the extreme sounds of a quartet. However, this topic needs to be broached in regards to all singers in the Gospel Music Industry. This month I want to talk about the “ how to” of proper pitch production and the remedies that are available to each one of us to correct any “flatting or sharping” that we might do while we are trying to sing. I want to talk about the causes of “off pitch singing” both physical and mental. I personally believe that most of it is mental and can be corrected by three things: 1. Listening to ourselves 2. Thinking about the way to correct 3. Acting on our knowledge

First I want to list some causes of “missing pitches” then I will talk about the ways to cure those things.

Causes can be mental or physical as I have already alluded to. These are listed in no particular order.

1. Not being able to hear pitch and tell when you are off
2. Not thinking about your interval correctly
3. Not paying attention to the pitches, and carelessness in making sure they are good.
4. Depending on the piano too much.
5. Poor pronunciation of consonants
6. Poor tone placement of vowels
7. Sometimes fear, being very excited, or self conscious
8. Most of these can be summed up in being mentally lazy, which some gospel singers tend to be.

SINGING IS WORK. IF YOU DON’T RESPECT THAT ENOUGH, THEN YOU WILL NEVER BE A GOOD SINGER. YOU WILL ALWAYS JUST BE SOMEONE ELSE STANDING UP AND TRYING TO SING, BUT NEVER QUITE REACHING THE AUDIENCE WITH WHAT YOU DO. THE WHOLE REASON WE SING GOSPEL MUSIC IS TO REACH AN AUDIENCE WITH THE MESSAGE OF JESUS CHRIST. WE CAN ACCOMPLISH THAT SO MUCH BETTER, IF WE WORK MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY AT OUR SINGING AND PERFECT IT , NOT TO GO AROUND AND BRAG ABOUT HOW GOOD WE ARE, BUT TO LET THE WORLD KNOW HOW GOOD OUR JESUS IS. IF OUR SINGING IS SO POOR THAT IT DOES NOT BRING HONOR TO JESUS AND HIS LOVE , THEN WE NEED TO FIND A SEAT SOMEWHERE. BECAUSE WHATEVER WE DO SHOULD BRING HONOR TO OUR LORD. HE GAVE HIS ALL FOR US, THEREFORE WE SHOULD GIVE OUR ALL FOR HIM. DON’T DO ANYTHING HALFWAY WHEN YOU ARE DOING IT FOR THE LORD. THINK, THINK, THINK AND WORK, WORK, WORK TO BE YOUR VERY BEST FOR HIM.

The little sermon doesn’t cost any extra..

Other causes for off pitch singing could be:

1. Being very tired, or physically weak and not being able to provide proper breath support for the tones you are singing. This is why it is so important to get at least 8 hours of rest every night, if you are a singer, especially if you sing the high part in the group.

2. Breath support is very, very important for singing vowels properly.
(a) sometimes we tend to not inhale enough air to support an entire phrase. The cure for this is practicing the song a lot before we try to sing it publicly, and making sure we figure out where our breaths should be, then thinking about that as you are singing.

3. Sometimes in an effort to interpret a song, and sing some words louder or softer at certain spots in that song, can cause us to lose our concentration on proper breath support, which will in turn cause us to lose pitch. This is not to say that we shouldn’t do this, but it is to say that while we are interpreting a song, we should think about proper breath support as well as interpretation.

4. Sometimes we can practice so much that we take the edge off of our voice to where it is difficult to maintain pitch properly, merely because our instrument has been overworked. This same thing can be done also with overwork on vocal warmups. There is a happy median for both of these scenarios. You must practice to do well, but limit hours of practice to two or three at a time , then get some vocal rest for several hours prior to trying to perform at your peak.
(a) Do not talk incessantly, especially after a practice session
(b) Do not do a lot of loud laughing
© Do not scream at a ball game
Just be sensible about how you treat your voice don’t misuse it or abuse it and you will be able to sing your pitches better. It is always more difficult to sing good pitches with an abused voice mechanism.

5. Always make sure that your songs are in a good key for you to sing. Don’t try to sing in a key that you are unable to sing in or that strains your voice either from a perspective of being too high or too low..

6. Any tenseness or tightness of muscles in your neck, or chest , or shoulders should be relaxed and all pressure or tenseness for vocal production should come from you diaphragm supported by your stomach bulk. (I have addressed this in previous columns)

This is quite a list of things to think about. But in order to help yourself avoid singing “off pitch” all of these things come into play. I pray that maybe something that I write in this column will help someone to be able to sing better and sing for more years in their life.

Thanks for reading this column. Remember: Psalm 118:6 says “The Lord is on my side” He is on your side, just keep working for Him. Our time is short, and His is eternal. We need to be as effective as possible while we are doing His bidding. God richly bless each and everyone of you.

In Christian Love,
Bill Baize

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