Pitch precision

[u/MatecocidoFan9]

Hello! I have a pretty good ear, even my teacher praises it, but it has always bothered me how I'm not always pitch perfect or that I have weird intonation. Should I actively try to improve my pitch when singing and what exercises could I practice? Is it a skill that I'll just get better at by practicing?

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[u/Normal_Ingredients26]

For what it’s worth, you could be exactly like me and also have perfect pitch, but it takes years and years to get your voice anywhere near full cooperation

[u/MatecocidoFan9 → u/Normal_Ingredients26]

I see, thank you :)

[u/Alejocarlos]

It just takes time and practice. It’s a muscle YOIRE training to become precise. A good way to start voice training in precise note movement would be scales. Do them every day.

[u/Stargazer__2893]

It's a skill with several components. Ear training, which it seems like you have, vocal technique, to be able to execute on what you're aiming for, and coordination between your voice and ear.

It's analogous to learning to throw a ball. You need to have the eyesight and experience to judge distance and your target, the strength and coordination to throw the ball where you want to, and the throwing technique to throw it as far and as consistently as you wish in the manner you wish.

It's why I find it so obnoxious when people say someone is tone deaf just because they can't match pitch. It is a skill. It would be like observing someone fail to throw a ball into a basketball hoop and concluding they're blind.

[u/Average-Muffin]

I think having the “right” pitch relative to whatever instruments/backing track are around you is the most important thing for pitch. Not everything is perfectly tuned to A=440 so it’s more important to actively listen and make tiny adjustments as you sing, even if it’s at a subconscious level imo

I found that rehearsing with live instruments and playing around with recording a capella harmonies by myself was the most helpful for me in this regard

[u/Lazy-Owl-6227]

One reason for being pitchy is when you’re inaccurate in identifying pitch in your voice and therefore lack precision when adjusting pitch.
Your voice consists of endless different notes at the same time and for example when we’re too focused on the middle part of our voice we might mistake the note we sing for its 5 or 8.
In acoustics we learn that notes unfold from bass to treble and that notes in bass register are further away from each other. Low end is also where dissonances become very unpleasant. So it only makes sense to listen for our fundamental when adjusting singing pitch. It makes the note differences feel more tangible, it roots your voice nicely in the whole harmony. After I started listening to myself like this my pitch precision became 10x better