The voice lessons in Erol Singer’s Studio are always customized to your exact vocal range. In other words, the application decides what notes to play in each exercise based on the lowest and the highest notes you can sing*. To take advantage of this feature, you will need to either let Erol Singer’s Studio know what your range is (if you know it), or let the app measure your range for you.
Everything related to your range is accessible via the My Range tab of the app. The green bubble over the piano keyboard represents your current vocal range, which you can adjust using any combination of the following techniques:
- Using Automatic Range Detection
- Selecting a predefined vocal range (e.g. Tenor, Soprano, etc.)
- Manually adjusting your exact range
You can also combine either of the first two techniques with the last one. For example, you can first use Automatic Range Detection to determine your range, and then manually adjust it to fit your needs.
Automatic Range Detection
If you are a beginner, you may want to use the Automatic Range Detection feature to give you a rough estimate of your range. To activate it, simply double-tap the green bubble on the piano keyboard. Once the bubble starts pulsating with a red glow, say a long “ahh” in your normal speaking voice. The app should automatically detect the pitch of your voice, and shrink and move the bubble to the corresponding note. Now, say a long “ahh” again, but this time higher in your range without pushing or straining your voice. You can later repeat the automatic range detection after a thorough warmup, and slowly build up to your full range by first singing a scale or a melody (just remember that you will need to sustain the highest and lowest notes you can sing to demonstrate to the app that you are comfortable hitting those notes). Your initial goal should be to find notes that are comfortably within your range without pushing your limits. After you determine the highest note you can comfortably sing, repeat the long “ahh” in a lower pitch voice. Remember not to strain or push your voice and go only as low as feels natural and comfortable. It is okay if your starting range is limited; not everyone has a 5-octave range like Mariah Carey, but as you practice and improve, your range will naturally expand at both ends.
The app stops automatic range detection on its own when you change tabs (e.g. when you go to the Training tab to practice lessons), but if you would like to stop it yourself, just tap on the piano keyboard.
Selecting a Predefined Vocal Range
If you know your voice classification, you can select one of the predefined voice types (Bass, Baritone, or Tenor for males and Contralto, Mezzo-Soprano, or Soprano for females) by tapping on the corresponding label. Note that these ranges are approximate, and you will likely need to fine-tune your selection after a few practices using the manual adjustment explained below.
Manual Selection/Adjustment of Vocal Range
After you use automatic range detection or select a predefined vocal range as explained above, you may want to fine tune your exact range manually, especially after you go through a few exercises. For example, if the lessons consistently play notes that you are unable to sing comfortably, you should decrease your range. On the other hand, if you believe you can easily sing lower and/or higher notes, you may want to increase your selected range so that the application can better customize the lessons for you.
For manual adjustment:
- Hold and slide the center of the bubble with your finger to move your selected range
- Hold and slide the left edge of the bubble to change the low end of your range
- Hold and slide the right edge of the bubble to change the high end of your range
Note that as you get better, your range will also expand, and you will want to modify the size of the green bubble over the keyboard to match your new skill level.
* This app uses some additional logic to determine the best range to use for each lesson. For example, warmup and cool-down lessons generally don’t use your entire range, and neither do exercises that involve sounds that are harder to reproduce in higher ranges such as ‘mm.’ Some other lessons, such as “Range Extension ‘Ooh-Ah'” play a couple of semitones just out of your range to push your limits.
When it says “customizing lesson, 2.2 octaves”, what does that mean? My lowest comfortable note in my range is about the bottom 2 notes of the baritone range and my highest comfortable note is a about 3 or 4 notes higher than the baritone range. Is my “range” in octaves the number of notes I can sing divided by 8? Stupid and elementary question, but just trying to understand. Thanks.
Every octave has 12 semitones (white AND black keys on the piano); or 7 notes if you only count the tones that are part of the Major scale (e.g. only the white keys on the piano keyboard for C-Major) — the 8th note takes you into the next octave. So when the app says 2.2 octaves, that means your range is 2.2 x 12 semitones wide, i.e. about 26 semitones. You can think of an octave simply as the distance between two neighboring numbers on the piano keyboard.
Can different users use the app and have their progress saved individually .
No, not currently. Apple doesn’t currently support multi-user login on iOS devices. We are a bit reluctant to add this feature ourselves, because if/when Apple adds multi-user support, any custom solution would be incompatible with theirs. Having said that, if they don’t add this feature sometime soon, we’ll look into supporting it ourselves within the app, as we believe many family members share a single iPad.
I will be great!
Did a multiple user function ever get added? Or if my child uses the app on my iPad, and I use it on my phone does each device store different data, or is it all synced online?
There’s no online synching of data at the moment; each device has its own data. Your child can use the app on your iPad without your data getting intermixed. Happy singing to you both!
Is it possible to slow down the tempo of an entire exercise?
You can change the tempo for a single key at a time. The reason we don’t support altering the tempo of an entire exercise at once is because the tempo of each exercise has been carefully tuned for effective voice training and altering it would result in inaccurate scoring and inefficient vocal training. However, you can practice an entire exercise in a different tempo simply by repeating the pattern in all the keys you’d like.
On range detection, should males include their falsetto? Also, on ear training scales and exercises in general, how do you speed up the exercises with out it ending one round and saying “check your range.” I would like to practice and perfect some runs but this issues are preventing
Falsetto is a commonly misused term, so I’ll stick to the terms Chest Voice and Head Voice. In most circles Head Voice and Falsetto are used interchangeably, while others refer to a weak/breathy Head voice as Falsetto.
You should work on building both your Chest voice and Head voice, so yes, you should practice your higher notes up to the point that feels comfortable. With practice, your Head voice should get stronger and become more resonant, and it should simply sound better. Never sing higher than you comfortably can though; it’s better to start conservative and expand your range as you get better.
One thing that’s important to note is that you shouldn’t try to take your Chest voice any higher than the notes where it feels comfortable. Taking your Chest voice higher can cause a lot of tension in your muscles and you can hurt your throat. You should release any tension and transition into Head voice as the notes get higher, before any tension starts.
As for speeding up the ear training scales, you can do that one key at a time. Simply press your finger on the piano keyboard within the lessons and slide it up to adjust the tempo. Currently we don’t support changing the speed of an entire exercise, but you can practice any part of the exercise at a different tempo using the above trick.
About last may I was sing soprano high As Bs and even Cs in full voice without hurting my vocal cords. Though is June my brother made me scream really high and loud I was reckless with my voice. I can still access the same high whistle notes and low note but I’m having trouble going over an F#5 and I can’t hold a note for that long in the upper belting register without cracking. When I glide into the upper belting register after I sing for a while my voice deteriorates and I can’t sing in that register for another few hours. Please help!? Lol like for real……. Over the summer I was screaming and wasn’t vocalizing the way I was last April, May. Maybe that’s it, but the voice hurts sometimes as well if anyone has something to share please do! 🙂 thx
Your brother’s advice doesn’t sound like a good one and goes against all our advice within the app. In any case, I’ve forwarded your question to our vocal coach, and this is what she had to say:
“I would suggest she consult a vocal coach who has experience working with injured voices. It would be good to see a doctor or voice and speech therapist too.
Sometimes after a voice has experienced an injury it may retain some areas of tension or strain even after it has recovered, because other muscles have been compensating for the injured areas. I would especially avoid belting at this point as it is strenuous on the vocal cords at the best of times. Focus on making sure your voice is fully supported, relaxed and resonating in the most natural way through your whole range.”
Just a friendly suggestion. I think it would be cool to have your scores shown in real time as you go through the lession. For example, on the beginner La La La lession. When I sing through the first set. It should show my score as I go and the total as I go on from the next one to and so on until that specific lession is over. So by the time the lession is over I already know what my score is or if I passed my old score instead of it being a mistery until I complete the lession.
Cool idea. I agree.
As my vocal range increases should I go back and restart the beginner 1 exercises again or stick with the program I’m on? Which is intermediate 1?
You can continue to practice the lower levels every now and then in order to refresh your skills and memory about the techniques. The breathing techniques taught in the lower levels are very important, so use the techniques you’ve learned there in the higher level programs too. The more variation you use, the less you’d get bored of any single training program. Practicing different patterns will also help with your ability to move from note to note in different parts of the scales. You can also create your own mix of lessons, e.g. with some from Beginner 1, some from Intermediate 1, etc. using the Favorites list, and use that as a training program. If you use the favorites list, make sure you don’t skip the breathing exercises though.
Love love love your app!!
Just wondering what all the zig zaggy bubble area means showing your history and current lesson?
Is it showing whether your range is increasing or?
Cheers!
Glad to hear you’re enjoying the app. The history section shows how your pitch accuracy and range have been improving over time. The history starts with the oldest session(s) at the bottom, and ends with the current session up top. The left and right edges of each row show the lowest and highest notes you could hit, i.e. your range for the respective session. The colors within each row show how well you match the corresponding notes (aligned with the piano buttons at the top).
Hey there, I’ve been enjoying this app for the last few months. However, I upgraded my iPhone a few days ago and am now running the most recent iOS, and the “detect my range” feature is no longer working. When I double tap the green button, nothing happens. Please advise – I’m already bummed I lost all of my previous scores. Thanks!!
Talia
Hi Talia. There was an issue on newer devices where your tap had to be very accurate (i.e. it still worked, but you had to tap the same spot). We’ve fixed this issue in v2.0 of the app, making double tap very easy again. Please update your copy for free from the App Store.
On the daily graph, which is “better”, darker colors or lighter colors? Ie, if it’s a bright green, is it good or bad versus a darker green or black?
Bright green is better. In v1.x, the transparent areas (which look greyish due to the grey background) used to represent areas where your pitch requires improvement. Starting with v2.0, this has changed. In the new default color scheme, green is good, blue is bad, and transparent areas are notes you haven’t sung in the session.
I love this app. It makes me want to practice. I have wanted to know my range for a long time and this app makes it clear. If you are looking for ideas, here is one. I like the piano keys showing me my range. It would also be nice to see it on the musical staff, treble clef and bass clef. I can translate the piano keys to the staves in my head but it would make a nice visual effect too.