Estimated reading time 3 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Want to be able to sing in tune every time you sing? Do you wonder what a touch instrument is? These instruments play a central role in establishing the tuning for a society. Keep reading to learn how to sing perfectly in tune all the time with touchstone instruments.
This article uses music terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
Sing Perfectly in Tune All the Time with Touchstone Instruments #1: What’s a Touchstone Instrument?
“How can I learn to sing perfectly in tune all the time with touchstone instruments?” We learned in the post Harmony and Melody Tune Differently that melody is the relationship of remembered pitches taking place over time.
Since tuning a melody relies on memory, culture has a big impact on what’ll be in tune.
- As I studied the ethnomusicology literature, I began to see a pattern that led to the concept of touchstone instruments.
- All cultures around the globe have both fixed and flexible pitch instruments.
- Touchstone instruments consist of fixed pitch instruments that provide melodic or harmonic sound models (or both).
- These instruments influence a singer’s mental pitch template.
For example, when I sang in chorus, the first thing I’d do would be to go to the practice rooms and play the piano.
- I’d bang out the notes until I got them in my ear.
- Thus, playing the piano helped me to remember the melodies.
- The piano is a good sound model for melodic tuning, because it’s the model for melodic tuning in Western culture.
- However, it won’t be a good model for harmonic tuning.
- Stated another way, the piano acts as the default melodic sound model for singers and will also be the de facto harmonic sound model.
- However, the piano won’t foster a cappella level harmonic intonation.
Sing Perfectly in Tune All the Time with Touchstone Instruments #2: Can the Piano Help?
Let me tell you a story. Years ago, I taught in a music school. On Tuesdays a vocal teacher did lessons next to my room, and one of her students had issues with pitchiness. My piano student would wince every time the vocalist hit a wrong note. The piano student hadn’t studied voice, yet her experience playing piano helped her to hear when the notes sounded wrong.
This means that you can learn to sing perfectly in tune all the time with touchstone instruments. However, it won’t happen overnight after taking a few vocal lessons. It takes years of practice.
If you want to sing classical or pop, the piano can help you sing melodies in tune:
Learning harmony will be more difficult because we don’t have touchstone instruments for that… at least until now. This link will take you to posts with specially tuned sing-along soundtracks that’ll act as touchstone instruments, helping you learn how to harmonize in tune:
Sing Perfectly in Tune All the Time with Touchstone Instruments #3: What About Other Cultures?
Touchstone instruments are important because they reveal how people tune in a particular culture.
So, studying touchstone instruments from around the world will reveal how melodic and harmonic sound models affect vocal intonation.
- This doesn’t mean that “in tune” will be the same for all cultures.
- For example, when I rented a room during college a few of my house mates came from Greece.
- One of the guys loved to sing. To me, his melodies sounded off, but one of the other Greek guys said, “He sings so well.”
- Only later did I realize that his singing likely had at least some middle eastern influences because of Greece’s cultural history.
- So, not all music can be judged by the same standard, which also means that one culture’s touchstone instruments may be tuned differently than another’s.
In part 2, we’ll look at some touchstone instruments from other cultures. This means you’ll be able to learn how to sing perfectly in tune all the time using the touchstone instruments from your own culture.
Have fun singing!
The “10 Elements that Impact Singing in Tune” Posts
- 10 Elements that Impact Singing in Tune
- Harmony and Melody Tune Differently
- Vibrato Impacts Singing in Tune
- A Harmony’s Length Impacts Singing in Tune
- Harmony Is Tone Color
- A Note Contains Many Pitches
- Singing in Tune with Vowels
- How Intervals Affect Singing in Tune
- Is There a Difference in Difficulty for Performing Specific Vowels?
- Can I Learn Singing on the Piano?
© 2023 Geoffrey Keith
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Glossary
Making Sense of Why Treble and Bass Clef Are So Different
“How do I make any sense of the treble and bass clefs? Why are they so different?” To answer this question, you need to understand the grand staff, the pattern of the clefs, and middle C. Keep reading “Making Sense of Why Treble and Bass Clef Are So Different” to learn how the clefs work. Estimated reading time 3 minutes.
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How Do I Match My Pitch to Another Singer?
“How do I match my pitch to another singer?” Pitch matching is the starting place for ear training. If you can’t match your pitch to the same note another vocalist sings, you won’t be ready to learn how to harmonize. Don’t worry, the sing-long soundtracks will help! Keep reading to learn how it works. Estimated reading time 2 minutes.
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How to Hear the Notes When Harmonizing
Have you ever listened to a chord and couldn’t pick out the notes? Or maybe you’ve tried to hear the inner parts, but couldn’t? If you want to harmonize in tune, you need to be able to hear the parts. Read more to learn how to hear the notes when harmonizing. Estimated reading time 6 minutes.
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How to Color Code Guitar Tab to Empower LD Achievement
Tablature creates a picture of the guitar neck. However, many LD students become confused by tab despite its visual appearance. In other words, they become dazzled by the shimmer created by the contrast of the black and white lines of the notation. Color-coding the strings helps reduce the confusion that students experience, assisting them in effectively reading the score. Estimated reading time 3 minutes.
Read More