There’s a quote attributed (incorrectly) to Albert Einstein:
“If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live the rest of its life thinking it’s stupid.”
While Einstein appears not to have been the one to coin this phrase, and while this quote can often be misapplied, the underlying sentiment is an important one when it comes to getting the best out of your voice.
Make sure the song itself is not leading your voice astray
When we sing songs we are judging both our version of the song, but also our voice. Which means that if the song doesn’t best suit our voice, we will forever be disappointed in what we can do.
Perfect song choice is so case-by-case that it’s hard to give generalised advice, so I won’t try to. However, almost any song can be adjusted to work better in someone’s particular voice. Often the difference between sounding awful, decent, or even great, is just down to key choice. Even subtle key change can radically transform how the song feels to sing.
But a key that’s too high/too low (often by even just one semitone), will often leave us disheartened and frustrated by how “off” our voices feel and sound. This is especially true for those who sing in bands, where key choice is imposed upon them. And very often in bands, other musicians simply don’t appreciate how critically important key choice is can be.
The challenge
For those of you who play instruments, you may notice that you can – to some extent – play any song in any key. Some keys might require a capo on guitar, or alternate chords that aren’t quite as easy to finger, but the notes are all available. Most instruments (piano, guitar, etc) have sufficient range that changing keys isn’t an insurmountable challenge, and the changed key won’t sound dramatically different to the original.
In contrast, for singers even transposing up or down a single semitone can change the entire feeling of the song. Just one note-worth difference can change the ease, tonality, timbre and quality of a given song in a singer’s voice.
With every key shift you are placing the melody into a wholly different place in the landscape of the singers voice. A simple semitone could make the difference between hitting the sweet spots in someone’s voice… or missing them entirely. Being willing to adjust a key can either massively upgrade vocal quality, or massively downgrade it.
NOTE: Musicians tend not to “get” this
This stark contrast is something musicians who are not primarily singers do not appreciate and do not understand. If they can play a song in a given key, why can’t you as the singer do the same? The answer is manifold, and really beyond the scope of this article. If you want to know more check out the various articles on my blog on this.
The consequence for us as singers
What this leads to is when we insist on certain keys for songs (e.g. band members sometimes even outright refuse to modify the key), there are often severely negative implications of their key choice on the overall sound of the band.
This may be one musician insisting on the key for another who is doing the singing, but sometimes it’s the same person – i.e. a musician who also sings, and who doesn’t explore the optimisation of their voice through carefully picking better key(s) for their songs and their voice.
What this boils down to is (at best) ignorance and (at worst) ego preventing a singer from sounding their best.
Advice: For singers
Whichever camp you fall into, ALWAYS try other keys. Spend time in other keys and figure out where your greatest ease and quality lies for each and every song. Even try this out for different times of day, for different degrees of health, for different stages of life. I know that some songs I can manage at 5pm that I sound great on, may feel a little tight or unpleasant at 9am in the morning.
I have a particular warmup song I used to have two key changes in, just because it would help get my voice going at any time of day. This approach of being willing to optimise the key for your voice is what it takes to be at your best. It will also help you continue to develop over the years as a singer.
Advice: For musicians
Yes, this means there is additional work for you. If you are working with a singer, work at being able to play any of the songs in at least a few different keys. This will maximise the potential for quality vocal output of your singer, and in turn your overall band sound.
This is the kind of level that professional instrumentalists operate at, and without complaint. Professional musicians understand that it’s all about maximum quality of the whole band (including the singer, which is often the focal point of the group) and nothing else.
Advice: For everyone
Don’t just jam it in whatever key the original singer did it in, or any old key. There is only a 1-in-12 chance that such a key would also be the best place for that song in your voice.
There’s no prize for singing a song in the original key badly. The only prize is for sounding great.
Truthfully, no-one really cares whether you did it in the original key or not – unless they have a pitch pipe or perfect pitch they really won’t know. We are interested in finding that perfect place in your voice for each song, and this takes work.
So, now you know. And all you need to do to leverage this, is try songs in multiple keys and see which one sounds and feels best. Spend time working out the most favourable key for your voice so that it shines in a given situation, and learn how to sing AND play it in those relevant keys. It really is worth the pay off.
Learn More: Related Articles
If you want to learn more about performing and improving your own performances you may enjoy these related articles:
Performance Anxiety: What is it, where does it come from, what can we do about it
Performance Workshop with Rhonda Carlson: Part 1
Performance Workshop with Rhonda Carlson: Part 2
Performance Workshop with Rhonda Carlson: Part 3
5 Simple Tips to Improve Your Performances
Pacing yourself: Micro- and macro- rests in songs and sets