Success Stories

Stories from people using Sing & See in their voice training

If you would like to contribute something please add your own story here


Using Sing & See to help improve pitching

Posted on December 3rd, 2012 by admin

This is a demo of how I use Sing&See in practice to help me work on a pitch problem.

Here, after a piano cue, I am singing a fifth interval, from A3 to E4 (actually the second two notes in the song “Edelweiss”), and the problem I have is that I sing them flat. To me, at the time, they sound in tune, but if I listen to the audio I don’t like what I hear.

The trace clearly shows that I was singing about a quarter-tone flat. Read the rest of this entry »

Cross instrument success at the Elder Conservatorium

Posted on August 17th, 2012 by Guest

I used to use Sing and See sporadically in the teaching of Mixed Belt to both Classical students and the Jazz students in workshops. The spectrogram shows clearly the shift of energy to the upper partials in Mixed Belt. It has also been very useful in language classes when working with vowels.

Recently I have been been using the pitch trace frequently during one to one voice lessons.

The biggest recent success has been an Honours Flute player who was not reaching the desired standard because of out of tune playing. I suggested she do her Minor Recital in Voice. I have used the pitch trace extensively with this girl, training her to hear the notes BEFORE she goes near the onset. This has been very successful with her singing, but most exciting was that she has just won the local Flute Eisteddfod against very good competition.

I have set up a practice room with the program for the singers, but it is also beeing used extensively by the string players who want to see where their vibrato is actually sitting.

Patrick Power,Elder Conservatorium of Music.Adelaide

By: Patrick Power O.N.Z.M.

Sing & See in Finland

Posted on May 11th, 2012 by admin

Recently the Pohjois-Kymen musiikkiopistossa put on a workshop about using technology in music teaching. The College’s cello teacher Mikko Lehtola has been using Sing & See and demonstrated this to a group of singing teachers at a workshop on May 8th. He is leading a project –  “LABRA – making instrumental studies more effecient through use of music technology” – which is funded by the Finnish ministry of education.

Mikko Lehtola is also using Sing & See in teaching his cello students – and some other instrumentalists, violinists and flautists, are also finding it useful.

Here is a photo from the news report of the event (English translation here) showing the use of Sing & See on a large smart display.

Sing & See in Finland

18-year-old Sally Mattila, rehearsing with singing teacher Anne Korpelainen and the computer program Sing & See. Photo by Tiina Aho (kouvolansanomat.fi)

“Laulun ja soiton opiskelu on siirtynyt nykyaikaan, julistaa pilke silmäkulmassaan Emilia Vesalainen. Pohjois-Kymen musiikkiopistossa laulua opettava Vesalainen on yhdessä kollegansa Anne Korpelaisen kanssa innoissaan Labra-hankkeesta, joka tekee tietotekniikasta työkalun musiikkiopintoihin.

Elokuussa alkaneen hankkeen ideoija ja vetäjä on opiston sellon soiton lehtori Mikko Lehtola, jonka mukaan musiikkiteknologia selvästi kiinnostaa nuoria — enemmän kuin aikuisia. Tällä hetkellä musiikkiopintojaan tehostaa tietotekniikalla noin 10 Mikko Lehtolan sello-oppilasta. Lisäksi joukkoon kuuluu muun muassa viulisteja, huilisteja ja klarinetisteja.

Labra-hankkeessa mukana olevan oppilaan treeniapuna kotona ovat tietokone, lisensoidut harjoitusohjelmat, kaiuttimet ja mikrofoni. Tietokoneruudulle ilmestyvät nuotit ja kursori, joka osoittaa, missä kohdin kappale etenee. Suorituksen lopuksi ohjelma antaa palautteen.”

Using Sing & See in Barbershop

Posted on February 3rd, 2012 by admin

As I’m sure you know, the barbershop style of music, and especially the “ringing” of chords, demands that each member of the quartet be on the same pitch and have the same vowel sound.

I use Sing and See to check my pitch on songs while practicing my part alone, especially on those songs where I have a bass pickup notes, to ensure that I am exactly on pitch. The visual feedback helps tremendously in establishing the correct pitches into my brain muscle memory, much more so than trying to match a pitch pipe.

I also use the spectrogram to check the vowel matching of the quartet. We can easily see when the chord is ringing by the explosion of color all the way up the spectrum.

Thanks for a great product and look forward to continue to using it to help our quartet.

Walt Lammert

Sight Singing

Posted on February 3rd, 2012 by admin

I’m an aspiring composer, and I use Sing & See primarily to work on my
intonation for sight singing exercises. When I originally purchased the product,
I was taking classical voice lessons, and I had hoped to use the spectrograph
feature to help iron out problems with my technique. A few years ago, however, I
decided to focus more on my composing.

When first doing a sight-singing exercise, I use the Record feature in Sing & See so
I can go back and check my work (I don’t look at the graph while I’m singing the
exercise for the first time, but I do when practicing it afterwards.) It’s not
too cumbersome, but if exercises were included with Sing & See, it would be
great if it could display the correct pitch curve for the exercise and compare
the one the user sings as an overlay, highlighting any deviation from the
correct answer. Then it might be apparent to the user that “fa” is a problem
interval or the minor third “me,” etc, after the user notices that it keeps
coming up as being sung with poor intonation.

Jason

This program is a great help when you have pitching problems

Posted on January 29th, 2012 by admin

This program is a great help when you have pitching problems. It hasn’t yet made me a great singer, but that is not the fault of the program. I have some minor speech difficulties and have now found that I possibly need an operation, but I’m sure the program will help more if you don’t have any problems in this area!

Best of all is the customer service. My installation of the software mysteriously stopped loading and my email requests for assistance were quickly and professionally dealt with. He was even willing to remotely access my PC, but in the end this was not necessary as he found that it was a routine Vista upgrade that was causing the problem. He talked me through changing the settings on the Sing & See program to get it working again. Very pleased with product and service!

by Gareth

Feritta – Professional recording artist

Posted on November 25th, 2011 by Guest

Hi Everyone

My name is a Feritta. I’m a professional recording artist and two time winner of Best Female Solo Artist Australia in the International Music Aid Awards.

Sing&See has been a very helpful tool in assisting my vocal technique and development.

Read the rest of this entry »

Rick – Amateur singer

Posted on November 14th, 2011 by Guest

Having been involved in music since a youth, singing in many choirs, I found that neglect and misuse can have a major effect on my vocal skills. So it was with me.

Sure, I have sung in church choirs, but that was about it for the past 20 or so years. I recently accepted a job in Utah and one of the first things that a friend jokingly told me was that I should audition for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I accepted their challenge and started the process. For those unfamiliar with the process, basically it is in 3 parts: you send in a CD with you singing a hymn and some vocalises. Next part if you make the first is to take a 3 hour written and auditory musical skills exam. And if you do well, the final phase is a face to face audition with the conductor, associate conductor and a few other folks. Where you sing a hymn and sight read in front of them!

I made it all the way to the third phase where I failed miserably. After that experience, I vowed to improve myself. I am now taking voice lessons (at age 52 by the way), and found the Sing and See software. How I wished I found this earlier.

Using the software and playing back, both visually and hearing myself, I found areas that I can improve. I love how the spectrograph shows you your voice and the areas that you need to work on.

I am more confident that the next round of auditions, I will be improved in those weak areas where I was not really aware until I purchased Sing and See.

Thanks for a great product!

By: Rick Graham

Patrice Barnes – Singing Teacher in Calgary

Posted on November 4th, 2011 by admin
Patrice Barnes has a successful voice studio in Calgary, Alberta and has been using Sing & See with most of her students to great effect. “I cannot say enough good things about Sing and See because daily while working with students, I can find another use for Sing and See. It is the best thing I have been able to introduce to my Studio and all the results are so very positive!”

Read the rest of this entry »

Jessie West – singer / songwriter

Posted on October 31st, 2011 by admin
I purchased Sing & See online, in a panic, the very evening I was making my debut performance as one half of a duet at a local open mike. My friend and I had signed up for this well-attended venue weeks in advance, and I had been singing “Bye, Bye Love” over and over, many times a day — singing along with both The Everly Brothers and Simon and Garfunkle recordings, since we were undecided about which version we wanted to use.

Read the rest of this entry »