Keeping your vocal key

[KhaiHan]

Haven't seen this topic brought up, but from some friends of mine who try to karaoke a few songs end up cracking up their voices half way. some who do covers of songs also ended up cracking up their voices as they tried to sing the songs in their orginal key.

I think a simple solution especially if you're in a band or doing solo music covers, (you gotta have an instrument or a karaoke machine that can change the key) is to find out the right key that fits your vocal range. trial and error is best.

for example, James morrison's you give me something is in G#. It gets really hard especially at the bridge. So what i did was i increased it by 2 semitones (a tone) to A# (using a capo). And it was perfect.

If you use a piano or something, it helps if you know your chords and scales well, i guess. For guitar, it'll be the capo.

I've seen a thread about increasing vocal range so i thought i'd post something about singing in your own key. something like singing smart.

So yeah. Hope that'll help some of ya. =)

Do comment!

 

[sage]

Makes sense! But I don't know what the peeps are gonna say technique-wise, which you can find a lot here hehe... i'll wait to find out

 

[btherl]

capo transposition isn't always practical .. what if you want to transpose down 3 semitones? It's far enough that you probably can't tune down unless you change the strings. And a capo would have to be on the 9th fret!

In those cases, you'll probably have to re-arrange the song for the new key. Or you can use a box that can transpose the notes for you.

 

[stollenkisses]

question. is it possible that some songs just sound good in the original key and transposing it will make it just sound wrong? my guitarist used to say that it isn't possible to transpose an original he wrote.. i'm just wondering if he's just plain lazy or its impossible

 

[pf]

Yeah.....sometimes transposing to another key will make it sound sucky. Might lose the brightness of a song or certain other qualities. To me, the D key and the G key has a certain feel to it especially. If it is originally written in these keys, I try not to transpose.

question. is it possible that some songs just sound good in the original key and transposing it will make it just sound wrong? my guitarist used to say that it isn't possible to transpose an original he wrote.. i'm just wondering if he's just plain lazy or its impossible

 

[element47]

a good musician would be able to transpose any songs to any keys without affecting the feel or quality of the song. Or at least only minimal affect.

 

[pf]

Talking about the inherent unique colour of each key...Nothing to do with the musician.

Try transposing a C key song to D, then to E.

Try transposing a E key song to D, then to C.

Songs in D or E would sound brighter than C. If transposing down, the song might lose its brightness which does not match with the lyrics or feel to the song. Same goes for transposing up, melancholic song might not sound so melancholica anymore.

a good musician would be able to transpose any songs to any keys without affecting the feel or quality of the song. Or at least only minimal affect.

 

[visa]

I can't say I'm much of a singer or a musician, but I've found that no matter what key I write my songs in originally, when I transpose them to a key that allows me to fully use my vocals to their maximum expressive ability, the song sounds better and serves it's purpose better.

After all, what's the point of writing a song that sounds perfect in a certain key if the vocalist can't express properly?

 

[KhaiHan]

Yeah but to me i think its more important, as a singer, to be able to express the song in the best ability that i can without going SQUEEK!

lol

 

[visa]

exactly. at the end of the day an expressive singer over a less expressive piece is better than an expressive piece that the singer can't do justice to.

 

[sage]

Note that expressiveness is a subjective term..
Take William Hung for example - He was definitely expressive, not only in terms of physical expression (the.. er.. dance) but he vocally used accents and dynamics to punctuate certain words.. AND~ he was also singing in tune; He wasn't exactly as tonedeaf as the rest of the people auditioned..

So is he a bad or good singer?

Seems that expressiveness, although one of the key things in singing, requires more than what ---only the singer feels is expressive---.. and trust me when I say this, it varies between people...

There was a postee here (I can't remember who?) who posted his vocal recordings, I think it was him singing Eric Clapton? I remembered the recording to be thoroughly and pleasantly expressive, in the sense that the complete feel from his voice shines through, which I really liked. But it didn't do the song justice as some parts of the song required less or a different from of expression that it lacked. On the singer's point of view, that ought to be fine enough. But on the listener's view, the feel overweighs the general mood and emphasis of the song.

Personally I'm a big fan of vocal expressiveness (most of my songs are driven solely by that cos I'm not good enough to derive the same thing on any other instrument lol) but there are limits to how much and what type of expression is to be inhibited, and as for that, I can't comment on myself because the expressiveness I sing out is purely subjective (since I'm the composer / lyricist etc)..

Am I rambling out of my nose?

 

[KhaiHan]

Good post! I totally agree.

But at the same time, i think we also have to respect different singers interpret the same song differently. (I'm referring to singers who know how to really feel the song and accent and express the right parts)

I think that's how Marie Digby made Rihanna's Unfaithful sound good without really changing the melody much.

Anyway, another point to note is that, the singer who sings the song must at least be keep in mind the feelings and intention of the songwriter (composer/lyricist). Cos at some point, it comes back to my main point that different people may interpret the same song differently and furthermore, the singer and the songwriter may have different ideas for the song.

2 cents.

 

[sage]

Cos at some point, it comes back to my main point that different people may interpret the same song differently and furthermore, the singer and the songwriter may have different ideas for the song.

.. that's why i ended up becoming my own songwriter.. hehe

 

[KhaiHan]

.. that's why i ended up becoming my own songwriter.. hehe

yup yup. same here. its way easier...

But have u ever thought of getting other people to sing ur own songs. I mean, i'd never dare but just for the fun of it? ><

I mean, if it was nice, i'm ok with it. But sometimes, it just sounds weird right? My friend's band wants to do a cover of one of my songs but their in MY. I told them, "Lemme think about it."

><

 

[sage]

But have u ever thought of getting other people to sing ur own songs. I mean, i'd never dare but just for the fun of it?
I mean, if it was nice, i'm ok with it. But sometimes, it just sounds weird right? My friend's band wants to do a cover of one of my songs but their in MY. I told them, "Lemme think about it."

I'd be extremely flattered if someone wants to sing my songs ... well not sing, but cover more like..

I think if the songs aren't too personal for me, I wouldn't mind it.. but I have to admit not to be cocky or anything but my songs quite hard to sing.. The instrumentations are okay but I use lots of vocal layerings and harmonies that give the song its.. er.. "sound". And I'm very very particular with how it's expressed since they're personal songs... If they can't express it the same way, maybe[i/] I won't mind.. but if they're like.. turning a serious song into something comical then sorry man, I wouldn't like that at all... Doesn't mean that I don't like them technically or anything, but more like I don't want them butchering the message I'm trying to relay.. These songs are my babies!!!!!! So must be protective. lol.

Besides, if they're friends, they'd respect my songs and my decisions, or at least do a background check with what the songs are about with me.. and keep me in the loop of how they're doing it Then i'm totally okay with that...

Sorry haha but what's MY btw? MaYonaise?

 

[KhaiHan]

OMG. I totally share ur sentiments!

MY is MalaYsia. =)

 

[visa]

sage:

great post! I do agree with you.

I guess I need to refine my statement- i believe a situation in which a vocalist is more comfortable singing, without having to strain or struggle unnecessarily, is usually better for the song as a whole.

 

[sophronesis]

Talking about the inherent unique colour of each key...Nothing to do with the musician.

Try transposing a C key song to D, then to E.

Try transposing a E key song to D, then to C.

Songs in D or E would sound brighter than C. If transposing down, the song might lose its brightness which does not match with the lyrics or feel to the song. Same goes for transposing up, melancholic song might not sound so melancholica anymore.

it's true. i have no explanation for this. but some keys have a certain quality to it which really spoils the mood of for example a love song if you insist on playing it in a certain key. something is lost.

 

[ac]

I think you're mixing up the transposition and the timbre of the instrument. esp stringed ones. If you transpose along the same string, for guitars, you'll get less problems like this, though this isn't always an easy thing to do.

 

[pf]

Nope. Use the same instrument to play the same song the same way, except in different keys.

Even my friend, from the choir, does not play any instrument, tells me that she finds some songs is only nice in a certain particular key.