Free · five steps · ears first, then the microphone
How to sing in tune: find the step where it slips.
Singing in tune is a chain: hear that two notes differ, hear which way, keep a tune in your head, land on a note, then match what you hear. Most people who say they can't sing lose it at one link, not all of them. Start at step one and stop where it gets hard. That's the one to practise.
- Do you hear a difference, and which way?Higher or lower
Two tones, tap higher or lower. The gap shrinks each time you're right. Get the big gaps and your ears are fine for singing; most people's are.
ears - Can you keep a tune in your head?Melody memory test
Two short tunes, same or different, one note longer each round. You can't sing back what you can't hold.
ears - Can you land on one note and stay there?What note am I singing?
Sing a steady vowel and read the note and the cents. Do it five times: if the cents wander, the note drifts after you start.
mic - Can you match notes someone plays you?Can I sing in tune?
Five notes played, each sung back. You hear yours next to the target, so the gap is in your ears, not only a number.
mic - Can you stay there against a track?Brumm, the app
Hum a line over a running beat. The first line you hum can set the key, so the track sits where your voice already is.
mic
What each step tells you
- The big gaps in step 1 are hard.
- That's rare, and it's the one case where singing practice should wait. Play Higher or lower for five minutes a day first; the singing comes after. Missing only the tiny gaps is normal, trained singers miss those too.
- Steps 1 and 2 are fine, 3 or 4 are off.
- The most common case, and the most practisable one. Your ears work; your voice hasn't learnt to follow them yet. It's coordination, like learning to throw at a target, and it gets better with short, regular goes.
- You start on the note and slide away.
- Usually breath. The note sags as the air runs out, or climbs when you push. Shorter notes, a steady vowel, a little less volume.
- Fine alone, lost with the track.
- Step 5 is its own skill: with music around you, you hear yourself less. Sing more quietly than the track, or keep one earphone out so your own voice reaches you.
Calm practice
- Sing where your voice is easy, around where you speak, not at the top or the bottom. In tune comes first in the middle.
- Listen first, then sing. Let the note finish, hear it once more in your head, then start.
- Hum before you open. An "mm" finds the note with less effort than an "ah"; open into the vowel once you're on it.
- Slide in from below, like a slow siren, and stop when it sounds right. A slide teaches the voice where the note is.
- Ten minutes, not an hour. A short go every day does more than a long one on Sunday. Stop when your voice gets tired or scratchy.
Seven days, ten minutes a day
Nothing here is saved, so write down what you got on day one. Day seven is the same test again.
- Day 1 · Where you start
Steps 1 to 4, once each. Write down how far you got in Higher or lower and your score in Can I sing in tune. Then three minutes of humming one comfortable note.
- Day 2 · One note
What note am I singing: the same comfortable note five times. Aim for the same cents each time, not for zero.
- Day 3 · Slides
Slide up into that note from below, five times, then sing it straight. Then the same with a note two steps higher.
- Day 4 · Match
Can I sing in tune, one round. Replay the pairs you missed and hear which way you were off.
- Day 5 · Hum first
Two rounds of step 4. On each note, hum it quietly before you sing it out.
- Day 6 · A track
Hum two bars into Brumm over the beat, then sing the same line again on top of it, quietly.
- Day 7 · Again
Steps 1 to 4 again, and compare with day 1. Whatever moved, keep doing that.
What these tools can't tell you
They read pitch: the note, and how far off it is in cents (a hundred cents is a semitone; a few tens either way is what most people hear as in tune). They don't judge your voice, its sound, or whether you should sing. A week helps most people some. Nobody can promise how much, and a teacher hears things a phone can't.
If your voice hurts or goes hoarse, stop for the day.
The two singing steps open the microphone on a tap and close it a few seconds later. Your voice is read in the browser and nothing is kept or sent. How the site counts visits.