Pitch Matching Game
Match and produce target pitches with voice.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Find the comfortable pitch before doing anything else with it. Humming and holding is how it gets located, and once located it becomes a reference the student can return to. The comparison card — which is easier on your voice — is where the student notices effort rather than being told about it, and that noticing is what makes the rest usable. Ten minutes covers the sequence.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentThe student uses a matched pitch on their own. Listen without reminding.Log as correct
- Visual reminderShow the pitch with your hand: low, middle or high.Log as cued
- Verbal reminderSay a short reminder, such as 'Match the pitch.'Log as cued
- ModelSay it yourself using the technique; the student copies, then tries the card again.Log as cued
Voice work belongs after an ENT examination. If hoarseness lasts or gets worse, stop and refer back to the physician.
Adjust it
Match single hums before words, starting in the student's comfortable range.
Match a short sliding pitch, then say a phrase at the matched pitch.
Matching IEP goal
Given a modelled low, middle or high hum, Student will match the pitch in 8 of 10 attempts across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than a visual reminder.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Twelve pitch tasks building from imitation to control: match a low hum like a foghorn; match a high hum like a mosquito; slide your voice from low to high like a siren; hum your most comfortable pitch and hold it for five seconds; which is easier on your voice, the very high one or your normal one; read one sentence staying on your comfortable pitch. The last few are the point and the first few are how you get there.
What to listen for
Listen for a habitual pitch sitting well above or below the comfortable one. Many students with voice concerns speak at a pitch that costs them effort, and the gap between where they hum comfortably and where they talk is the useful measurement. Watch the sentence card, which is where a found pitch either transfers to speech or does not. A habitual pitch that costs effort can have a structural cause, so a student hoarse for more than about four weeks should be seen by an ENT before pitch becomes the target.
Carrying it home
Humming for five seconds before speaking is a two-second habit that can be attached to something existing — before answering the phone, or on the way into a class. Nothing about it looks like an exercise.
What's in this activity
- Listen and match: a low hum, like a foghorn.
- Listen and match: a high hum, like a mosquito.
- Slide your voice from low to high, like a siren going up.
- Slide your voice from high to low, like a slide whistle.
- Match three notes in a row: low — middle — high.
- Hum your most comfortable pitch and hold it for 5 seconds.
- Say "hello" at a low pitch, then at your normal pitch.
- Which is easier on your voice — the very high one, or your normal one?
- Match the therapist's pitch, then say a word on that pitch.
- Hum up a staircase: five steps up, five steps down.
- Find your comfortable pitch, then count to five on it.
- Read one sentence staying on your comfortable pitch.
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Third through eighth grade, for pitch and resonance work.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all twelve tasks play with no login.
- What is a comfortable pitch?
- The pitch at which the voice takes the least effort to produce, usually found by humming. Speaking well above or below it costs effort over a day, which is why locating it comes before anything else.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.