Technology and teaching singing | Vol. 4

Hello singers!

This time I write what ways I have found for using a software called Sing & See. This software is available for Mac and Windows. For the pitch tracking part of Sing & See there is also a similar software for iOS called Sing-inTuna.

Sing & See gives visual feedback on pitch and also has a spectrogram. I wrote about using a spectrogram last time and to be honest I find SpectrumView on my iPad better and easier to use than Sing & See's. But what kind of help can we get from the pitch tracking?

Support

One thing I use it for is visual feedback when doing support exercises. If you do a simple exercise with 5 notes up and down and see the pitch jumping a bit when going higher in pitch you might want to check that you're not locking your support. The support might be working otherwise but in order to "secure" a note it's often tempting to put a bit too much energy when changing the note. So, try to make  changing the note look like a fast slide. And check that your abdomen around the navel is moving in slowly, not in jumps. If it's difficult you might want to try sliding slower first and then make it faster. This method can help in songs too. You can put extra attention in consonants and how they affect the pitch and support.

Vibrato

Sing & See gives a very clear picture what vibrato is about, modulation of pitch. The pitch goes up and down. The more regular the pattern is the more stable the vibrato sounds. You can use pitch tracking to train vibrato even if you don't know how to do it. You can start by alternating between two notes and then trying to make it faster. Some singers might also find it just by trying to achieve the right visual representation of vibrato.

Some more advice

It's wise not to look at the picture too much. After all, the most important thing is how it sounds. I think Sing & See is a valuable tool in analysing why something sounds good to you. If you do a long powerful note does it sound better if there is slide down in the end? Or do you see vibrato in certain places but not others?

Sing & See can be an useful tool for singers who can't sing at all. You can practise your ear by playing the note on piano and then trying to sing that yourself. Also, you can slide up and down and try to find the right note. However, I've noticed that it's most often more useful to concentrate on working with the support than the visual feedback. The emphasis should be in physical sensations and sound, not in the visual feedback.

What ways do you use Sing & See?

-Ville

Technology and teaching singing | Vol. 3

Hello singers!

This post is about spectrogram and spectrum analysis. You can use whichever software. There are some differencies in how they visualise the sound. SpectrumView is an iOS app that works with both iPhone and iPad. There are others for iOS but I haven't found a one I would like to use better yet.

SpectrumView

I find myself using SpectrumView surprisingly often, especially on iPad. This is basically a combined Spectrogram and spectrum analyzer app. It shows the partials and how powerful they are. So, what can we see from the spectrum? It would be lovely to see which vocal mode or sound quality we are using but it's not possible, at least not yet. However, looking at the first partials we can usually see if we are using neutral mode because then the first partial is usually the loudest one. In metallic modes the second partial is usually the loudest.

Kids often love to use all kinds of new software. With one very talented young singer we used this software to keep the air out of the voice. First we checked how it looks when there is air and concluded that the lines should be clearer. He had the program on his own iPod so he kept on practicing with it and seemed to love it. We also worked a bit with vibrato. You can see it quite clearly in the spectrum because the pitch is modulating in laryngeal vibrato. There are better programs for that but SpectrumView is very fast to start and so easy to use.

Another quite specific use I've been working with is creaking. When there is creaking in the voice you can see quite clearly that there are two tones with their own overtones (our ears might not be able to spot it so clearly because of how our brain works in analysing the sound). So, this can help separating creaking from distortion. In distortion there shouldn't be two clear tones but a "messier" overtones because of the noise the ventricular folds create. Of course, you can use creaking together with distortion if you want to.

I also use SpectrumView to demonstrate how the acoustics of the vocal tract influence the sound. You don't really need to understand all about the science and the research and still get a very clear visual representation of why the sound changes when we alter the shape of the vocal tract.


Let me know if you have more ways of using spectrograms and spectrum analysers!

Ville