What Pitch Should I Learn

How can I learn to pitch in baseball by myself?

Blaise Bell hits the nail on the head:Play catch. A lot.If there’s no one to play with, use a tennis ball against a wall. A Lacrosse Ball—or some other hard rubber ball— would be even better. A catch/rebound net would be good (see picture).If you can find a large, windowless wall near a large open space—-the outer wall of a Gymnasium or a school; a backboard on a tennis court— that would be ideal. The larger the wall and the space, the more you can gradually lengthen your throws.The secret to learning to pitch: throw strikes.At 13–15, if you can consistently throw strikes, you are in the top 25% of pitchers. If you can consistently throw strikes in one plane—-high or low, left or right— you will be un-hittable.Some practice techniques:Keep your eyes on the target throughout your motion. Keep your motion simple: step and throw, with your body moving toward the target.When your front foot lands, it should point at your targetYour first 30 throws should start close to the wall. If you can stay accurate, move out to about 55 feet (16m) and no more than 75% of the hardest you can throw.Your next 20 throws should be longer, higher-arching throws (70–100 ft, 20–30m).Your remaining throws should be 55–60 feet and aimed at a target (use chalk, if it’s allowed). If you can stay accurate, throw a little harder, but no more than 90% of the hardest you can throw.Good luck.

How do you learn how to sing on pitch?

Singing on pitch can be taught, but it’s a lot easier if you’re born with the ability. There is a series of variables though, from learning to project from your diaphragm rather than pushing from your throat and ultimately dealing with, and compensating for, the overall tone that your facial skeletal structure results in. The best singer are born with the ability, straight up. The best way to get as good as you can get without being born a natural is to find a vocal coach. Barring that, you can probably spend 10 years singing along to your favorite tunes until eventually something inside you clicks and your find yourself always singing on pitch. The struggle is real for those not born with the natural gift though,

What should I learn first, violin or viola? I love the viola's pitch, but my hands are small. The teacher advises me to learn violin first then turn to viola three or four years later. Should I insist on the viola now or follow the suggestion?

I will start by stating that it’s always a good idea to follow your teacher’s recommendation. That said, it probably doesn’t make a lot of difference. Technique in the early stages is almost identical between the two instruments. The biggest difference is in reading the alto clef for viola, which can be learned at any point.String players are fortunate that their instruments can be sized for the player, so a player with small hands is likely to be restricted to a smaller-sized instrument. Unlike a full-sized violin, which is the acoustically optimal size, violas are always a compromise between what the player can reach and the acoustic ideal. Most violists will play the largest viola they can handle without hurting them selves.If you decide to insist on the viola, please don’t try to play one that is too large for you. You DON’T want to hurt yourself. All you would give up by starting on the violin is the joy of those low tones while you are learning, but on a small viola, they might not be that gorgeous anyway.The other consideration is whether your teacher is comfortable teaching viola. Many violinists have never learned alto clef and could be hesitant to teach it. That might be reason enough to start on violin. It’s also true that if you start on violin, you will always be able to play either instrument after the switch. Early in my career as a violinist, there was a dearth of violists in my area, so I got a lot of jobs I wouldn’t have had were I limited to violin.Whichever way you go, don’t give up your dream. The world needs more violists!

Am I wasting my time learning relative pitch?

You are not wasting your time learning relative pitch, but starting with isolated intervals is the hard way, unless it is just major and minor seconds.The best way to start to learn relative pitch (not tuning, but just how the notes in a key fit together) is to try to play a piece by ear, say "Happy Birthday". Once you understand that the melody starts on the fifth note of the key, choose a key. Sing it to yourself, just the first part, "Happy Birthday." Let's say you're in the key of C, so the fifth note is G, the "Happy" part. What is "Birth"? It shouldn't take you long to figure out that it is one step above the "Happy". Then "day". Same as the the first note. Check yourself out on your instrument of choice. Try not to check until you are sure you know what the note is supposed to be, otherwise you are just randomly trying out notes. Once you know what all the scale degrees are, play the piece as slowly as necessary. Try it in a different key, because the actual pitches may change, but the scale degrees will be exactly the same. If you sing the scale degree as you do it, this will further pound the scale function into your brain. Solfege is one way to do this (do, re, me for the first three major scale degrees) but you can also just sing "one, two, three." So "Happy Birthday to you" will be 5 5 6 5 1 7 (pronounce "sen" instead of "seven" so it will be only one syllable.)This will be slow at first, but this will teach you what the seven notes in a diatonic scale sound like in relation to each other. This is equivalent of the first year of a university sight-singing course, and will get you through a lot of sight-singing and play by ear situations. The five chromatic notes will come later, then modulations in the middle of a melody to a different key, then finally at the end, atonal (by isolated interval.)Make sure pitch recognition (taking down a given melody) is given equal time with sight singing (singing a simple melody with only the starting note given). Understanding enough theory to comprehend what you are doing is a good idea, too (in this case, major and minor key signatures and basic time signatures).Books have been written that have melodies in progressive order of increasing difficulty, for this express purpose. Two that I used in college were Lars Edlund's "Modus Vetus" (and Modus Novus for atonal) and Samuel Adler's book "Ear Training and Sight Singing."