RE: Subject: RE: Why can't I sing in tune?
From: Greyeyes - PM
Date: 09 Jan 01 - 05:43 PM
There is also the element of hearing the tune as you sing it, not just recognising the tune you are trying to sing (if you see what I mean). This is why so many unacompanied folkies sing with a finger in the ear. Even though everyone thinks it looks risible, it helps you hear the sound that you are actually producing, and thus makes it more likely that you will hit the right note.

31 Jul 04 - 11:41 AM
An ear plug or two. Seriously, try plugging one ear with a finger while you're singing and see how well you can hear your own voice. If the band's loud enough, you ought to be able to hear them through the plug(s).

AND re: 02 Aug 04 - 12:47 AM

My husband could not sing in tune, but could tell when an instrument or another voice was out of tune. We eventually worked out that when he tryed to sing he mostly listened to himself, not through the air, but through the bones of his head, and they were "out of tune".
By doing the classic folkie, cupping his hand round his ear, he created a stronged passage for sound through air and could hear himself properly, and so learned to sing in tune, but it always felt to him, as if he were singing flat.

--- It is standard practice in South Asian classical music pubilc recitals that the singer cups their ear or places the hand flat over it. I has no "folkie" or gauche connottion there at all.

Sanjay Sircar