I do some singing. I heard a recording of me singing Moondance the other day, and noticed that when I get up into the high part of my range I get flat. For some reason I have trouble hearing this when I am singing, but it’s plain as day in the recording. (I don’t think I’m overreaching my range because the tone and breath control is still pretty good, but I can’t rule it out.) I sang Fly Me To The Moon the same evening and heard no intonation problems there at all; it doesn’t soar up into the higher register.
How do I fix this? I have never had voice lessons. I have sung in rock/pop bands on and off over the years but not anything you would call professional, so this is not an investment in my career, but I would like to improve.
We people, sometimes, can’t hear certain frequencies.
The cause is psychological. And it affects our voice, too.
Unfortunately, I can’t point you to more information.
Someone else might know more.
Sing with other people? It sounds like you have just done solo singing, in which intonation issues aren’t going to stick out as much. If you have the time and there’s a local community or church choir you could join, that might help.
Training and practice. Some voice lessons would help. But, I’ve found that working on recording yourself can help a lot. And I mean, record some music and then try to record a perfect vocal track with it. And listen too it and tear it apart and do it again and again. And keep singing and trying different things and trying to stretch yourself, but in a controlled way, that’s where the lessons help.
I don’t think there’s a magic trick but there are vocal exercises and warm up tricks that can help you perform a little better when the time comes. Really, you can just look up some stuff on you tube and maybe start there.
Run some scales each morning (in the shower is good - the humidity helps) and make sure you are going at least five tones above the high notes you are trying to reach. Concentrate on supporting the difficult notes with your diaphragm - push up harder into the tough notes. Also on opening the back of your throat.
Many people also find that throwing your head back helps open the throat; I personally find that over-dramatic.
It’s like any other muscle or skill, you have to build it up slowly, and just when you are making the most progress that range will get hoarse for a few days. relax during that time and don’t try it again until you are comfortable.
And tull is right, there are some surprisingly good voice lessons on youtube.
Seconding informal vocal lessons on youtube. You may not be opening your throat enough, or mouth enough, or not providing enough support from the diaphragm. You could also be trying to sing in the wrong “register” for you for those pitches. I’m not clear how to change this though, IANAVT.
There are certain words that make my singing voice crack and I had to learn how to “pronounce” them differently. I’m sorry I can’t explain it better or provide a concrete example.
If your problem is with pitch, your best best is to do some ear training to be able to hear and recognise the right pitch, and then correct your voice to match it. You can download interval training apps for your phone or tablet. And, agreed, sing with others - choral singing is amazing for developing/improving your “ear.”
Pitch. It’s not completely the wrong note, it’s just a little out of tune. I also play guitar and have decades of ear training so I don’t have any problem recognizing pitches and with interval training.
Speaking as a completely untrained, not-very-good singer who is trying myself to get better: when I have pitch issues, more often that not, it is because of one of two reasons:
I am not breathing properly and find myself trying to hit a note with inadequate air/straining a bit to stretch a breath.
I am not “locating” my voice in the right spot, so I am asking my cords to own more of producing the loudness than they should, and my improper technique makes my voice miss pitch, or crack, or sound strained, etc. Getting to a place where I relied on the old “sing from your diaphragm” - I got my muscles and breathing to handle the job of being loud/projecting, and could relax and let my cords focus on pitch and tonality. I’ve gained a few notes as a result, too.
I hope this helps - but if anyone more trained sees something wrong with what I am attempting to describe, go with them.
But you said you didn’t realize you were singing flat until you heard the recording. That means your instrumental ear training maybe isn’t cutting it, and you need to focus on really hearing the note you’re producing, and matching it perfectly to your accompaniment.
Did you ever see a singer stick their finger in their ear? Try it once or twice (never on stage!) and see if it helps you hear your own pitch more clearly. You know how your voice quality sounds so different on a recording? When we hear ourselves speak or sing live, a lot of the sound we produce is conducted by our jawbone and skull into our inner ear, and the bones are particularly good at conducting lower tones (slower vibrations). So higher pitches are just harder for us to hear. Ask any soprano!
Honestly, the best way to improve this would be to take some lessons with a good, qualified voice coach. Since this problem occurs at the high end of your range, I agree with previous posters that your technique is probably somewhat lacking. Good coaching will increase your comfortable range.
I can easily distinguish one note from another and easily distinguish intervals, the benefit of long hours of transcribing solos, but I don’t have perfect pitch, so I can’t always tell if a note is a few cents flat unless I hear it directly against a harmonized note.
I have done this many times, especially when I don’t hear myself in the monitors and the band is loud. That’s a very valid point. Actually, on this last occasion I am mentioning there were no monitors at all, maybe that was part of the problem. I couldn’t hear myself and I could barely hear the accompaniment (it was a karaoke situation).
