With our voices sounding different to us (I believe because of resonance through the bones and skull?), how does a singer know when they are on key compared to an external source?
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There’s a difference between pitch and tone. Otherwise, how can a trumpeter know when they are in pitch with a guitarist?
Our voices sound “deeper” to us but not “lower.” Like, we think we sound like a bassoon playing a note when we actually sound like alto clarinets playing that same exact note. Put another way, it’s like the difference between putting your earbuds in an empty jar and listening to that vs plugging them in your ears. Same notes, just different overall tone.
Actually, people learn to stay in key. It’s kind of “if I do this then my listeners hear that”. For quite many people it is difficult to find pitch.
When learn singing, almost nobody finds pitch perfectly, so it’s the role of the music teacher to condition you by feedback. It’s like learning to shave, first it makes no sense but then muscle memory learns it.
Besides the feedback from outside, early enough you learn identifying dissonance that your voice causes and learn how to correct it.
Often they don’t. That’s why most stage musicians have some type of monitor: either a speaker in front of them facing backwards or an in-ear monitor. I’ve found that a microphone and amplifier have been invaluable in training my singing voice because I can actually hear accurately what I’m singing.
The pitch of a sound is determined by the lowest harmonic (the fundamental frequency) and what it sounds like is determined by the higher harmonics.
The human body will make some harmonics louder and some harmonics quieter, changing the way it sounds while still preserving the fundamental pitch
Our brains listen to the fundamental to know what the pitch is
You feel it through the vibrations. When you don’t hit the note right? YOU FEEL IT. INSTANTLY.
Edit: BELOW THE STERNUM IN YOUR GUT.
I think about this all the time with impressionists. Bill Hader does amazing impressions, and how does he know he sounds just like Alan Alda as he’s doing it when what he hears his voice differently than what we hear?
You hear and feel the fundamental frequencies *more* inside your head than other people do.
Believe it or not experienced musicians are *feeling* dissonance and attempting to align waves to a pleasant ratio. They aren’t so much “listening” to themselves and making adjustments like you’d think.
If you are singing alone, that’s when you have to listen, and is much harder. When you are trying to match other instruments or singers all they listen to is the *other* stuff.
Because the fundamental pitch does not change, just the timbre, or quality of the sound.
The vocal tract is modeled as a harmonic oscillator (the vocal chords) that passes through a series of dynamic filters that amplify and dampen harmonic content above the fundamental pitch. These filters are a combination of natural development of the throat, tongue, palate and sinuses, and trained/learned elements. The raw harmonic content is supplied by the vocal chords, which are what you were born with, and the diaphragm pushing air through them. The diaphram can be trained to develop strength and control, as can the pitch control of the vocal chords. Damage to the vocal chords (overuse, disease or environmental damage like smoking) will also change the raw harmonic content – almost always for the worse.
For a singer, being able to hear their own voice in context with the music or other singers is essential to good pitch and harmonizing. Some can just hear their own voice. Others need more assistance – stage monitors, in-ear monitors. I use an earplug in one ear, which cuts out exterior sounds, and I can hear my own voice clearly. It does help.
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