How to hold a note steady

What it sounds like

You land on the note and then it moves. Sometimes it drifts one way, sometimes it wavers unevenly. It is not the regular, controlled oscillation of vibrato — it is a note that will not sit still.

What is actually being measured

The proportion of sustained, voiced time where the pitch track wanders beyond a stable band. Vibrato is excluded: a regular oscillation at a steady rate is a technique, and the analyzer reports its rate separately.

Instability opens as a problem when more than 15% of the sustained singing is unstable, and counts as severe at 50%.

Why it happens

An unsteady note is a note with nothing holding it up. The usual causes are inconsistent breath pressure, an unsupported larynx that moves with the airflow, and — very often — trying to hold a note longer than the breath behind it can afford.

How to fix it

• —Hold shorter notes properly before holding long ones badly. Five steady seconds beats ten unsteady ones.
• —Sustain on a hum first. A hum removes the vowel and the articulation, leaving only the thing that is unsteady.
• —Keep the ribcage expanded through the note instead of collapsing into it. The collapse is what the pitch is following.
• —If the note wavers at a regular rate of roughly 4 to 7 Hz, that is vibrato rather than instability — a different thing, and not a fault.

The drill

Sustained single notes against a reference tone, starting at a few seconds and lengthening as the pass streak grows, plus breath-support holds asking for an even tone with no wobble.

Common questions