Pitch Matching Game

Voice · Grades 3–8 · 12 cards · about 10 min

Match and produce target pitches with voice.

Listen and match: a low hum, like a foghorn.
Say it out loud

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.

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.

How to use it in a session

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.

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.

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.