Singing on pitch has become the dominant buzz in the vocal performance world over the last decade. While singing on pitch has always been important, the television show American Idol has brought unprecedented awareness to pitchy singing and now audiences around the world are automatically critiquing vocal performances. This phenomenon has created new challenges for singers as they attempt to keep up with the ever increasing demands of audiences. While the changing refinement of audience is not entirely new, this shift in vocal pitch awareness is perhaps the most rapid change in history. Fortunately new singing pitch software aids trains singers to sing on pitch.
A similar phenomenon emerged in the early to mid twentieth century with the advent of records and radio. Prior to 1920s, few people had previously heard recorded music and only experienced music in live performance settings. As record sales and radio airtime increased, gradually the population became more accustomed to hearing recording music rather than live music. By the 1950s audiences began to expect specific solo lead melodies which began to cramp the performance style of jazz musicians who were more accustomed to improvisation. The most important instrument of scrutiny was the human voice where vocalists would often record in the studio, then perform long touring gigs prior to the release of the album. By the time the album was released, the performer would often have to re-learn their vocal part because they had improvised to frequently that the original melody was lost. Vocal pitch and embellishments became hallmark traits that were required in live performances of popular songs. Unlike performers seventy years ago, modern singers have new pitch software that can assist them in this new audience requirement of better pitch performance.