Find Your PitchSeason 1
Find Your Pitch
Free lessons in singing and music theory, for anyone who wants to sing in tune or understand the music they hear. You need no theory to start: Lesson 1 begins with what a note is.
How a lesson works
- It opens on a question, and you guess before you find out.
- Sound toys let you hear each idea and play with it.
- Every lesson asks you to sing along.
- Short questions at the end check what stuck.
Each lesson takes about 8 to 13 minutes.
Season 1
Theory
Lesson 1
What is a note?
If 440 Hz shakes the air twice as fast as 220 Hz, why do musicians call them the same note?
8 minutes Start lesson: Lesson 1, What is a note?Lesson 2
Twelve notes
Musicians only use seven letters, so where do the other five notes come from?
13 minutes Start lesson: Lesson 2, Twelve notesLesson 4
The major scale and home
Why does do-re-mi sound finished when it lands on do, and restless when it stops on ti?
ComingLesson 6
Intervals: the distance between notes
Why can you start ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’ on any note and it is still the same tune?
ComingLesson 8
Beat, tempo and the backbeat
Why does the same song feel different when you clap on 2 and 4 instead of 1 and 3?
ComingLesson 10
Major and minor
Which single note turns a major chord into a minor one?
ComingLesson 12
Chords and the four-chord song
How can two songs share the same four chords and still sound different?
Coming
Voice
Lesson 3
Match a note
Asked, most students said they couldn't copy a tune. What happened when researchers tested it?
ComingLesson 5
Breath and a steady note
Singers are told to “support” a long note. If that doesn't mean pushing, what keeps it steady?
ComingLesson 7
Slides, sirens and your range
Why is your comfortable middle worth more than your highest note?
ComingLesson 9
Landing a leap
How do you land a note you have to leap to?
ComingLesson 11
Registers and the break
Why does your voice sometimes flip as you slide up?
ComingLesson 13
Resonance and vowels
If ‘ee’ and ‘ah’ sung on the same note draw the same pitch line, what makes them sound different?
Coming
Voice and theory
Lesson 14
Phrasing: sing a whole song
If every note of a song is in tune, what is left to shape?
Coming