Is pitch the most important thing in singing?

priyanshusinha

Hey, I'm kinda confused if being dead accurate on the notes and the pitch is the most important thing in singing or other things matter? Can I not be 100% accurate on the notes and still sing well or there are some other things? Can you list out some of the most key elements to singing?

sjonrokz4u

I can’t list the important elements but many famous (great?) singers are pitchy. We are humans it’s impossible to be 100 percent 100 percent of the time. I think???

Wigs

Pitch is normally the thing that most will pick up on when they hear you. For it to be enjoyable for others I think pitch is very important. Small pitch issues can usually be forgiven but if you have trouble staying to melody then training your ear to hear pitch is always an option. As a singer, using proper technique like air management and diagphramatic support will help your singing longevity and keep your voice healthy.

DogMeat

You really need an trained ear to pick up small pitch errors. I bet 99% of people cannot hear them unless you really hit wrong notes all the time. So i would not say it's the most important thing. You have to be in certain quality, but with that said i think the passion you deliver with your performance is the thing. You could hit perfect notes, and be very boring performer.

KenfromCZ

@DogMeat Great formulation of problem about pitch. Biggest problem are short quick notes in exact intonation. Therefore is better a find song with minimal short fast notes. Or sing any song slightly slowly on stage. Thats my experience with the pitch. For example, in Dublin on Grafton street almost all performers sing pretty slow. Much slowly than original song.

Klaus_T

good answers here already. i would tend to think it is also genre-specific: i listen to a lot of punk, where most aren't "good singers" in the traditional sense, and growing up on it, I actually "developed" an ear that was not very good at catching pitch issues. there are bands who sold millions of records without the singer being on pitch (example: NOFX, listen to the album "S&M airlines", it was a massive success in the genre, and I read their bio, the singer didn't even know he was off-key). that might be an extreme example, but you get the idea. everyone has their own taste, and there are niches where other things matter. having said that, these bands were lucky to get a break, and if you want to have better chances of people wanting to hear you, you should work on these things. Ken calls these "non-negotiables" (or something like that). meaning, you can't really disagree, good pitch is one of the hallmarks of good singing (in the traditional sense). I also think it is much easier to work on good pitch, than on being an overall great entertainer, for example. good tone, carrying emotions, contributing to the feeling of the song, these are things that seem to be the most important. you can learn all of this in Ken's course, and you will also learn a lot from his free YT content. try tonedear.com for some free ear training if you have trouble with it

priyanshusinha

So, pitch is really important and a really crucial part of singing. Thank you to everyone who replied to this thread. I was so confused about this because I've seen some performances where singers are not 100% on pitch but still they sound pretty good( Ex: Kurt Cobain in SLTS). Anyways,
Thanks again y'all

Vocality

Lot of good answers here, ear training can be a good way of increasing pitch accuracy as well and proper open throat technique can also help us keep on pitch bright ping we train for. As Ken says pitch is 80% of singing well and is the most important part we really need to get to an very good level.

KenfromCZ

Also is more easily get to exact intonation only on last 0,1 of second of longer (0,5 sec) note. Usually from down to up. Listener will satisfied with exact end of note. Your ear also of course. Against this an deploying exact note from start is much harder.

Klaus_T

@KenfromCZ in the course, we learn not to "scoop" into notes, Ken stresses that from day one. you want to know which note you go for, hear it in your head, and know the feeling of it, so that you can place the note properly. then you don't need any scooping. of course, this will take time and effort