How to stop being "pitchy" (American Idol Memories!)

When I was a teenager, I LOVED American Idol.  The judges (especially when the show first aired) seemed to genuinely care about the contestants and were very witty.  You heard wonderful new singers, most of whom truly were amateurs starting out professionally.  As the show matured, some of the show's strengths went away but the show will always have a fond place in my heart. 

While Simon Cowell may have been the most important judge in terms of critiques, I personally loved Randy Jackson.  His warmth as a person just radiated on TV.  He was always kind to the singers, even when they really didn't do so hot.  He coined a new word in musical terminology, "PITCHINESS."  When a singer didn't hit the note, "He was a little pitchy," was his catchphrase.

The term "pitchy" actually refers to a musical concept called intonation.  When you sing a pitch, you want to be dead-center on that pitch.  However, many singers will be slightly high or low of the actual pitch, which is called poor intonation.  If you are too high, it is called "sharp", and if you are too low, it is called "flat."

Fixing "pitchiness," or intonation, when you are singing is a complicated subject not easily answered by a blog post.  There are numerous reasons why a singer might have poor intonation: vocal tension, poor breathing, poor coordination etc...But there are some simple steps that you can take to reduce intonation issues.

1) Know you are off-pitch.  This may be a "duh" moment, but you would be surprised how many singers do not hear themselves singing off-pitch.  The best way to recognize this is to have your voice teacher point it out in a lesson, or listen to a recording of yourself.

2) Know if you are sharp or flat.  How you are off-pitch matters.  Singing too high tends to have different causes than singing too low.  Again, having a voice teacher makes this task much simpler!

3) Figure out of the source of the problem: is it lack of air? too much air?  tension in the throat, jaw, or tongue?  This is the hardest part of fixing intonation; you simply need a professional voice teacher to identify the source of the problem and give you specific ways to address it.

DWS