Why You're Singing Flat

There can be several reasons why you are singing flat. Some of these reasons are a bit simpler, but some have deeper implications and causes that need to be ironed out.

First of all and simplest, you may simply just need to practice more. You may just not have the correct pitch in your head and need to sing more.

Second simplest, you are under-supporting. I have a whole article on singing with support you can see by clicking here but generally support is the idea of using breath to maintain a strong foundation for you to sing upon. Without support, there won't be enough power for your voice and you'll slowly lose pitch.

On a slightly more complicated level, you may not be audiating the pitch correctly. This means you do not have the idea of the pitch mentally. You may be singing and listening to yourself after the fact and hoping for the best rather than hearing the note mentally and then singing to match that pitch. Its simply a switch of order, think first then sing rather than sing and then think. When in the wrong order you'll often hear alot of sliding to pitches and notes that are REALLY close but not quite there.

At a more complicated level, you could have the correct pitch in your head and support well, but still end up singing flat. When this is the case, I usually check passaggios to make sure the singer isn't producing pitch from the wrong placement, vocal fold connection to ensure they are not too closed or there isn't too much weight on the voice, or I check for tension that could be interrupting or modifying the support .

The biggest takeaway I'd hope you get from this, is not that singing flat is a huge problem you need to fix right now, but that the only factor that caused flatness without it being a symptom was the mental component. Think first, then sing. All of the other options were caused by other things and focusing too hard on fixing the tuning may ignore the cause. While its a good indicator something is happening, its not the end of the world. As always, if you need additional help, please click here to sign up for a singing lesson.