How to Match Pitch

I thought I wanted to teach famous artists when I started teaching. Totally normal, right?

Of course it is, every vocal coach wants to work with the top artists in the industry.

I’ve worked with tons of professional artists, and it’s my honor to work with and coach them. But I wasn’t prepared way back then of how much fun it would be to teach budding singers how to match pitch.

In fact, my first student was an adult who couldn’t match pitch, but had to learn to do so for her job.👍

You may be surprised at how many adults who want to sing can’t match pitch. It’s really quite common. And they say similar things….

👉🏼 “I think I’m tone deaf.”

👉🏼 “When I was a kid, I was told I should never sing again because I was so bad.”

👉🏼 “I was told to hush up, so I stopped singing until I moved out.”

…Any of these sound slightly familiar? 😔 

You’re not alone.

Matching pitch requires a lot of coordination between your brain and body. So, if you can’t match pitch, it doesn’t mean you’re tone deaf (because you probably aren’t). It just means you haven’t developed that connection and coordination between brain and body while you sing.

I want you to know how to match pitch. 

Let me also make it clear - sometimes this skill is most easily and quickly achieved by working with a coach. There is lot’s of singing you can do without a teacher, but this one may need some professional support.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. STOP singing along with other people, even on recordings. One of the reasons you can’t match pitch, is you think you’re doing what you’re hearing as you sing along to your favorite songs. 
   
   You aren't.
   
   You’re not singing accurately, clearly, with control, or anything. You’re just mimicking. So start singing by yourself.  
   
   
2. Find the pitch where you speak, and go from there. Literally find the pitch on a piano or guitar, and then sing your scales starting from that pitch and moving up or down, step by step.
   
   This is the MOST important component of matching pitch.
   
   You’re never going to learn to sing like John Legend or Orville Peck if you can’t sing in that part of your range. To get there, start where you speak, then move higher, higher, and higher, until you’re singing in the range of the music you love. 
   
   Start with simple exercises…
   
   Even just singing “Do-Re-Mi-Re-Do” is good. Start Do on the pitch where you speak, and then move Do up, up, up, and back down.
   
   (This is why it’s helpful to have a teacher with you because you may not have a piano or electronic keyboard at home, and you may not be able to really determine where in your vocal range you speak.)
   
   Then you can starting singing more complex exercises.
   
   But hear this: 
   
   ANYTIME YOU STOP MATCHING PITCH, GO BACK TO WHERE YOU SPEAK.
   
   It doesn’t matter how long it takes you to match pitch on any given day. As soon as you stop matching, you have to get back to the basics…to catch back up.
   
   I’ve seen this so many times in 1-1 lessons, we can’t skip this fundamental skill and hope for amazing results.  
3. Practice matching pitch in short chunks of time.
   
   More frequent practice for shorter periods of time will help you build your voice faster.
   
   Every singer should sing regularly to expect great vocal results! The more you practice and strengthen your vocal muscles, the stronger your voice will be.
   
   This is crucial when you’re building the foundational skill of matching pitch.

You’ll be a much better singer if you can follow this guidance in matching pitch.

 

You should sing if you want to! Truly, if singing is a desire in your heart and you can’t match pitch, you CAN learn to sing with ease, expression, and confidence.

 

I know this because I’ve seen it over and over and over again with students learning to sing for the first time ever. 

Keep it up!