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Via Plane & Simple on SouthwestPERFECT PITCH
PERFECT PITCH
HELLO’
My name is Chris. This week i’m going to be your vocal coach. Perfect pitch or Absolute pitch is very important in music.
The perfect pitch, sometimes also referred to as the absolute pitch or the pure pitch can be defined as the ability to identify the frequency or musical note of a specific tone, or the ability to produce specific musical note or musical pitch without comparing the tone with any reference note or relative tone.
Having a perfect pitch is a skill all musicians and singers would love to develop except that there are only about 10% music students having this amazing skill. However, the numbers gets higher with better quality professional musicians. For example, a typical symphony orchestra will have 20-40% of its musicians with absolutely pure perfect pitch and it is estimated that about half of today’s most popular recording artists and singers have this unique skill with the number rising up to 87% for top concert performers.
Absolute pitch (AP), or perfect pitch, is the ability to name or reproduce a tone without reference to an external standard.
The naming/labeling of notes need not be verbal. AP can also be demonstrated by other codes such as auditory imagery or sensorimotor responses, for example, reproducing a tone on an instrument. Therefore a musician from an aural tradition, with no musical notation, can still exhibit AP when asked to reproduce a sounded note.
Possessors of absolute pitch exhibit the ability in varying degrees. Generally, absolute pitch implies some or all of the following abilities
when done without reference to an external standard:
· Identify by name individual pitches (e.g. A, B, C♯) played on various instruments
· Name the key of a given piece of tonal music just by listening (without reference to an external tone)
· Identify and name all the tones of a given chord or other tonal mass
· Accurately sing a given pitch without an external reference
· Name the pitches of common everyday noises such as car horns
· Identify the numerical value in hertz of a given note.
Individuals may possess both absolute pitch and relative pitch ability in varying degrees. Both relative and absolute pitch work together in actual musical listening and practice, although individuals exhibit preferred strategies in using each skill.
The best part of it is that contrary to popular belief that having a relative perfect pitch is a born talent, this skill can be learnt and aquired. That means that anyone who wants to can develop pure absolute perfect pitch through good training and practise.
Some of the more famous musicians, composers and singers with perfect pitch, just to name a few, are Frank Sinatra, Leonard Bernstein, Barbra Streisand, Julie Andrews, Stevie Wonder, Nat King Cole, Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Jascha Heifetz, Paul Shaffer and Yanni.
Many musicians and composers, such as Danielle LaRocco, cited the importance of perfect pitch as an excellent tool for arranging music. While most people will have to sit by the piano and play a key in order to arrange a piece of music, those with perfect pitch ears can simply arrange it directly on a piece of paper without reference to any musical instruments. That means that you can write and arrange music anytime anywhere!
Some of the more famous musicians, composers and singers with perfect pitch, just to name a few, are Frank Sinatra, Leonard Bernstein, Barbra Streisand, Julie Andrews, Stevie Wonder, Nat King Cole, Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Jascha Heifetz, Paul Shaffer and Yanni.
Many musicians and composers, such as Danielle LaRocco, cited the importance of perfect pitch as an excellent tool for arranging music. While most people will have to sit by the piano and play a key in order to arrange a piece of music, those with perfect pitch ears can simply arrange it directly on a piece of paper without reference to any musical instruments. That means that you can write and arrange music anytime anywhere!
This is a Section you would not want to miss.
Thanks
VOCAL TECHNIQUE VI
Breathy Technique
I first learned of the damage of breathy singing from my friend and colleague Dr. Barbara Mathis. Her research is ground breaking to say the least and she is on of the finest voice scientists and teachers in the United States. She teaches at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.
During her vocal research, she decided to have a ‘vocal abuse’ session using the fiberoptic camera. The discovery was nothing less than amazing. She told me that after singing with a breathy tone, the vocal cords turned more and more red and the vocal lips swelled almost twice their normal thickness. This was indeed an eye-opening event. I have had the privilege of seeing Dr. Mathis’ research. I consider her to be a great vocal technician and she has done amazing work with damaged voices.
My personal experience with breathy tone was revealed when I worked with Alan Lindquest. My vocal cords would not come together properly because of years of using breath pressure and a high larynx. The vocal cords were ‘bowed’ and would not come together like healthy cords. He offered me exercises that changed my singing life. Suddenly after only about 2 days my tone became healthy again. Lindquest used some of Garcia’s ‘coup de glotte’ exercises that healed a great deal my vocal damage. I had acquired this damage over about 15 years of incorrect instruction. It is scientifically proven that breathy singing is damaging to the voice. It is sad to say that this technique is being taught in an attempt to ‘lighten the voice’.
Recently I had the experience of hearing a Cabaret performance in New York City. The singer used a lot of breathy tone for dramatic effect. This was a huge mistake. After only about 3 songs vocal fatigue began to develop and by the end of the performance the singer was trying desperately just to get through the performance. All of this occurred because of the swelling of the vocal cords due to breathy singing.
VOCAL TECHNIQUE V
Locked Solar Plexus Technique
Tragically, many young singers are taught a technique that tries to get only to the ‘big vocal sound’. Some teachers think that a singer must have this in order to compete in the business of classical singing. True that any singer needs a large amount of ‘ring’ in the voice. But this is not created by pumping a ‘big sound’ out of the mouth space with lots of breath pressure. Healthy resonance is created with the help of nasal resonance that takes away the pressure at the root of the t ongue.
This ‘big vocal sound’ (which has become popular!) is manufactured by pumping a tremendous amount of breath pressure through the larynx. I call this the over-compression of the breath. Often in such a technique the teacher puts his or her fist in the singer’s solar plexus area and then has the singer ‘push out’ with a great amount of pressure. The result is a loud and pushed sound with little or no healthy nasal resonance. In healthy singing, the solar plexus gradually turns freely as the singer gradually fuels the small stream of breath through the larynx. Remember that Caruso said he needed no more breath to sing than to have a casual conservation with a friend. With this pressurized technique it is quite impossible to achieve vocal freedom. The root of the tongue becomes locked and yet again direct pressure is placed at the vocal cords by the root of the tongue. Usually these singers suffer an overly-chested technique. Again there is no possibility for head voice development. The singer suffers difficulty with high notes and there is a large imbalance of registration present. I once had a French mezzo who had studied a teacher who used the ‘fist in the stomach technique’. She was admitted into a very exclusive conservatory and at the end of her study she could no longer sing thanks to this damaging technique. She was not allowed to perform her graduation recital and after a threatened law suit, she was allowed to study with me outside the school for credit. It took one and one half years to rehabilitate her voice. Her teacher used the ‘fist in the stomach’ technique which creates a gag reflex at the root of the tongue. Once this extreme reflex is taught to the body, it is difficult to correct. After tremendously hard work at recovering from the damage taught her, this singer graduated and is now a successful voice teacher. She was indeed a victim of a damaging technique taught by someone who was ignorant of the resulting damage. She paid a large sum of money to attend a conservatory, which not only did not serve her, but also damaged her voice.
VOCAL TECHNIQUE IV
The Damaging Effects of a Flat-Tongued Technique
So many teachers and singers are confused about the healthy position of the tongue in singing. I have worked directly with singers who have studied a ‘flat tongued’ technique and attempt to sing on this type of production. The flat-tongued technique is basically a non-productive futile attempt to find more acoustical space in the throat. I can tell you without hesitation that this is an incorrect and damaging technique. If the tongue is flat, then the mass of muscle at the back of the tongue (tongue root) is forced into the pharynx. This fills up the primary resonator (pharynx) with tongue mass which can be compared to singing with a pillow in one’s throat. Trying to teach a singer with such a background can be a difficult journey at best. Healthy nasal resonance cannot be present in a flat-tongued technique. It is important to understand that healthy nasal resonance (not nasality) is the only concept that completely releases tension at the root of the tongue.
In a flat-tongued technique, the singer is primarily using a technique which does not allow for a healthy change of register as one ascends upward within any scale or arpeggio. The root of the tongue places direct pressure or stress at the vocal cords or glottis. After hearing a singer trained in this destructive technique, it becomes obvious that this incorrect vocal concept does not allow for the healthy pivoting of the vocal folds.
Therefore there cannot be a healthy transition into the head voice register. Loss of high notes is typical in such an approach to singing. When the tongue is too flat, then the singer has to force the voice into the upper register with a tremendous amount of breath pressure. This breath pressure irritates the vocal cords and the result is usually hoarseness and an inability to phonate healthily. Some singers have also suffered damage such as vocal hemorrhage, bowed vocal cords, nodules, or polyps from singing with the tongue depressed or flat.
This constant pressure on the larynx and vocal cords created by this technique is completely unhealthy for the voice. I warn teachers and singers that those who pursue such a technique to get a ‘bigger sound’ (this kind of sound is only big in a small room and is quite small in a theatre.) can destroy their vocal health.
VOCAL TECHNIQUE III
EXPRESSION
This is the term used to explain ‘feeling’ in your voice. Putting expression into a song makes it ‘come alive’ for the listener.
When you read the lyrics of a song, do they come alive for you? Can you relate to the theme or story? Speak the lyrics aloud, imagine you are talking to a close friend, how would you say the words to them? If it is a love song or ballad, envisage the person you would like to express those emotions to.
EXPRESSION
Breathing in the right ‘gaps’ or ‘rests’ is important as it helps you to hit the right note and put expression into the performance.
A bright, confident sound in your voice can be achieved by smiling!
This can be applied to any song with a strong emotional theme, the key is to relate to what the songwriter is trying to express and using your natural emotions to enhance the way you perform the song. Sing it from the heart and you won’t go far wrong.
About me
ABOUT MISSY CYNTY MUSIC SCHOOL (MCMS)MISSY CYNTY MUSIC SCHOOL (MCMS) was founded in 2007 in my father’s house in Lagos, Nigeria. The name as it implies was got from the first name of the female hip-hop artist Missy Elliot and the first name of the founder Cynthia. One may ask why Missy Elliot….. Missy Elliot is a woman I love the way she performs in her music videos. I also love her because she is a talented and successful woman. I always found myself in the midst of amateur music groups. I found out that after training them they turn out to be good singers.
I started from the church and till date still in the church. It continued while in the higher institution, and for four years in the higher institution I continued training people. (MCMS) will be a dream come through for everyone who have the desire of being a successful musician.
MCMS will have branches in United kingdom, United States of America, Australia, Ghana, Kenya, and of course in all the states in Nigeria.
MCMS is not for the rich or those who would be able to afford it alone. It is also going to help develop those who have that desire to be equipped but do not have the resources.
MISSY CYNTY MUSIC SCHOOL (MCMS) will also issue certificates to those would not be able to afford the resources for the higher institutions.
These and many more are the aims and objectives of MCMS. Help promote this vision and God will promote whatever you lay your hands to do. Your prayers and encouragements will help go a long way too.
Thank you,
Miss Cynthia Nweze
Founder, MISSY CYNTY MUSIC SCHOOL.
