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Written By Valerie Day
Do you ever have problems singing songs in their original keys? Do you feel like you’re cheating if you lower or raise the key to fit your voice?
Everyone’s had issues with high or low notes that are hard to reach in a song. But some people resist changing keys because they’ve heard that singing a song in its original key is somehow more authentic.
In this post, you’ll learn how to find the best key to sing a song in — one that will suit your voice, create the emotion you want to communicate, and add to the song’s interpretation without feeling like you’re cheating or being inauthentic.
As music lovers, we all know that feeling of hearing a song that resonates with us so profoundly that we can’t help but want to make it our own.
Whether it’s the melody, lyrics, or the emotions the tune evokes, we crave that dopamine rush that comes with listening to it on repeat. And singing the song is even more addicting. So we add it to our repertoire.
But if that song is in a key that isn’t great for our vocal range, we need to make some adjustments. The first step is to figure out what key to sing it in. So how do you choose the best key for a song?
There are four main things to consider when choosing a key for a song:
Where the notes are in your vocal range
The style you’re singing in
The “personality” of the key and how it sounds when played on the instruments accompanying you
The feeling it creates for you and your audience when it’s in a key that fits the sweet spot in your voice and the song's emotional content
CHOOSING A KEY TO FIT YOUR VOCAL RANGE
The first thing to consider when choosing a key is how it fits your vocal range. To do this, you need to determine the highest and lowest notes in the original key. You also want to ensure that the tessitura, or the part of the song you’ll be singing the most, is in a sweet spot in your range.
If you have the sheet music, this is easy. First, locate the highest and lowest notes and where the bulk of the singing lies. Then learn the tune and experiment with lowering or raising the key until you find that sweet spot where you can sing the song with the least amount of difficulty yet maintain the intensity of emotion you’re trying to communicate.
If you don’t have the sheet music, work with a recording. Experiment with singing your song in different keys using apps that change the key for you. (I’ve linked to some of my favorites at the bottom of this post.)
MAKE SURE THE KEY FITS THE STYLE OF MUSIC YOU’RE SINGING
Once you’ve figured out where the song sits in your range, you’ll need to ensure you’re singing in a key that fits the style you’re singing in. For example, if you’re singing a song from a musical in a musical theater style, you’ll need to pick a higher key. However, that same song sung in a jazz style would need to be in a lower key. The reason? Musical theater styles evolved from a singer's need to project over an orchestra without amplification. Higher keys, a bigger vibrato, and more intensity make it easier for an unamplified voice to be heard. Once microphones became widely used, amplification wasn’t as much of an issue. So singers could sing in lower keys with less intensity and a smoother vibrato style.
But what if you’re singing that musical theater song in a jazz or pop style, and it sounds pretty good in more than one key? Then it’s time to take a look at the context in which you’ll be singing.
SONG STYLE AND CONTEXT
For example, suppose you’re singing in a jazz club where people might be talking more than listening, or you’re in front of a band playing electronic instruments. Even though you’ve got a sound system and amplification, the higher key might be a better choice. This is because the higher frequencies in your voice will cut through the background noise in the club.
A higher key will also make it easier for people to hear your voice when the instruments accompanying you have frequencies that are similar to the frequencies in your voice. If you’re an alto or baritone singing pop or rock music with electric guitars, the guitars tend to “mask” a singer's voice. In the battle to be heard, a guitar with an amplifier will win almost every time.
(Being married to a guitarist, I’ve struggled with being heard over an electric guitar on many a gig. I think one of the reasons our biggest hit song, I Can’t Wait, landed in listener's ears so well was because there was space in the guitar phrasing that left room for my voice.)
You have more options in a concert setting, with acoustic instruments and an audience focused entirely on the music. If you want to create a certain kind of mood and need to sing the song in a lower key to achieve it, you’ll still be heard.
HELPFUL TIP:
It’s useful to have a variety of songs in different keys to save your voice for more strenuous pieces during a performance. Every song doesn’t need to be a showcase for physical stamina and vocal gymnastics. If you have a healthy dose of songs in keys that are easier to sing, you’ll save your voice for those more strenuous songs.
KEYS HAVE PERSONALITIES TOO!
It’s also important to consider the personality of the key you’re in. Keys have personalities too. The key of C, for instance, tends to sound brighter and more optimistic than the key of Bb, which sounds a little warmer and melancholy in most instruments. If you can sing a song successfully in more than one key, ask yourself:
Which key has the best ‘personality’ for the song you’re singing?
Does its personality match the lyric?
Does it convey the emotion you want to communicate to your audience?
SIDENOTE: INSTRUMENTS HAVE A SWEET SPOT TOO!
Just like voices, instruments sound better in some keys than others. Stringed instruments, for example, sound best in the keys of their open strings.
For a guitar, that would be E, A, D, G, or B; for violins: G, D, A, and E. And if a bass plays an ostinato — one note repeatedly — it will sound best when played on an open string, like E.
That’s helpful information if you’re having trouble deciding which key is best for your voice, and two or more would work. It’s also essential information if you’re a songwriter writing for specific instruments.
WHEN YOU NEED TO CHANGE THE KEY BUT HAVE TO SOUND LIKE THE ORIGINAL RECORDING
What if you’re in a cover band, and a song has to sound exactly like it did in the original recording but was sung by someone in a different vocal category than you?
In the early years of Nu Shooz, we had a male lead singer who was a tenor. When he started missing gigs because of substance abuse, I had to step up without rehearsal and sing his songs in keys not meant for my alto range. Some tunes were impossible to sing. If I sang them in the original keys, they’d be too low in my range or too high. So I ended up pushing my voice in the lower notes to be heard or the upper part to reach the notes. It was a disaster. I was either inaudible or sounded like a cat whose tail was getting stepped on.
Later I learned how to transpose songs to keys that would fit my voice and make it sound like I was singing a song in its original key.
You can do it too!
For instance, let’s say you’re an alto, and a soprano originally sang the song you’re covering. You can experiment with moving the key down a half-step at a time until your voice has the same quality, intensity, and vowel color as the soprano’s voice. If your vowels match the color of the original singer — in other words, if they’re not brighter or darker you’ve found the best key for your voice. Unless someone in the audience has perfect pitch and knows the song well, most people won’t have a clue you’ve lowered the key.
THE MOST ESSENTIAL THING:
Communicating Emotion
Let’s not forget the most essential thing — emotion. When you’re singing a song in a key that:
Fits the sweet spot in your voice
Helps your audience to hear you
And supports the underlying story and emotion in the song
You can focus on what matters most — communicating with your audience.
The process of making a song your own has many different components, but choosing the right key for the tune is a crucial part of the process. It’s essential to consider your vocal range, the song’s style, and the emotions you want to convey. With the tools above in your arsenal, you can make any song your own.
For visual aids and audio examples of how all of this works, you can check out this video lesson from my free course, Becoming A Singer, hosted here on my website: All About Keys
Don’t read music and need some help transposing? Here’s another lesson from Becoming A Singer with recommendations for apps that will help you transpose, speed up and slow down a recording, and change the key of a song.
For more about transposing your written music, check out p. 48 in one of my favorite books about singing, The Jazz Singers Handbook. Michelle Weir does a fantastic job teaching the fundamentals of singing songs. Whether or not you’re a jazz singer, the many valuable gems in this book make its purchase worthwhile.
For more about keys for singers and voice categories, check out this article from MusicNotes: How To Determine Your Vocal Range.
Valerie Day
Musician, educator, and creative explorer. On a mission to help singers create a sustainable life in music.
