Pitch
Developing musicianship
Explore approaches to teaching pitch
Pitch describes the highness or lowness of a note. A melody (or tune) is made up of a series of pitches, moving up and down.
Learning to hear pitch
In this area of learning, children will use their voices to explore the rise and fall of pitch, its contour and shape, then work towards being able to identify higher and lower pitch, match their pitch to others, and hear pitch in their heads. In the same way that being able to keep a steady beat underpins an understanding of rhythm, the ability to hear pitch in our heads supports children to understand melody (and later harmony), to read and write notated music, and hold their own part within a group.
My children can't sing in tune!
While some children naturally sing 'in tune', others need more practice. It is common for children to confuse their singing and speaking voices. Children's voices are naturally higher than adults, and we can help children to pitch accurately by ensuring that we don't sing too low. Use the accompanying tracks and videos to help you to find the starting note. Men's voices are naturally lower but children take this for granted. There is therefore no need for men to alter the pitch of their voice.
Exploring the voice and finding the singing voice
A first step in understanding melody is to explore a range of timbre (speaking, whispering, singing) and to feel how the voice can slide up and down in pitch. Singing songs that use the cuckoo call notes (so and mi) are a good next step as this is the most natural interval for children to sing as it features a lot in their play (e.g. ‘mam-my’, ‘dad-dy’, ‘coo-ee’ etc.). The relationship between these two pitches makes the cuckoo call distinctive, and it is useful in learning about melody because it helps children to find their singing voice and to be able to track pitch. Sometimes children add another note (la) to create a three note tune, for instance 'na na na na na na', 'I'm the King of the castle', 'I'm bigger than you are').