“Can I learn singing on the piano?” This is one that most chorus directors already know.
- Piano chords aren’t as precisely tuned as an a cappella group’s harmonies.
- Therefore, good chorus directors always make sure that their choruses practice without the piano, at least some of the time.
- If you want a cappella levels of intonation, you must get away from the piano.
Gerald Eskelin states:
Having worked with professional singers, I have to say that most (yes, most) formally trained singers… have never really experienced pure acoustic pitch relationships. Their ears are corrupted by years of practicing scales and chords with a tempered-tuned piano… (Lies My Music Teacher Told Me 32)
Equal temperament limits the number of unique keyboard notes to twelve. However, it does so by compromising the purity of the harmonies. Eskelin elaborates:
It wasn’t until I was teaching the Pierce College Jazz Choir that I realized how detrimental the piano was to developing accurate pitch concepts. I had known… about tempered tuning but had been unconcerned… about its effect on accurate tuning.
Now it was bugging me that these kids couldn’t make the hot jazz chords ‘pop.’ The music sounded dumpy and ‘square.’ …I knew these chords could be much more exciting. (Lies My Music Teacher Told Me 35-36)
It’s hard to foster a cappella level intonation while singing with harmonic intervals and chords on the piano. Therefore, if you want to work on your harmonic intonation, you need to sing in an a cappella group of some kind. Or you can try one of the other options mentioned in the next section.