Intonation
- Understand the causes of insecure intonation and how to correct them
Ensure that learners sing in tune throughout their range, including awkward intervals and chromatic passages.
In popular styles, the judicious use of portamento, both upwards and downwards, can be used for expressive purposes.
Ask learners to practise singing down a chromatic scale, then back up to the correct start note (which has been internalised), using different vowel sounds.
When singing a chromatic scale, it helps to think of small intervals going down and large intervals going up.
Continue to encourage learners to analyse the possible causes of poor intonation.
Encourage learners to be aware of ‘darker’ vowels, e.g. ‘o’ as in ‘for’, which might cause flat singing, and ‘brighter’ vowels, e.g. ‘ee’, which might cause sharp singing.
Remind learners that voiced consonants, e.g. l, m, n, r, z, should always be centred on the note.
Ask learners to practise singing combination words on one pitch, e.g. ‘late’ on a minim.
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