What Is Pitch—and How Do We Hear It?

Welcome to Lesson 1 of your journey to singing in tune! Today we’re talking about pitch: what it is, why we sometimes sing off-pitch, and how to start improving your accuracy. Let’s get into it.

If you haven’t completed the 35-day series, that’s okay—this lesson will guide you step-by-step. Short, focused, consistent practice is key to growth, even for experienced singers.

You might be ready to move to lesson 2, or spend several days—or even a couple of weeks—on this lesson. That’s normal. This work builds the foundation for everything that follows.

Section 1: What Is Pitch, Really?

Pitch is how high or low a note sounds. At the physical level, it’s determined by how fast your vocal folds vibrate—measured in Hertz (Hz). For example, when you sing the A above middle C, your folds vibrate at 440 oscillations per second..

But pitch isn’t just one frequency—it’s a whole set of sound waves, with one dominant frequency (called the fundamental) and several quieter ones (called overtones or harmonics) that give your voice its unique color.

Think of it like a color palette: you might see “blue,” but it’s really made of subtle blends and shades. Pitch works the same way—and learning to control it takes time, coordination, and practice.

Section 2: Why Do We Go Out of Tune?

Going out of tune doesn’t mean you “can’t sing.” Most people are already capable of incredibly accurate pitch regulation—you do it constantly while speaking. You share meaning, emotion, and emphasis through tiny, precise shifts in pitch every day. So why is singing different?

The biggest issue is that your brain doesn’t always know where it’s trying to go. Music is a language, just like English or Spanish. And like any language, it’s learned in stages: listen, mimic, speak, read, write. We’ve done a lot of listening—but many singers try to skip the mimic step and jump straight to speaking.

And that mimic step? It’s baby talk. It’s “googoo gaga.” It’s messy, imprecise, repetitive—and absolutely essential. You don’t speak a language fluently by diving into conversation; you get there by imitating sounds, over and over, until your brain builds the pathways.

This course brings you back to that critical mimic stage. It’s where pitch accuracy begins: training your brain to know exactly what it wants to produce, and training your voice to follow.

There are other factors too, though they are less commonly the root cause:

  • Fine Motor Control
    Your vocal folds need to adjust with precision. That level of control doesn’t happen by accident—it’s built over time.
  • Air Pressure
    Too much air = pitch rises. Too little = pitch drops. Most singers push too hard, especially early on.
  • Tension & Posture
    Jaw, tongue, and neck tension can all mess with pitch. So can poor posture or inconsistent body alignment.

Some of these topics will appear later in this course. Others will show up in different courses, where we go deeper.

Section 3: Your First Pitch-Matching Exercise

It’s time to start building your internal pitch map.

Instructions

1. Choose your audio file:

  • Men:
  • Women & Children:

2. Play the track and follow along.

3. Use these tools to check yourself:

    • Feel it – Over time, your brain will start to sense when a note feels right.
    • Record & compare – Record yourself and listen back. Train your ears.

Start with 5–10 minutes per session. Some singers feel confident in a few days. For others, it may take longer. Keep returning to this until you feel like you are matching pitch most but not all of the time.

Conclusion & What’s Next

You’ve just taken the first step in training your brain and voice to work together. You now know:

Don’t aim for perfection—when you’re mostly matching, you’re ready for Lesson 2.

  • What pitch is and how it works
  • Why singers go out of tune
  • A practical way to start improving today

You’re not just learning to sing in tune—you’re rewiring your brain through mimicry. Keep going.

Coming up in Lesson 2: You’ll develop pitch accuracy using humming and open vowels. These exercises will strengthen your ability to hear and reproduce pitches with confidence.

Nice work today. Let’s keep going.