Weeks 1-2 · range · natural speaking pitch (P50)
Find the pitch your voice naturally sits on.
The rule
pass: 3 captures inside a 2-semitone band
Each capture is plotted on a semitone axis. Passing means the three dots cluster inside the emerald ring — within 2semitones of each other, so the median is trustworthy. The failure mode is the grey scatter on the right: captures spread across 3–4 semitones means your speaking voice hasn’t settled yet (just woke up, dehydrated, whispering before).
Hear it first
Two reference clips. Conversational counting from a settled voice — flat, even prosody, all on one pitch zone. Then the same count from someone reading-aloud or acting — pitch swings wildly, terrible for this measurement. Match the first.
What’s happening.In unprepared speech, most people sit on a 3-semitone band of pitches — the physiologically cheapest range to phonate at. Bel canto, EBVP and EVT all anchor singing-range development at this “speaking center” (P50). Push too far above it and you’ll strain; sing too far below it and the voice rumbles into fry. Knowing where it is changes everything downstream.
Why three captures, not one. Speech pitch wobbles with mood, hydration and how long you’ve been awake. One capture is unreliable; three captures with a 2-semitone spread gives a median we can trust. If the spread is bigger, the test fails and we say so — better to re-run than to build your singing range around a bad anchor.
Why this is the foundation. Single-note-match starts inside your speaking center. Hum-onset, so-mi-solfege and every early melodic lesson centres on this pitch. Single-note-match without a speaking center is just guessing what range to drill in. Lock this first.
Session ahead
3 captures · 4 s each · stable within ±2 semitones to lock the center.