Sight Singing: Match a Played Note, Then See Your Cents Error

00:00.00
00:00.00

Sight Singing on MusicalBoard is a browser-based ear-training drill for vocalists: a local piano sample plays one reference note, you sing it back, and a 3-second hold is scored in cents against that target. The reference is a preloaded sample; pitch analysis runs locally with Web Audio and WebAssembly — your voice is not uploaded for processing. This is not an absolute-pitch or hearing test; it trains you to match the pitch you just heard, the same skill choir and aural-skills classes call sight singing at its simplest. No account, no install.

Why a short hold matters more than watching a live graph

The Vocal Pitch Monitor shows pitch continuously — ideal for phrases, vibrato, and drift over time. This page asks for something different: one target, one sustained vowel, three seconds. That mirrors how directors and ear-training teachers check whether you can lock a single pitch after a cue. If your median looks close but the “within ±15¢” percentage is low, you were probably wandering even when the average looked fine — a pattern the live graph can hide in a busy line.

Who this is for and when to use it

Choir singers warming up interval memory before rehearsal; students preparing for aural-skills patterns; soloists checking whether they can reproduce a starting pitch after the piano gives a note; anyone moving from Virtual Piano (where you see the key) to ear-led matching. Pair a session here with the pitch monitor when you want to see why a hold wobbled, or run Mic & Practice Recording Check first if your room or gain makes the mic unreliable.

How a session is structured

Low, High, and voice presets sit under the setup line above Play note. Starting play locks the range for that session. Step indicators show Listen → Hold → Score → Session as you move through the flow. Each round plays a random MIDI note in your span, hides the name while you listen, then scores a three-second hold. The status line prefixes the round number (for example Round 2 — Sing that note and hold steady.). Next note draws another target with no fixed round cap. End session whenever you are done — during listen, hold, or after a scored round — to open the full session report. The same note may repeat at most 30% of the time; otherwise the tool picks a different pitch, including a neighboring semitone.

What the numbers mean

After a valid hold, a round card appears: a Round N summary line, a four-cell grid (target, median cents with sharp + / flat −, percent within ±15¢, reading verdict), a Hold steadiness bar for the same ±15¢ percentage, then Listen to this round (your captured hold mixed with the target for ear check) and a two-panel graph of pitch and cents vs the target. Reading labels follow the pitch monitor bands (±12¢ in tune, ±25¢ a bit flat / sharp, wider flat / sharp). End session adds a Sight singing session block: 0–100 overall grade, summary grid (completed, mean |cents|, matched, overall), three bars explaining match / accuracy / steadiness, a short practice tip, and a Round by round list reusing the same card layout for every finished hold. Matched means median within ±15¢. A hold stopped early does not score.

Privacy, storage, and limits

Low and High persist in browser localStorage (sight_singing_prefs_v1). Session scores and per-round hold clips exist only in the tab until you leave, End session, or tap Practice again — nothing is written to the server. Use headphones so the piano sample does not feed the microphone. The page is a practice aid, not a graded lesson, clinical hearing assessment, or certification of perfect pitch.

1Listen
2Hold
3Score
4Session

Set range, then play a note.

Low—High

How to run a sight-singing session

Read the setup line, set Low and High (or tap a voice preset) under it, then tap Play note. Listen with the note name hidden, sing, and hold one steady pitch for about three seconds. Review each round card (grid, steadiness bar, optional Listen and graph), then choose Next note to continue or End session for the full 0–100 report and round-by-round list. Allow the microphone when prompted; analysis and hold capture stay in the tab. Headphones are strongly recommended so the reference sample is not picked up by the mic.

Range and presets (under the setup line)

  • Low and High — Same idea as the pitch monitor MIDI window: every random target is chosen between these bounds (inclusive). Saved in browser local storage.
  • Presets — Voice-type ranges from the Vocal Range guide: Soprano (C4–C6), Mezzo-Soprano (A3–A5), Alto (F3–F5), Tenor (C3–C5), Baritone (A2–A4), Bass (E2–E4). Each button sets Low and High in one tap; the active preset highlights when your range matches exactly.
  • Once Play note starts a session, range and presets lock until End session and Practice again, or until you leave the page.

Round flow

  • Listen — The piano sample plays (~1.2 s). The note name is not shown. The status line shows what to do; from round 2 onward it starts with Round N —
  • Hold — Sing the pitch you heard. A progress bar fills as voiced time accumulates on the same pitch.
  • Score — After three seconds, a round card replaces the live hold UI: summary line, grid, Hold steadiness bar, Listen control, and graph when capture succeeded.
  • Next note — Another random pitch in the same locked range; the session continues with no round limit.
  • End session — During listen, hold, or after a score. Unfinished listen/hold does not score; every completed round feeds the session report.
  • Hear again — Replays the current round’s sample during listen or hold (headphones recommended).
  • Enable microphone — Shown when access is needed; uses the same device preference as other mic tools when set in the Controller strip.
  • Practice again — After End session, clears scores and hold clips and returns to range setup.

Hold rules and warnings

  • If voiced time on the same pitch does not reach three seconds, you see Hold at least 3 seconds and the round is not scored.
  • Pitch is estimated with the same YIN-style analysis used elsewhere on the site; very soft, noisy, or off-mic singing may fail to register as voiced.
  • Random targets: with a previous note in the range, there is up to a 30% chance the next round repeats that note; otherwise the tool picks a different pitch in the range (including ±1 semitone from the last note).

Round card (after each scored hold)

  • Summary line — Starts with Round N — and a plain-language reading of the median (same idea as the Reading cell).
  • Summary grid — Target (note the sample played, hidden until score), Median cents (middle of the hold vs target; + sharp, − flat), Within ±15¢ (percent of samples inside 15 cents), Reading (short verdict: in tune / a bit flat / sharp, etc.).
  • Hold steadiness — Bar chart of the same within ±15¢ percentage for a quick visual.
  • Listen to this round — Plays back the PCM captured during that hold together with the target note so you can compare by ear. Separate from Hear again (the piano cue). Playback uses a dedicated audio path, not the singing-recorder take.
  • Graph — Top: your hold (dashed) vs target (solid). Bottom: cents vs target (+ sharp, − flat), aligned with Median cents. The playhead moves during Listen to this round.

Session report (after End session)

  • Overall — 0–100 circle plus grade label and one-line blurb (Excellent / Good / Fair / Developing / Keep practicing). Weighting is roughly 40% matched rounds, 35% pitch accuracy from mean |median cents|, 25% hold steadiness.
  • Summary grid — Completed count, Mean |cents|, Matched (within ±15¢ medians) as matched / completed, and Overall repeating the headline score.
  • What the score is made of — Three 0–100 bars: Matched rounds, Pitch accuracy, Hold steadiness (the partial scores behind the overall grade).
  • What to practice next — One tip based on whichever bar was weakest in this session.
  • Round by round — Scrollable list of the same round cards (grid, steadiness, Listen, graph) for every hold you finished before End session.
  • Footer lines — Mean absolute cents and matched rounds repeated in plain text for quick scanning.
  • Practice again — Clears scores, revokes hold clip URLs, and returns to setup; saved Low and High are kept.

Storage and privacy

  • Saved in localStorage (sight_singing_prefs_v1): Low and High only. Restored on your next visit to this origin.
  • Not saved: session scores, round cards, or hold WAV blobs. Hold audio lives in memory as object URLs until you leave, Practice again, or End session clears the list.
  • No upload: microphone audio is analyzed and captured in the browser only. See the Privacy Policy for general site data practices.

Good use cases

  • Open-ended warmups: one octave, as many rounds as you want, End session when done.
  • Checking passaggio notes by setting Low–High to a narrow band around a problem pitch.
  • Comparing weeks: same preset; note matched count and mean cents yourself after each End session — the tool does not keep a log.
  • After fixing mic placement with Mic Room Diagnostics, confirm holds score consistently.

What this tool is not

  • Not a substitute for a teacher, solfège class, or clinical audiometry.
  • Not proof of absolute pitch — every round starts from a heard reference.
  • Not a replacement for the pitch monitor on long phrases; use both when you need continuous feedback and single-note accuracy.
  • Not a recording or export workflow; use the Singing Recorder strip when you need takes on disk.

Page help (?)

On this detail page, the ? button walks through range and presets, Hold, a full round card (including Hold steadiness, Listen, and graph), and the End session report (summary, bars, practice tip, and sample round list). While the tour is open the live panel shows the setup view; closing the tour restores whatever screen you had open before.