Typical pitch variation

Question: Can anyone provide me with some info on how much variation around a particular note is considered “normal”?

The wave displays as being centered on the note that I’m attempting to sing (so that’s good), but the peaks and valleys stray from that line more than I would have predicted (edging on being both flat and sharp). I’m wondering if this is typical.
Thanks guys

BJ

Helping a rank amateur

I’m 72 and took up singing by joining a local Barbershop Chorus a little over a year ago with no experience or training.  (Something to do in retirement!) Being a long time techie guy, I loaded myself down with all the appropriate tech tools I could find in despartion.  Sing & See was one of those.  Progress has been slow, but they haven’t kicked me out yet, so I guess that means something.  Anyway, I have found that Sing & See is the program I use most frequently – usually in conjuction with other programs.  It’s the only one I have found that is able to record my efforts visually with any degree of usefulness. It has helped me to at least be acceptible.  Pavarotti need not rise from the grave to defend his status, but Tiny Tim definity would. While there are some improvements I would like to see, it is worth the $. I know it seems relatively expensive, but I’m of the old school – you get what you pay for. I have no complaints on that score (pun intended).
By: Bill Nott

Sing&See Makes a Huge Difference

Starting with the original beta version years ago, I have used Sing & See virtually every day during teaching sessions. Sing & See is an integral and vital part of my teaching process. Feedback from singers of all ages, levels and genres has been consistently positive. I also use Sing & See as part of introductory sessions with prospective students in order to target areas for improvement and goal setting. The visual feedback is quickly understood, and is invaluable in demonstrating areas of strength, which builds confidence in beginning singers. Prospective students are impressed with a high tech approach to vocal improvement which contrasts to endless “drill and kill” training they may have known. It has been years since an introductory session has not resulted in student enrollment. Several students have purchased Sing & See to work on intonation and onset issues (beginners) or resonance and vibrato (advanced). I highly recommend Sing & See.

—Patrick Cunningham, Arizona Music Project, Chandler, Arizona, USA
By: Patrick Cunningham

Técnica vocal com so SING&SEE

Meu nome é Rodinei A. Galvao, sou brasileiro nascido em Bom Repouso no estado de Minas Gerais. Começei a aprender o canto com um maestro e agora estou estudando violão e teclado. O SING&SEE me ajuda muito a definir os tons corretos no canto pois nas aulas de violão utiizamos  o canto como auxilio para aprender a correta troca de acordes no violão e o Software me auxilia a colocar a voz no tom correto da música. As músicas principais são as serteneja e MPB.

Recomendo a todos a utilização do software para melhoria e conhecimento do seu tom vocal.

 

Rodinei Aparecido Galvao – Brasileiro, estudande de Matemática e Filosofia e amante da música ( Canto, violão e Teclado )

By: RODINEI APARECIDO GALVAO

Windows 10 requires MIDI Synth

Update – we now have a new version of Sing & See that doesn’t have the MIDI opening problem on Windows 10. On the Sing&See menu go to “Help” and then “Check for updates” to download the updated version for your system.

Update 2 – one person still had problems – it appears that some audio software may disable the inbuilt Windows MIDI Synth. The best alternative in this case (or if you want to experiment with changing the sound fonts used in your in-built Synth) is to download and install the VirtualMIDISynth program from the coolsoft website below.  There’s a donation button on the site to help the developer of that software.

Download VirtualMIDISynth from http://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/virtualmidisynth

On the webpage there are some “SoundFonts” that contain the actual MIDI synth sounds for each key. Any of these should work, however one of the smaller ones is TimGM6mb.

Some of the other sound fonts (e.g. the FluidR3_GM which is also good) require you to also download and install a decompression program called sfArk.

By the way, you might want to copy the extracted sound font file (e.g. TimGM6mb.sf2 or FluidR3_GM.SF2) to somewhere safer than the Downloads folder.

Then, install virtualmidisynth and run the Coolsoft VirtualMIDISynth Configurator program.  You need to add a sound font file, so select the one you just saved above:

virtualmidisynth-configure

 

Click on Apply, restart Sing&See, and, hopefully, Sing&See will now play notes!

VirtualMIDISynth has other cool features such as the ability to add more than one sound font and choose which one you want to use at any time.

2015 Nail Every Note Vocalist Scholarship

Adrienne Osborn, voice coach in Denver, is giving away a year of voice lessons to one lucky person anywhere in the world. I’ve added a copy of Sing & See to the package, and it also includes resources from Tom Jackson Productions in Nashville, Leanne Regalla of Make Creativity Pay, Ariel Hyatt of CyberPR, John Oszajca of Music Marketing Manifesto, Performance High Vocal Training Studio, music business consultant Katey Laurel, and career consultant Justin Leighton Long.

Total value over $5,000. Applications due June 30.

See http://bit.ly/2015NENScholarship for details.

The 2015 "Nail Every Note" Vocalist Scholarship

The 2015 “Nail Every Note” Vocalist Scholarship

[An Indian flute player] Quite an interesting product

I am a classical bansuri (Indian bamboo flute) player from India. I had bought this product couple of years ago after much thought and interaction with William and have been quite happy with its performance. It helps me at least know about the modulation level in my flute and sometimes I also use it for training my vocal cords. I am quite happy to use it and hope the continuous product improvement will increase ones ability to learn music in a much better way. I think it can have applications in speech therapy, leadership training (as voice is an important factor for leaders, watch The King’s Speech). It could help people who have stammering problem and are afraid to speak on the stage. I wish William a great luck and best wishes from the land of The Buddha! I will pray for his success.

Siddhartha Priya, Alumnus – IIT Kharagpur (B. Tech.), IIM Ahmedabad (MBA), ESSEC (France), Solvay (Belgium)

By: Siddhartha Priya

S&S Pro

After using S&S student successfully for some time, I’ve recently upgraded to Pro – with the spectrograms – to help me further with vocal development (I am that dreaded beast – an amateur dramatic tenor). I’ve been needing help with getting reliable singers’ formants, and also with getting a purer tone, free of “rough edges”. These become very clear with the spectrograms. If you heven’t seen these – there’s a sliding “Fourier” trace, clearly showing the harmonic zones, and also a plain frequency/ amplitude display, to show you which harmonics are present. 

With the Fourier trace, many of the things that teachers tell you become crystal clear: drop your soft palate, and bang go the formants; do careless consonants, and you can see the pitch-slide at the start of the vowel, if you have any “gurgle” in the note, it shows as a fuzzy outline on the trace (and irregularity on the amplitude display) – and lots more. 

This sort of feedback is a very efficient learning aid – far better that just recording a few notes and playing them back. You can “see” immediately what your voice is sounding like, and correct it almost in the same breath.

I don’t necessarily think that it’s a complete substitute for your (good) teacher’s feedback of how you are sounding, but just at home in my own studio, I think it’s a “secret weapon”. Absolutely bravo – this is splendid software.

Incidentally – I run it on a desktop machine with a second monitor set up at my standing eye-level, so I can sing straight at it without crouching over a screen – this makes it much more “real”

By: Don Taylor

Using Sing&See in Harmonica Playing

Singandsee is not just for singers! It is the perfect for harmonica players as well!

Without getting to involved in the technical aspects of harmonica playing (yes it can be quite technical) most harmonicas are 10 hole diatonic instruments – seven pitches. However, to play Blues requires ‘bending’ (altering the pitch) of notes and, for a beginner, this can be a real challenge but with Singandsee you can practice (and practice and practice) and see when you have it just right – not to mention playing it back and listening to the ‘cool blues’ that you are playing!!!

But wait there’s more; a diatonic harmonica can be played as a chromatic instrument as well (this is very advanced). Chromatic meaning 12 pitches each a semi apart – this requires advanced techniques, and a lots of practice. Once again with the Singandsee you can see the notes on screen and, equally important, use the playback for aural training and confirming when you have the scale and/or song just right.

Glen
Gold Coast
Australia

Karmyn Tyler Cobb – NY

“I have used Sing and See for quite sometime in my studio and I find it one of the best tools for teaching voice. I work with all types of voices: beginner to advanced vocalists as well as professional speakers. For the beginning singer, it is hands down the best way for them to “see” when they are not matching pitch. When they do “see” it becomes easier for them to understand adjustments that I give to improve phonation. It can be even more useful if a teacher learns how to read spectrograms (i.e. Scott McCoy, DMA with NATS.) Then you can help a vocalist see when their tone is breathy, thin, pushed or irregular. Every vocal teacher needs this in their studio!”

Karmyn Tyler Cobb – KT Vocal Studio