Hearing the Note before Singing it

In my teaching of private voice lessons, I usually focus on a particular concept at each lesson:  introducing that topic to the singer, then working with it & playing with it in vocalises/exercises, and then applying it to songs.  An important technique for voice students to practice is hearing a note before singing it.

While it is very helpful for pianists, clarinetists, and other instrumentalists to hear a note before playing it, it is still possible to correctly play a note on the piano or the clarinet even if you have no idea what it will sound like before you actually play it.  Since our voice works in partnership with our ears in order to produce sounds, we need to hear a note “in our minds” first, and then we can sing it.  If we don’t accurately perceive that pitch, we won’t accurately produce the pitch.  Singers have to rely on their knowledge of music theory, their ear training skills, and the notes played by any accompanying instruments (piano, organ, guitar) in order to find the target pitch and internalize it.

In asking my students to really listen to the note before opening their mouth and making a sound, it sometimes can feel like things are going in slow motion.  They’re not used to slowing down so much and really keying in to what they are hearing and what they are intending to create.

This practice, as so many concepts in voice study, transfers beautifully to “real life.”  In life, we also will create more tuneful music if we notice and really take in what is around us and then decide what we are aiming to do & visualize what that will look like and sound like.  It is a practice.  We sometimes miss our target and end up not living in alignment with our beliefs if we rush the process, neglecting to fully listen and then act with intention.

I invite you to join me in this practice, striving to really listen to all that is around us and then hearing our notes and singing them out with intention and passion.