If I am learning to sing a song do I need to know what notes and chords are in the song to find my reference pitch for the first note I am going to sing or singing the first note happens unconsciously without thinking about the reference pitch?
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1When you sing for yourself it probably doesn‘t matter much. // When at least one other instrument is involved, it does matter: you should all follow the same key. // You probably can do without stating „this pitch is Eb“, but you should be able to reproduce exactly that pitch. // What‘s the reason for your question?– MS-SPOCommented Nov 11, 2022 at 3:26
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2 Answers
It may happen unconsciously, and having absolute pitch would make it happen regardless.
However, it's not guaranteed. I remember playing in a band where one number started with just the singer, no reference. I pointed out that he'd need at least a chord or note, and that sounded naff. He said it didn't matter, he'd sung the song thousands of times. We argued, and to end the fuss, I said 'o.k., we'll try once more (in rehearsal), and if you hit it, that's the end of the matter.'
The song was in key E, and while I said that, I noodled in key E♭. He started singing, and when the rest of the band did come in, he was out of tune! He couldn't understand why, and it was never explained to him. But he made sure that the song sung previously was in the same key from then on. Lesson learned - most of us need a guide note/chord.
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2The Levitin effect is likely a manifestation of that "may happen unconsciously". Commented Nov 11, 2022 at 14:32
Unless you have absolute pitch, you need to have some way to know the first note. If the song starts with an instrumental introduction, you may deduce the first note from that. Otherwise, you need to hear some reference note before, e.g. by playing a note on an instrument.
In choirs, it is the conductor's role to give the starting pitch. See e.g. this recording:
The conductor starts by placing a tuning fork close to his ear, to find the starting pitch himself, then sings a proper pitch to the choir (we can't hear it over the applause), and only then the singers starts to sing. The singers whose lines enter later deduce their pitches from the notes sung by the singers who started to sing before them.
answered Nov 11, 2022 at 3:31
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1I've definitely seen choirs of people (who probably didn't all have perfect pitch) start singing, on the correct notes, from silence. No reference note involved. I think there's more to it than what's said in this answer - doesn't practice come into it?– AakashMCommented Nov 11, 2022 at 13:05
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1@AakashM - I recall being able to sight-sing with pretty much 100% accuracy in Grade 7 (in school choir), one year before figuring out I had absolute/perfect pitch in Grade 8 (could recognize only Middle C back then, but it counted!). Maybe something similar to that - besides the Levitin effect - is going on. Commented Nov 11, 2022 at 15:15
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2@AakashM I don't know what exactly you saw, but there are several possibilities: 1. they heard and memorized the note before entering the stage, 2. the starting note was given to them very discreetly (note, how swiftly it occurs in the video I posted!), or maybe via headphones? 3. if this wasn't the first piece, they simply deduced the relation from the previous song? Commented Nov 11, 2022 at 16:30
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1@Dekkadeci - an interesting phenomenon. I can only guess that AakashM's choir either did what user1079505 suggested, or there were enough strong singers amongst them to carry the others into the right key. Interested to find out if it was acapella, in which case it's a slightly different scenario.– TimCommented Nov 11, 2022 at 17:20
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1@flappix - it's doubtful any of us do that. It's just an innate 'feeling' when we start the song. Which may, or may not be correct (as my example). From complete silence things are probably no better. Unless, as Dekkadeci, one has absolute pitch, when things are very different.– TimCommented Nov 12, 2022 at 7:31