To explore this melody further and use it to develop your musical skills in a practical way, go to ‘Summer’s Coming’ in the Canons section of PRESTO.

Altered Version 1: Details
Problem: The pitch drops at the note E (re) in bar 6 and bar 8.
Possible solutions:
- In choral music, there can be a tendency to be a little flat on ‘re’, especially in a descending melodic line. As music theorist Per-Gunnar Alldahl observes, ‘too dark 2nd degrees are very common in causing a choir to fall’. (Choral Intonation, p. 14). With this in mind, the conductor uses high-quality sung demonstration for the singers to imitate, taking particular care in tuning the ‘re’.
- The conductor uses supportive conducting gestures and active facial expression to encourage the singers to ‘lift’ the re and place it carefully in relation to the overall tonality.

Altered Version 2: Details
Problem: The pitch sharpens in bar 5.
Possible solutions:
- Overall, this melody is strongly based around the notes of chord I (D - F sharp - A; d - m - s). At bar 5, we encounter the notes of chord IV, descending: D, B, G. Here the singers, in their efforts to avoid dropping in pitch, may accidentally force it sharp through excessive straining. To combat this, the conductor uses high-quality sung demonstration to provide an excellent example of in-tune singing of chord IV.
- As part of the teaching process, the conductor incorporates exercises based around triads I and IV of the major key, so that they become familiar for the singers.
- The conductor takes care to use relaxed gestures at this point, to encourage singers not to strain in singing these notes.