What key should I sing it in?

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

In contemporary singing, it’s sometimes seen as a badge of honour to be able to sing songs in the original key, but in my opinion this is just silly. Why would you not want to make your singing both comfortable, enjoyable, and have it show you and your voice off to its best? So wherever possible, I always advocate for changing the key to suit your voice. I say wherever possible, because, for example, it’s a lot more complicated in Musical Theatre where songs fit into a wider score. But when performed out of the show context, such as in cabaret or concert settings, changing the key is very doable.

How to find the best key for your voice

Singing songs in their original keys won't always work for your voice. But if the original key isn't sitting well, how can you find the right key?

The first stage is to really get to know your voice. This means knowing what your working range is, your comfort zone, your belt-mix zone and your highest belt note, how it sounds in different parts of your range, where your breaks are, and where your sweetest spots are too. Know where your voice sounds best. If you’re not sure about this, your voice teacher will be able to help you identify these areas.

The second stage is to really know the song: do some notes need the power and projection of a belt or weighty sound? Are there sustained lyrical high sections? Does it go from high to low pitches rapidly? Are there lots of speech-like sections? What is the main requirement vocally? Flag up the tricky areas so you know what and where the challenges might be.

Matching it up

Now you have to match up the information you’ve gleaned about the song with what you know about your voice. You want to be highlighting the qualities in your voice that sound the best in the passages that matter the most.

Check the range in the original key, from the lowest sung pitch to the highest. If you don't sight-read, ask your teacher for help. In some musical theatre anthologies, you can find this information on the first page of the sheet music. And rather helpfully, the transposition function on some sheet music sites like musicnotes.com lets you see the vocal range in different keys.

The final stage is to play around with the pitches if you have keyboard skills, or ask your teacher to help. You can use an app like Anytune, TimePitch or Karaoke Pitch Changer to try out different keys so that you can find the sweet spot!

Enjoy playing around with the keys to find the best one for you!

Laura x