How Do We Create Pitch?
Ever wondered how pitches are created in our Voice? This Blog is for you…
What is pitch?
According to Wikipedia pitch is defined as
'is a perceptual property of sounds that allows their ordering on a frequency-related scale or more commonly, pitch is the quality that makes it possible to judge sounds as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies.'
To put this in simpler words, the pitch tells us how high or low a sound is.
On a piano, each key, both black and white, is corresponding to a pitch and each pitch has a certain frequency, the higher the pitch, the higher the frequency.
By moving our fingers from one key to the next key on the piano we can play different pitches and form melodies.
Similarly, when we move our fingers on the guitar and pluck the string at the same time, we can play different pitches.
How do we create different pitches in our voice?
Our voice is partly a string instrument because we do have a set of vocal cords, also called vocal folds.
In order to create sound, the vocal folds need to come together (adduct) and vibrate. This is only done by moving the vocal towards each other until they touch while exhaling and providing enough airflow for them to continue vibrating.
If we want to create a higher pitch, our vocal folds need to thin out and stretch - kind of like a rubber band. Again, the airflow is very important to avoid pressing and tensing the vocal folds.
If we want to create a lower pitch, the vocal folds will become shorter and fatter.
Who tells the vocal folds to shorten or lengthen for different pitches?
The simple answer is YOU!
Just like going to the gym to train different muscle groups, through vocal lessons and focused practice, we learn to control our voice so that we 'command' it.
The most inner layer of the voice is a muscle - the Vocalis muscle - and it can be trained to produce pitches with precision and accuracy, in a variety of dynamics (how loud or soft you are singing), with vibrato, without vibrato etc.
It is therefore incorrect to say that one has to be born with a good voice otherwise they cannot learn to sing. Yes, not everyone will be born with an instrument like Pavarotti or Celine Dion, but much everybody can learn to control their instrument and make it sound the best way possible with their given anatomy.
The only question is: How much do you want it? :)