In 2019, Kim Hyuk Gun (김혁건), the vocalist of THE CROSS (더크로스), named pitch training in his doctoral dissertation as an essential part of vocal education. And he set out the exercises that can go into vocal education in a single table.
This is the twenty-first part of the series. It sets out the pitch and range practice the dissertation describes and its practice methods — the vocal diary, the singing practice table and the interval practice scores.
01.Float the Pitch High
The dissertation explains pitch like this.
| The dissertation's explanation | |
|---|---|
| Purpose | To keep the pitch from being inaccurate and going flat (dropping) while singing |
| Method | Always sing with the feeling of floating the pitch high |
| Placement | Sing with the sound placed in the maschera (the front of the head) to keep the pitch steady and high |
| Head voice | To feel the pitch of head voice, move the point of resonance through "ah (oral resonance) → mm (nasal resonance) → ee (oral + nasal)" (Part 10) |
The dissertation presents "the feeling of pitch," beyond just how high or low a note is, through the words of the singer Elisabeth Fischer-Junghann: one day you suddenly feel your voice coming from the waist, as something physical and real, yet paradoxically, to the singer the sound feels as if it has left them and is floating away. The maschera and head voice are in Part 13.
02.Range: More Resonant, Not Higher
On range, the dissertation sets out full voice, mixed voice and falsetto (high notes = head voice = falsetto, middle = mixed, low notes = chest voice = full voice) and the practice of the mixed register (Part 7 and Part 8), and adds one point: producing a more resonant, strong sound within your own range matters more than attempting higher notes (Part 18, section 05).
The aim of range practice is not only to raise the numbers but to keep pitch and resonance within the range you have now. The lesson paired with this part also covers keeping the pitch with head voice on low notes (video description).
03.The Vocal Diary
The dissertation writes that vocal education is not made of technical training alone. Just as any athlete remembers and reviews their records and practice and learns from their past and mistakes, so it is with singing. So it holds that monitoring your own sound matters for building systematic, steady practice habits, and presents the "vocal diary."
| The vocal diary | The dissertation's explanation |
|---|---|
| Write | Write what you felt while practicing in a notebook, in drawings and words |
| Listen | Record yourself, then watch and listen again the next day to check what changed |
| Why write | A recording alone makes it hard to find that day's good feeling again. Leave the feeling in drawings and words and look for it in the next practice |
| Time | The most common approach is to practice for 20 minutes while recording, then rest the vocal folds for 20 minutes while monitoring |
| Principle | Choose a method that suits your temperament and stamina; what matters is consistency |
Everything this series has asked you to write down since Part 1 — your range, the note where your voice breaks, where the breathiness comes in — belongs in this vocal diary.
04.The Singing Practice Table
The dissertation sets out exercises that can go into vocal education and training programs in a table (its Table 17 and the rows that follow).
| Exercise | How | Effect / caution |
|---|---|---|
| Tongue trill | Tongue against the roof of the mouth, "arrrr" on the exhale | Gathers the sound and releases tension |
| Lip bubble | Lips together, "brrrr" on the exhale | Gathers the sound and releases tension |
| Mi- fifth | Quickly sing do-re-mi-fa-sol-fa-mi-re-do on "Mi-" | The lips cannot open wide, so the sound gathers |
| Me- fifth | The same intervals quickly on "Me-" | The inside of the mouth is wider than on "Mi-" |
| Mu- fifth | The same intervals quickly on "Mu-" | Adapts to a pronunciation with a wider mouth |
| Chest voice | Lift the soft palate and lower the tongue root to widen the mouth. On "eo" (어) | The wide mouth makes it good for practice (Part 12) |
| Head voice | Resonate the nasal cavity, maxillary and frontal sinuses, placing the sound at the front of the head (maschera). On the bright "e" | Understand the spaces of the head and the throat first (Part 13) |
| Nasal resonance | Mouth closed, hum through the passaggio | The exhale cannot leave through the mouth, so it is good for practicing support (Part 20) |
| Staccato | a, e, i, o, u, detached on single notes | Focus on tone so the place of resonance does not shift |
| Legato | "e~i~a" connected | Keep the place of resonance from shifting even as the vowel changes |
| Vibrato | On a single note, subdividing a metronome beat, with a tremolo technique, adjusting the rise and fall of pitch | Part 16 |
| Interval practice | Seconds, thirds, fourths, sixths and sevenths, quickly on "Ma-" | Gather the wide "a" as if it were "i" |
| Octave jump | Leap an octave quickly up and down on "Ma-" | — |
| Crescendo · decrescendo | One long legato note, gradually louder, gradually softer | In the same direction as messa di voce in Part 14 |
Source: reorganized from Kim Hyuk Gun (2019), Table 17, "Summary of singing practice methods," and the rows that follow. A medical sentence in the tongue-trill row has been omitted. The "tremolo technique" in the vibrato row is the dissertation's own wording; the distinction between the two terms is in Part 15, section 02.
05.Interval Practice Scores
| Score | Figure number (list of figures) | Practice |
|---|---|---|
| Sixth interval practice | Figure 54 | On "Ma-," quickly |
| Fourth interval practice | Figure 55 | 〃 |
| Third interval practice | Figure 56 | 〃 |
| Second interval practice | Figure 57 | 〃 |
| Seventh interval practice | Figure 58 | 〃 |
| Octave interval practice | Figure 59 | Octave jump — leap an octave up and down |
The point of the second-through-seventh scores is the same: to gather the wide pronunciation "a" as if it were "i." The fifth-interval score in the dissertation is quoted from another book (Segwang Editorial Department, 1999), so it is not reproduced here; the note names in the table in section 04 (do-re-mi-fa-sol-fa-mi-re-do) stand in for it.
06.Today's Practice
Turned into points to check while you practice, what the dissertation and the lesson highlight looks like this.
- Float the pitch — Sing with the feeling of floating the pitch high so it does not drop, placing the sound at the front of the head (section 01; dissertation p.159).
- Pick three from the table — Choose the day's practice from the table in section 04. Start with the lip bubble and tongue trill, then widen into the fifths and the interval scores (dissertation pp.165–170).
- Vocal diary — Practice while recording, listen while you rest, and write your feelings in drawings and words (section 03; dissertation pp.164–165).
- Keep the pitch on low notes too — Lesson Season 2 Ep. 13 (Low Notes) covers keeping the pitch with head voice even on low notes, singing "ah" brightly, and vocal-fold staccato (video description).
The lesson to watch with this part is Season 2, Episode 13, "Low Notes."
07.Where to Go Next
Support, which manages the exhale, is in Part 20 · Support, and consonants and vowels continue in Part 22 · Diction — Consonants and Vowels. The routine that bundles the whole practice table into ten sessions, and the experimental results, are in Part 24. Kim Hyuk Gun's stages and talks are gathered in "You Can Do It": The Song, the Book, and the Talk. Lesson videos are in Korean.
One table and one notebook — practice builds up when you record it.