Sean wrote:
Consider - Your voice is very similar. It's regular skeletal muscle, under your voluntary control. Sing the expected pitches. It's like taking a practice golf swing.
Also try NOT starting on the root of a scale. If you think A is a good key for you, then sing in the key of D but start on the A. Again, don't sing the entire octave, but A B C# D -E- D C# B A (ascend and descend).
Sing arps against a drone. Record a long, sustained Bb and while it's playing, sing the arp'ed Bb chord(s) (Maj, min, 7th, 9th etc).
If you've got an intonation problem, you'll probably find that it pops up on the same scale degree all the time. For example you might find that your 3rds are consistantly flat or your 6ths are weird or whatever. When you discover that, sing just those notes and intervals against drones. Root-3-R-3 or 3-5-6-5-3-5-6-5 or 8-7-6-7-8-7-6-7-8.
Sing songs. Real songs. Boatloads of real songs. We know what real songs sound like.
Look at this example -
Sing the partial, descending Maj scale... 8-7-6-5 8-7-6-5.
It probably seems a little wonky. Most people with pitch problems have trouble right there.
Now think back to that silly, singing kitty commercial about the cat food -
meow-meow-meow-meow...
Remember those singing cats?
Once you have the mental/aural picture of that commercial jingle, you probably have better intonation singing that 8-7-6-5 thing. Lumpy
Bits about singing that I've Picked up from various sources like Lumpy -
Group: alt.guitar.beginner
Date: Wed, Jan 13, 2010, 9:57pm (EST-2)
From: lumpy@digitalcartography.com (Lumpy)
"...I'm sure you're aware of the
pitch problems. Practice, practice, practice..."
"Practice just BEFORE you sing the song. "Practice" by singing the notes of the key you're in. ie, if the song is in G, sing the G Maj scale. If it's in Am, sing the Am scale.
That gets your voice "acquainted" with the notes it's about to need to sing the song. Just like doing something repetitive with your hands (driving, turning a nut and bolt, whacking your pee pee) if you do the specific hand moves, you'll quickly build a muscle memory for those tasks.
Lumpy
Mr. Green wrote:
"So here's the plan. To start with I've recorded some one octave scales and arpeggios. Just A, Bb and B as I believe these are comfortably in the middle of my range. I'm just practicing Do Ra Me etc. for about 20 minutes. Next step will be to record a few melody lines and practice singing along to those. Hopefully this will get my ears and voice working better".
Try NOT focusing on an entire octave's worth of scales. Sing 5 notes of the scale, ascending and descending. In real songs we don't typically sing an entire octave of a scale, just fragments. Sing just five notes and you're "closer to the error". ie, if you sing 1 2 3 and three is flat or sharp, then you sing 4 5 6 7 8 , you're a long ways from that bad 3rd.