Singing a song in its original key

Michael4000

I know there are a lot of mixed opinions out there on this topic, but my belief is that a song should be sung in a key that suits the singers voice, not necessarily the key chosen by the original singer. My logic is that the person who originally did the song probably chose that key because it best fit their voice, but I am not them so why should I have to do it in their chosen key? What do you all think? When you practice a song do you sing the original key or do you transpose it to suit your voice? I have an app on my phone that transposes my karaoke tracks to any key.

[Deleted User]

I play all of my music in standard A tuning unless it calls for an open tuning, or a specific tuning method.
Since I started this program I haven't put any limits on myself as far as having a "comfort" level of singing. It's all technique. If you know how to do the techniques, you should feel comfortable singing in any key high, or low so I really don't buy into the singing in a specific key.
You start jammin, and I'll find the key.

Peace, Tony

Furious_Phil

When I am first learning a new piece, especially a more complicated one, I sometimes start learning it a step down till I learn all of the vowel mods and licks. I then start to bring it up to pitch.
As a guitarist, I favour the Hendrix tuning (1/2 step flat)... and almost all of my guitars are tuned down to that, as I prefer the feel of it and tonality on a 25.5" scale instrument.

Having said all of that, we all sit in our particular vocal fach, and that is where our voices sound the best. So yes, changing the key is a very common practice

Gaston_Jauregui

@Michael4000 I agree that when you are learning a song you should make it as easy as possible either turning it down I usually work phrase by phrase and turn the key up little by little from very low to very high, to even further than original but again phrase by phrase and i study the mods really carefully, I used to take notes, now i dont because I remember them really well and my body usually reacts modifying already but again phrase by phrase not an entire song, that way youll get every word where you want it, about where it sounds better that´s true that every person has its key on every song, but its about experimenting, because you could limit yourself by just saying "im comfortable here"

highmtn

I prefer to do songs in the original key, just because it's more of a challenge, and in many cases, when you drop a song down in key, it loses a lot of its emphasis. The crucial moments seem more like senior moments when you drop it down to a more elevator music level. But that's just my personal preference. Before my range grew, I wanted to do everything in the easiest key possible. I don't worry about that much anymore. I prefer the challenge.