Singing

The use of the singing voice for developing the ear of the young string player should not be ignored. The voice represents a window into the aural awareness of a student. A string teacher can use students' vocal achievement as an assessment tool for tuning readiness. For example, if students can correctly match pitch with their singing voice and sing intervals like the octave and Perfect 5th, they will likely be able to tune their instruments, and adjust pitch when they play an out of tune note.

Training students in the use of a solfege system (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do) can be very beneficial. When playing a stringed instrument, as in singing, correct intonation ultimately depends on the player's ability to hear the various intervals in their mind. In playing tonal music, intonation also depends on the player's ability to hear pitches in relation to tonic. For example, the pitch C will be placed in different places depending on if it is functioning as the 4th scale degree of the key of G, or as the leading tone in the key of Db. Solfege helps students develop an awareness of the subtelties of intonation.

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