Exercises to Develop Perfect Pitch (Singing Teachers)

[Matt Pocock]

Perfect pitch as in she can pick notes out of the air? Wow, that’s crazy! Sounds like an ideal student, what kind of exercises do you need?

[Beckie Tunnicliffe]

Well it’s very, very basic at the moment, she does piano lessons as well and I can play a short tune and she only has to half-look and she can play it back perfectly. I think with development she will be able to just pick notes out of the air but I just don’t know any exercises to do this.

I have the aural tests for ABRSM exams but there must be some more ‘fun’ ways for a 6 year old haha!

[Matt Pocock]

Ok cool – I have an exercise called ‘chord farming’, where you teach them the harmonic rules of a minor chord, major chord etc, then give them the first note and say ‘hum all the notes of a minor chord’. Gets them thinking about the relative notes of that scale. I usually use it on older kids but you can make it more game-like for her:) Was that the kind of thing you were thinking about?

[Beckie Tunnicliffe]

That’s brilliant thank you!

[Veronica Wakeling]

How to pick the right notes out of the air,like magic.The song Doe a deer,Ray a drop of golden sun,Me a name I call my self ,Far a long long way to run,Sew a needle pulling thread…etc…is in the key of C Major,so as long as the student has the song in the head with Do the lead note they are able to change that to cdefgabc drmfsltd.So if you ask for E flat its,me a name I call myself in the song …The clever bit follows of sharps and flats too..if you like it …come back Cheers Veronica.