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10 Elements that Impact Singing in Tune

/ Singing in Tune / By / Chord, Equal Temperament, Guitar, Instrument, Keyboard, LD, Music, Piano, Sing, Sing-Along Songs, Tuning
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Estimated reading time 14 minutes

Table of Contents

10 Elements that Impact Singing in Tune: The Retuned Autoharp Story

Do you have a hard time singing or playing in tune?

Are you passionate about singing? Do you have a hard time singing or playing in tune? Read more to learn the 10 elements that impact singing in tune.

For practical examples of harmonic sound models read:

The posts contain sing-along songs that help you learn how to harmonize in tune.

This article uses technical musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.

Example of a Harmonic Sound Model:

My Success and Failure with Quartertones

I did not start by directly making harmonic sound models to impact singing in tune. I started somewhere completely different. 

I have worked on tuning theory for over 30 years, starting with quartertone music. I wrote the song “Oh, My Love” back in 1991. (It fades in so give it a few seconds.)

Quartertone music is sort of the parched desert of microtonal tunings. It is very hard to get to sound good. Alois Hába’s sonata shows a classic example of what quartertone music sounds like.

“Oh, My Love” successfully tested my quartertone theories. However, the system lacked utility, because it took a lot of effort for only a little microtonal effect. Anything more than this, and people complained that it sounded out of tune – much like Haba’s sonata.

Oh, My Love:

When I Discovered the Power of Harmonic Sound Models: Autoharp

Next, I turned to slightly tempered versions of just intonation. First, because just intonation has beautiful chords. Second, because I had a theory (that I later abandoned) that Fibonacci numbers were imbedded in the harmonic series.

Fast forward about 22 years, at this point I was testing some variants of just tuning on synth, guitar, and autoharp. However, I also used the same autoharp to accompany an LD voice student who had pitch problems.

It amazed me when his tuning problems started to fade away. This made me realize the power of harmonic sound models.

Fixed Versus Flexible Pitch Instruments

Flexible pitch instruments change their tuning as they play, instruments such as the flute, trumpet, violin, and voice. Conversely, fixed pitch instruments tune up at the factory or before a concert, and do not tune as they play. They include the piano, accordion, organ, autoharp, and xylophone. Instruments like guitar do some of both.

The Successful Music Student Blog‘s posts focus mostly on singers learning how to sing in tune. However, all flexible pitch instrumentalists will benefit from the specialized ear training.

Singing Lip Vowels - writing well crafted songs - condenser mic with pop screen - Do You Need Help Learning How to Harmonize - Singing Lip Vowels - writing well crafted songs - condenser mic with pop screen - Do You Need Help Learning How to Harmonize - Anyone Can Learn to Sing, Including You

The Basic Elements that Impact Singing in Tune

Voice (or instrument) tuning has ten basic elements to keep in mind for singing in tune:

  1. Harmony and melody tune differently
  2. A note has more than one pitch: pitch clusters
  3. The difficulty of the harmony impacts singing in tune
  4. Harmony is tone color
  5. Touchstone instruments train melodic and harmonic intonation
  6. Vibrato impacts singing in tune
  7. The note length impacts singing in tune
  8. Relative volume between singers impacts singing in tune
  9. The spectral content of the vowels impacts singing in tune
  10. Avoid singing with the piano all the time

I could have actually named this post, 11 Elements that Impact Singing in Tune. However, the last element has less to do with how the ear hears. Rather, it involves how the note get produced.

It is necessary to sing with proper breath support, or you run out of breath and the pitch sinks. This makes the note go out of tune. I talk about this in detail in the post Sight Singing with Solfege.

Nevertheless, I will discuss all the original 10 elements during this post. However, we will delve into each element in more depth, at a later time, in separate posts.

The First Element that Impacts Singing in Tune: Harmony and Melody Tune Differently

Harmony vs. Melody

Harmony and melody tune differently. Melodic tuning relies on memory, because the mind cannot compare the notes directly. Instead, it has to compare the present note with the memory of a past note or notes.

Robert Jourdain explains, “…a melody is unlike a chord in that its notes are spread over time… for a few seconds after the tone has faded” (83-84).

On the other hand, harmonic tuning directly compares two or more notes. Gorow states that players listen for the amount of buzz between notes when hearing chords.

“A vertical intervalgenerates a certain amount of resonance which helps us to identify it. An octave and fifth are virtually transparent, whereas seconds and sevenths generate a ‘buzz.’ Thirds combine the qualities producing a rich mixture of purity and distortion” (65).

In addition, singers can sing chords in tune while also singing melodies out of tune, and vice versa. Sometimes when amateur barbershop quartets pull a chord in tune, they stretch the melody out of tune even as the harmony pulls into tune.

For more details, see:

You Need Harmonic and Melodic Sound Models

Quality vocal groups balance the melodic and harmonic needs of the music. You cannot work on harmonic tuning by singing solfege, as solfege creates a melodic sound model. Melodic and harmonic sound models are both necessary for complete intonation ear training.

We will focus on harmonic sound models in the Singing in Tune posts.

However, we will cover melodic sound models when we discuss sight singing in Shape Note Sight Singing Success. This post and following sight singing posts have sing-along songs that act as melodic sound models.

How to Harmonize in Minor Keys - female singer.jpg

The Second Element that Impacts Singing in Tune: A Note Has More Than One Pitch (Pitch Clusters)

Note Categories

Musicians are often shocked to learn that a note can contain more than one pitch. A note has a range of frequencies that can be considered acceptable. However, if a note is outside the acceptable range, it is out of tune. This happens in both melodic and harmonic intonation.

On the piano, the note C has only one frequency. Nevertheless, flexible pitch instruments have a span of pitches that the ear will clump together as a single note.

Jourdain states, “Our brains subdivide a range of possible frequencies… into a number of compartments. Rather than keep track of a very large number of discernible positions along the range, our brains economize by tracking only a small number of subranges, each a ‘category.’

“Anything falling reasonably near the center of a subrange is regarded as an equally valid instance of that category… Such is the distinction between discrimination and categorization.

“A brain can readily discriminate the difference between some thirteen hundred pitches within the range of frequencies we use as the basis for musical tones. But the brain cannot maintain thirteen hundred pitch categories” (63 – 64).

The trick is to coach the ear so that it stays within the acceptable range for each note “category.” Harmonic and melodic sound models impact singing in tune, because they train the ear to stay within the acceptable range.

For more details, see:

Cent Ranges

The acceptable range for pitches deemed to be in tune is surprisingly wide. Paul C. Green studied unaccompanied solo violin intonation, whereas Charles Shackford studied violin trios. The cent range for each interval class matches up well between the two studies.

Paul C. Green:

Extreme Values

Minor 2nd: 68-118 cents

Major 2nd: 176-232 cents

Minor 3rd: 270–320 cents

Major 3rd: 384–432 cents

Perfect 4th: 476–518 cents

Spacer

Mean

88 cents

206 cents

296 cents

406 cents

498 cents

Spacer

Range

50 cents

56 cents

50 cents

48 cents

42 cents

Charles Shackford:

Extreme Values

Minor 2nd: 44-122 cents

Major 2nd: 179-235 cents

Minor 3rd: 275-334 cents

Major 3rd: 383-444 cents

Perfect 4th: 485-528 cents

 

Mean

93 cents

204 cents

305 cents

410 cents

508 cents

 

Range

78 cents

56 cents

59 cents

61 cents

43 cents

a cent = 1/100th of a half step

Nonetheless, the violin trio cent values (harmonic) are almost always smaller than the solo violin cent values (melodic). This shows that harmonic intonation is more accurate than melodic intonation.

Also, the violin trios played with constant vibrato (more on this later). If they had not used vibrato, the difference in cent values between the studies would likely have been greater.

Core Clusters

Both studies chose professional musicians, striving for accurate tuning. However, all of the interval classes approached or exceeded a quarter step.

If this seems like a lot, you are right, it is. However, Can Akkoc, when studying Turkish music, found that each interval class contained a tighter core cluster.

Specifically, most of the notes in each interval class fell into a closely grouped cluster of pitches. A number of pitches fell outside the core cluster, but relatively few notes fell far outside the core cluster.

This trend happens in Western music too. Ternstrom and Sundberg’s study showed this type of pattern in a choir setting. The core cluster for Western music seems to be about 15 cents above or below the equal tempered note. This creates a core cluster range of about 30 cents.

Once again, staying within the acceptable range of pitches defines what it means to be in tune. As you can see from the charts above, the exact range can vary from musician to musician. It also varies from culture to culture, and varies between styles such as classical versus jazz.

singing exercises with harmony - singers on stage - How Do I Match My Pitch to Another Singer

The Third Element: The Difficulty of the Harmony Impacts Singing in Tune

In 1980, Hagerman and Sundberg observed that barbershop singers found some intervals easier to tune than others. Since the difficulty of the harmony impacts singing in tune, it makes sense to work on the easier intervals first.

Some conclusions drawn from Figure II-A-3 are obvious, such as octaves are easy to sing in tune, but tritones are not. Other conclusions are not so obvious, such as minor thirds are more difficult to sing in tune than major seconds.

Hagerman and Sundberg state, “The magnitude of the standard deviation for an interval is an indication of the difficulty to tune this interval… The smallest values appear as a function of the interval width.

“The smallest values appear for the fourth, the fifth, and the octave, i.e. for the ‘simplest’ intervals, if we by simplicity mean the number of partials, which, within a given frequency range, are common to the tones constituting the interval” (34).

Similarly, Shackford found that dissonant chords are harder to tune than consonant chords. From this we will draw up a plan in a later post for how best to teach intervals and chords.

For more details, see:

Singing with the Kodály Rhythmic Syllables - choir - Question, How Do I Get Better at Sight Singing - Why is it Important to Define the Dynamics to Sing a Piece of Music - How Do I Organize a Recital Concert

The Fourth Element that Impacts Singing in Tune: Harmony IS Tone Color

Buzz

In the above section, The First Element that Impacts Singing in Tune, you will notice that Gorow says that some intervals have a buzz. In acoustics the buzz is called roughness.

The critical band creates roughness. John R. Pierce talks about how it generates the buzz.

“At low and moderate sound levels, frequency components lying farther apart than a critical bandwidth send signals to the brain over separate nerve fibers, but frequency components lying within the critical bandwidth send a mixed signal over the same fibers” (79).

Musicians need to listen for the buzz as a tuning cue. William Sethares explains, “As the critical band varies somewhat with frequency, the dissonance curves are wider at low frequencies than at high… Thus, intervals… that are somewhat consonant at high frequencies become highly dissonant at low frequencies.

“To hear this for yourself, play a major third in a high octave on the piano, and then play the same notes far down in the bass. The lower third sounds muddy and rough, the higher third is clear and smooth” (48).

The interval of a third is classed as a consonant interval in music. Nonetheless, the buzz has an impact beyond the confines of simple interval classification.

Beating

The buzz is one example of what to listen for when tuning up harmony. However, two other harmonic tuning cues, beating and fusion, also effect harmonic intonation.

When harmonic overtones in two or more separate notes have slightly different frequencies, a pulsation (called beating) happens.

Beating has a huge impact on singing in tune. Teachers, tell your students, “Listen for the wah-wah-wah sound. When the beating is gone, you are in tune.”

This YouTube video comes from a piano tuning series. It demonstrates beats. Though you have to listen carefully to hear the beating.

Note Fusion

If the harmonics between notes align correctly, the notes fuse together so that they sound like one big note. Plomp and Levelt state, “By fusion, [Stumpf] meant the tendency of two simultaneous tones to be perceived as a unity” (550).

With fusion, musicians can use the shift in tone color as the chords change as a third tuning cue. The shifting tone color is what harmony is.

To get fully in tune, musicians have to listen to the entire note (buzz, beats, and tone color) not just the melodic distance between notes. These three cues give singers powerful tools that directly impact singing in tune. 

For more details, see:

If you want a practical example of how harmony affects melody notes, see:

The Fifth Element that Impacts Singing in Tune: Touchstone Instruments Train Melodic and Harmonic Intonation

Touchstone Instrument Defined

From 2008 – 2013, I did a topical study in ethnomusicology to get a sense of how people around the world sing and play in tune. (Thanks go out to the Framingham State University and Goodnow library staffs for their help and support.)

All cultures have fixed and flexible pitch instruments, and as I studied ethnomusicology, I noticed a pattern. Many cultures feature an important fixed-pitch instrument that functions as a sound model for the culture’s music.

These instruments are central to training the mental pitch templates for the musical youth of a culture. I call these instruments touchstone instruments.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines touchstone as, “a test or criterion for determining the quality or genuineness of a thing.” Therefore, a touchstone instrument helps establish the quality of a tuning scheme within a culture.

Gerhard Kubik states, “From auditory mental templates that form during musical enculturation in childhood and adolescence are derived the… intraculturally accepted margins of pitch tolerance” (19).

From this quote, we can see how touchstone instruments can impact singing in tune. The instrument’s tuning establishes the mental pitch template for a culture through exposure to the instrument’s sound.

Examples of Touchstone Instruments

Some touchstone instruments from around the world:

  • Piano (Western music)
  • Vina (Carnatic music)
  • Qin (China – It’s not fixed-pitch, but the markers still make it a touchstone instrument.)
  • Gamelan (Indonesia)
  • Gong circles (Thailand)
  • African straight-bar xylophones (yields similar results to the gamelan)
  • Mbira (southern Africa – yields similar results to the gamelan)
  • Bell (eastern European polyphony in seconds)
  • Musical bow (southern Africa)
  • Ukulele and open tuned guitar (Western rock, blues, folk, and Hawaiian)

We will talk about the piano as a touchstone instrument in more detail later in this post. The other touchstone instruments will wait for later posts.

The Sixth Element: Vibrato Impacts Singing in Tune

Vibrato Impacts Tone Color

Straight No Chaser Video

Vibrato has a huge impact on singing in tune. Listen to a classical chorus that sings with vibrato. Then, listen to an a cappella group that sings without vibrato. The tone color is totally different.

The song “The 12 Days of Christmas (Live)” shows the impact of vibrato on tone color in vocal ensemble music. Straight No Chaser starts singing with vibrato, but removes the vibrato in the Africa section of the song.

Since tuning and tone color go hand-in-hand, the tuning will also differ between the two sections. After all, one of the main reasons to tune up is to make the tone color pop.

Vibrato: Melodic vs. Harmonic Tuning

Johan Sundberg states, “Because vibrato eliminates the risk for beats in mistuned consonances, it is an important factor allowing the musician a certain degree of freedom… Under vibrato-free conditions, just tuning seems relevant.”

Namely, if vibrato is present, singers can focus more on melodic intonation. (When vocalists sing without harmony, they have a tendency to stretch the intervals. For example, octaves have frequency ratios bigger than 2/1.) Soloists often take advantage of this fact. On the other hand, if vibrato is absent, singing groups can really get the chords in tune.

Once again, this can be heard in “The 12 Days of Christmas (Live).” At the start of the Africa section, the soloist sings with vibrato, while the backing singers sing without vibrato. Therefore, the soloist can focus on melodic tuning, while the rest of the group focuses on harmonic tuning.

Of course, the group probably did not think about all this. They most likely just tried to sing in a stylistically fitting manner.

Regardless, vibrato is one of the most important elements. Beating is a huge tuning cue, and vibrato obscures beating partials. Even if you sing with vibrato in a concert, always practice harmonic intonation without vibrato.

For more details, see:

Singing Dotted Half Note Rhythm Syllables - Microphone - Tips for People Who Can't Sing in Tune

The Seventh Element: The Note Length Impacts Singing in Tune

Along with vibrato, this is another critical element that impacts singing in tune. Shackford found that if the harmonies were held long enough, the chords approach just values even if vibrato was present.

Shackford’s chords were held for 2 to 6 beats at an andante tempo. The longer a chord was held, the better in tune it became.

According to Eskelin, “The most important thing to remember while tuning the voice… is to be sure the voice has found the best possible tuning. Don’t hurry” (3).

For more details, see:

The Eighth Element: Relative Volume Impacts Singing in Tune

Ternstrom and Sundberg found that singers tuned best when they were 5 to 25 decibels louder than the rest of the chorus.

“Problems are likely to arise if a singer’s feedback is so loud that it masks the [choir] or if, conversely, the [choir] masks the [singer], so that the singer cannot hear himself…” (Ternstrom and Sundberg 59).

Relative volume impacts singing in tune, because it is hard to sing in tune if you are too loud or too soft.

The Nineth Element: The Spectral Content of the Vowels Impacts Singing in Tune

By spectral content, I mean the harmonic spectrum of the musical tone. As a singer shifts vowels, the harmonics are either strengthened or masked in the tone.

For a discussion of how to get a good vocal tone through vowels, read:

Ternstrom and Sundberg found that the formant strengthens the first common partial. This in turn supported the singer’s ability to sing in tune.

Thus, they found that singers had much more difficulty singing the vowel /u:/ than the vowel /a:/, because /a:/ has more harmonics than /u:/.

In their words, “Accurate [fundamental frequency] control seems to be facilitated by common partials, high partials, and lack of vibrato and also when a formant enhances the lowest common partial of a consonant interval” (69).

Therefore, music teachers should try out different vowels to see which ones favorably impact singing in tune. Also, reserve solfege for sight singing. When working on harmonic tuning, stick to one vowel per vocalise in most voice exercises.

For more details see:

How to Sing Key Changes in Tune - Vocalist

The Tenth Element: Avoid Singing with the Piano all the Time

Good Melodic Sound Model

I love piano. I teach piano. However, the tuning scheme it uses, equal temperament, is a compromise system. (It does this to keep the number of keys per octave manageable.) Therefore, the piano is both good and bad for intonation ear training.

In other words, the piano is a good melodic sound model, but a poor harmonic sound model. For learning melodies, piano is the western touchstone instrument.

For example, when I learned melodies for chorus at UMass Lowell back in the early ‘90s, I would head to the practice rooms. Once I got there, I would bang the melodies out on the piano until I got them in my ear. All the other singers I knew did the same thing.

Bad Harmonic Sound Model

Equal temperament, however, creates a bad harmonic sound model, because it yields vague chords. Therefore, the piano helps with learning to sing melodies in tune. However, it hampers learning to sing harmonies in tune.

Eskelin states, “Having worked with professional singers, I have to say that most (yes, most) formally trained singers (even those with graduate degrees) have never really experienced pure acoustic pitch relationships.

“Their ears are corrupted by years of practicing scales and chords with a tempered-tuned piano (or worse, an out-of-tune piano). Most can’t produce a purely-tuned perfect fifth – one of the simplest of harmonic relationships” (32).

This means that singers and flexible pitch instrumentalists need to get way from the piano when working on chordal intonation. Getting away from the piano can mean doing a cappella work with the voices, or piano-free work for flexible pitch instruments.

Alternately, we can retune guitars and synths to function as harmonic touchstone instruments. Or you can work with the singing-in-tune posts:

For more details, see:

Example of a Harmonic Touchstone Synth:

Conclusion

This gives the big picture of the elements that impact singing in tune. However, if you recall just one set of points, remember that you need to practice singing long-held chords without vibrato. Also, you need to listen for the buzz, beats, and tone color between harmonic intervals.

Informational posts on singing in tune:

Singing in Tune posts that explore retuned guitars and keyboards to use as harmonic sound models:

For those people who are not comfortable retuning instruments, these Singing in Tune posts have specially tuned sing-along sound examples:

Related Posts

© 2021 Geoffrey Keith

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