singing Pitch Apps

[RNBJR]

Are there any other apps like Perfect Pitch? I am a beginner with singing. This app has different songs you can practice pitch with. I just wish it had more songs on there. There are only a few selections. I am doing some vocal training. At this point, I can reach a note of C5 without a whole lot of strain, and as high as F5 with some push. I just need more work on my pitch. I am not as good at recognizing pitch as I need to be. 

[kickingtone]

You won't see me going near one of these things with a barge pole. I say learn to use your ears and the feel of the  music.

 

 

[kickingtone]

Come to think of it...

I see a lot of people practise "scales" then pick complicated songs to "cover". They seem to have no steps in between. Talk about making things difficult for yourself.

I do a fair amount of practice a cappella, with really simple songs. Sometimes they are almost like nursery rhymes! That takes the focus away from the emotional vibe of the song and gets you focusing on basics, like pitch. For me, learning an exact interval between two notes is useless memory work. What is that teaching me that a very simple song cannot teach me? With a simple song, I am sighting and holding a WHOLE phrase at a time in my head. That is a whole set of MEANINGFUL cues available -- not only the last note -- when I sing each note. You may relate each note that you are singing to ALL proximate notes and their sound as a whole. That is a more natural and practical way to sight a note.

I find it easier to sing back four or five notes, than two. The more context there is, the more cues I have, and the more accurate I am. I find it robotic, and frankly futile to try to build everything up as intervals between pairs of notes. I seriously doubt that it is possible or that such practice achieves pitch accuracy. It will be able to teach you the boundaries of your registers, which will make you less error prone, but otherwise I think that it is a poor learning technique. It reminds me of those really bad foreign language lessons where you learn words out of context by memorizing lists, instead of immersing yourself in an environment that requires the words.

 

[RNBJR]

Thanks for the feedback! Very interesting info!

[Felipe Carvalho]

A good way you can work on it is to practice diatonic scales in this manner, say you are doing Cmaj:

On the instrument of your choice play the Cmaj (chord) then 12345 (C, D , E, F ,G), singing along to it.

Then just the chord, Cmaj, but now sustain the chord as you sing the 12345.

Then just the root note, sing 12345.

Then just sing 12345.

 

Then you can try the same using either the maj3rd or the 5th as the reference. Record and listen if you are being accurate. Or then do the whole scale. Often after you work a bit on major scales, the rest of the modes follow. Perhaps working on harmonic minor scale is a good idea too. Other prime scales, in my opinion, only if you are planning on composing and want to do some weird sounding stuff.

 

Interval training can be very useful if you intend on harmonizing. In special learning major and minor 3rd, 4th and 5th is rather useful.

You can do this by forcing yourself to *recall* the sound. Play the interval jump, remember it in your own mind both with the sound of the instrument as well as if you were singing (imagine it). Look at another interval or distract yourself, try to recall it, check to see if you did it right, probably fail, do it again from the start. And contrary to coordination training, when constructing aural memory, the more you fail at it (while doing a genuine attempt of course), the better.

On all of these, keep it playful, keep it loose. If you fail just take another listen, don't try to measure things too much or constrain your practice in order to have just good repetitions.

[Robert Lunte]

These apps are great, get one. In addition to that, get to know your keyboard. It is arguably the most important tool in your training and singing studio. Workout the notes in your vocalize and your songs on a keyboard. Don't just hear and see the notes, but with a keyboard, you can actually touch the notes. You get to see the intervals from one note to the next which gives you additional reference and in time. You don't need an expensive keyboard either. Any cheap practice keyboard will do. For this application, you only need to just fine and play notes.

Hope this helps.