Controversies

A 'PITCH'ED BATTLE

This is dedicated to Les Hendren (on the Music Network committee), whose views differ considerably from those expressed below . . . .

When singing hymns, what is the ‘lowest common denominator’ (or the ‘highest common denominator’ for that matter)?

The pitch of a note is defined by the number of sound vibrations per second, and it does matter whether you sing a piece of music at the pitch it is written at (rather than above or below that pitch because you think that it’s too ‘low’ or too ‘high’).

Some people have what is known as ‘perfect pitch’, which to a certain extent they rely on to ‘know’ how things sound when playing or singing from written music.  Changing the key is confusing, especially if you are ‘sight singing’.  Personally I find it difficult to play using an auto-transpose function on a keyboard - if something is written in G major and auto-transposed to F major, instead of still playing the F#s as I should, my brain tries to compensate for the first few lines by playing Fs and Bbs - sometimes with disastrous results!

It is perhaps a little ‘anecdotal’ to say that some musical keys sound ‘cheerful’, and some ‘sad’, but some people would feel that keys with sharps sound ‘brighter’ than keys with flats.  So a Gloria in D major works well, sung in Db the same piece of music sounds duller.  Trying to sing high can be exhilarating, and requires you to try and sing out loudly in a way that singing low doesn’t.  I would suggest that, low settings encourage the ‘muttering’ type of singing rather than ‘singing out’.

The important question, then, is what range of notes can most congregations expect to cope with, and do hymn books supply music in these ranges?  Most music text books that I have looked in, seem to suggest that very high notes are possible, and even though I am in support of ‘higher’ rather than ‘lower’ keys - I think they are exaggerated.

I will therefore quote from a book published by a widely recognised organisation - ‘The AB Guide to Music Theory Part II’ by Eric Taylor published by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.  It suggests sopranos have a range from C (middle C) to A’, altos from G (below middle C) to D’ and tenors and basses an octave lower than sopranos and altos (with the suggestion that basses can sing low F). It is noted that this is a rough-and-ready guide, and that trained singers may be able to manage a few extra notes, and untrained singers may have a more limited range.

To me, this suggests that ‘most people’ can sing in the range from middle C to D’; if hymns are pitched below this there are difficulties for people with high voices, if they are pitched above this there are difficulties for people with low voices.  So you could assess a Bb (below middle C) causing as much difficulty to a congregation as a (high) E’. 

I would argue that the context of the high or low note in a piece of music affects its difficulty - it’s hard to start or end a piece of music with a very high or low note.  A high or low note which is reached gradually is easier to sing than one as the second note of a large interval.  For example, ‘Morning is broken’ is usually sung in C major.  It starts on middle C, an octave arpeggio is sung (C-E-G-C’), the C’ is sustained, and it then moves to D’.  This shouldn’t be too hard even for someone with a low voice.  However, if you sing this hymn in Bb major, then it starts on low Bb.  This would be a hard starting note for someone with a high voice.  It then moves quickly to D, and the person with the high voice will find it difficult to pick the words up in the first phrase.

Most music in Liturgical Hymns Old and New falls within the Bb to Eb’ range, and so is accessible to most people.  The Church of Scotland’s Church Hymnary 4 perhaps contains more E’s and less low notes (although I haven’t counted!).

So why do some congregations feel the need to lower the pitch of things being sung (and often everything being sung)?

We look forward to receiving your comments, Les . . . .

What do you think about this? Fill in the feedback form!

Feeedback Form