Want better pitch especially when performing? Start with these three questions:

Can I hear myself well in live settings?

You may need to advocate for yourself in live settings, whether it’s rehearsals or live performances.  If you’re always trying to shout over the band to be heard, this can lead to more vocal effort than necessary. It can cause pitch accuracy issues because you may be overcompensating by blowing a lot more air than necessary behind the vocal folds in order to sing the melody.

How is my voice hygiene game?

Systemic hydration (fluid intake). Surface hydration (nebulizer).  Your voice tissue needs moisture to move to sing melodies. Lack of adequate hydration can cause issues including vocal fold stiffness.  How is your overall health? How is your sleep? Are you vocalizing on SOVT exercises? Have you checked in with your voice health care team?

Can I bridge?

If your singing range is limited, and you get to a certain part of your range and you feel you have to force it, flip or lower the key, you’ll need to train to learn how to bridge. Songs require us to sing outside of our speaking range and your vocal folds have not had the focused training to stretch to sing higher pitches.  You want to be able to do this without using unnecessary muscles or ‘reaching’ for those notes.  It’s not just about warming up. If you aren’t bridging you need a tailored training program that is going to lock this in. Invest in good training.  And yes good technique still matters. It matters especially for performers.

Vocal folds are two tiny little folds yet so much is expected of them in such large performance settings. If you’re dealing with pitch accuracy issues, it’s not about fixing the pitch itself.  It’s about training the underlying mechanism so it can function optimally for what you need to do on stage. When your instrument is working well as you move through those interdict melodies, your pitch becomes more consistent and accurate. Always advocate for your voice and yourself. 

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