# What Note Is The Singer Hitting (Charlotte Church, "The Prayer") **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 8, 2018, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-note-is-the-singer-hitting-charlotte-church-the-prayer/812030 "2018-04-08T15:38:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2018, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-note-is-the-singer-hitting-charlotte-church-the-prayer/812030/1 "2018-04-08T15:38:24Z")
Mrs. Homie and I are having a disagreement. I say Charlotte hits an F, Mrs. Homie says I’m just taking a one-in-six stab at it (I am, but she doesn’t need to know that). It’s her “whoa” (or the operatic equivalent) after “fraternidad.” “_Simbolo de pace e di fraternidad_ - **whooooooaaaaaaaaaaa**!” [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNVUea3a25Y) ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2018, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-note-is-the-singer-hitting-charlotte-church-the-prayer/812030/2 "2018-04-08T15:44:22Z")
1 in 6? There are 12 notes in the modern Western scale. Sounds like an A to me. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2018, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-note-is-the-singer-hitting-charlotte-church-the-prayer/812030/3 "2018-04-08T15:45:08Z")
Depending on how in tune our keyboard is, it’s an A flat (G#). ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2018, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-note-is-the-singer-hitting-charlotte-church-the-prayer/812030/4 "2018-04-08T15:47:13Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > 1 in 6? There are 12 notes in the modern Western scale. Sounds like an A to me. A, B, C, D, E or F. That’s six. I’m all for keeping it simple. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2018, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-note-is-the-singer-hitting-charlotte-church-the-prayer/812030/5 "2018-04-08T15:50:12Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Depending on how in tune our keyboard is, it’s an A flat (G#). That’s what I thought at first, but I couldn’t tell if the recording was a little out of tune so I rounded up. You may be right; it’s somewhere between an A-flat and A, anyway. > [@HeyHomie](#): > > A, B, C, D, E or F. That’s six. I’m all for keeping it simple. The notes go up to G, even without counting flats and sharps. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2018, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-note-is-the-singer-hitting-charlotte-church-the-prayer/812030/6 "2018-04-08T15:51:54Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > That’s what I thought at first, but I couldn’t tell if the recording was a little out of tune so I rounded up. You may be right; it’s somewhere between an A-flat and A, anyway. > > The notes go up to G, even without counting flats and sharps. Oops, forgot G. Shows how much I know about music. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2018, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-note-is-the-singer-hitting-charlotte-church-the-prayer/812030/7 "2018-04-08T15:59:46Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > That’s what I thought at first, but I couldn’t tell if the recording was a little out of tune so I rounded up. You may be right; it’s somewhere between an A-flat and A, anyway. \ That would not surprise me in the least; I can’t prove it, but I’m convinced music producers can tweak playback speeds to cram more music in less time which, of course, alters the pitch of the recording. Hell, it can probably be done in real time. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2018, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-note-is-the-singer-hitting-charlotte-church-the-prayer/812030/8 "2018-04-08T16:13:29Z")
Oh, they absolutely can! I’ve done it with my own music. But believe it or not, we (the general “we”; I’m not a producer) also have the technology these days to do it _without changing pitch_. Everything’s coming in to Pro Tools/Logic/whatever DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) they’re using, and they can change the tempo, which will change pitch, but then they can highlight everything and _readjust the pitch back down_. :eek: No, when I said it was possibly between notes (and that was just a guess because I’m currently out of town and listening on my crappy laptop speakers), I was referring to the fact that the orchestra may have been in tune with itself but not necessarily in tune with A440, the standard tuning frequency. So the song sounds fine to us, but if you try to play along with it on a perfectly tuned instrument, it would sound off. Again, I’m not sure if that’s what’s happening here, but that does happen quite frequently, especially with orchestral recordings (as opposed to a rock band).