Sing in tune

by Freddie King, international coach

(from Dundalk Md Charivari, Tom Wheatley, editor)

Chapter VIII Interval adjustment considerations

Because we sing unaccompanied, we don't sing on the equal-tempered scale that the piano uses. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the pitch to tune the chords accurately. If one part is out of tune, check to see if the proper adjustments are being made of the degree of the scale.

The major 2nd must be sung higher than the piano.
The major 3rd is raised even more.
The perfect 4th is sung flatter than the piano sounds. As a result, the actual interval between the raised 3rd and the flatted 4th winds up being very small.
The perfect 5th is sung only slightly higher than the piano.
The major 6th is raised much above the piano.
The major 7th is raised above the piano and is very close to the 8th.
Flats are lower than enharmonic sharps. Any accidental in a song calls for more treatment than the same sign in the signature would.
Whole steps are usually spaced too close together when singing the ascending scale and too wide when descending. The same is true for half steps to an even greater degree. Vocalizing on whole tone scales and chromatic scales is very good practice. Vocalizing from half steps up to octaves slowly on "lah" will also improve the problem. Wide intervals and chromatics passages are easy targets for flatting.
To Tuning Chapter Nine

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