When it comes to singing, the key you choose can completely change the way your voice feels and the way it sounds. Yet so many singers push through songs in their original keys — even when it causes strain, fatigue, or just doesn’t showcase their best performance.
In this episode of Vocal Tips in 10, I break down why changing the key isn’t about being “good enough” — it’s about setting your voice up for success. You’ll learn:
The truth is: every singer has a unique voice. Finding the key that fits your voice is one of the most powerful tools you have to sound your best and protect your instrument.
00:00 The Importance of Changing the Key
04:16 Understanding the Human Instrument
08:00 Finding the Sweet Spot for Your Voice
🎧 Listen to the Episode
▶️ Spotify| Apple Podcasts | YouTube
🎁 Free Training – Using Movement to Sing Easier + Sound Better!
🎤 Try 2 Weeks of Vocal Pro Membership – Free
You know those things that you find yourself saying over and over again in your work, in your life, just because you believe in them so strongly and people need the reminder? One of those things for me is change the key. I talk to singers about this probably every day, certainly many, many times every week. And it's this thought that just because a song was first sung in a key,
It doesn't mean that's the best key for you. Prince didn't put the song Purple Rain in the key that he did because that's the really cool key. That's the key that says you're a great singer. He put it in that key because that's where it sounded best for him. And he was a killer pro. So he knew to put it where he was gonna sound the best.
And that's the exact same thing that every singer should do. So I wanna get into this today. I shared a video last week on my socials. Instagram, YouTube, TikTok of Chappell Roan talking about how she does not sing. Good luck, babe.
in the recorded key, hardly ever. She said she really can't sing it in that really high recorded key when she's got a really long set because it's just too demanding amidst a really demanding schedule.
And I shared that because I wanted singers to see, the top level pros do it. And they do, you guys. I had so many people that responded with, okay, well, hello, Celine Dion has entered the chat. Hello, Whitney Houston, Hailey Williams, Sam Smith, whatever it is. All of those singers have changed the key at one time or another. Many great singers change the key when they are on tour with frequency, depending on
where they are vocally, what's going to feel best for them, and what's going to give the best performance to their audience. So I want to break some myths with this episode about what changing the key means. Let's get into it.
One of the first things I hear from singers is that it is cheating, it is making things easier. So I just really wanna challenge myself. So I'm gonna do it in the original key. And the original key is nowhere near where that person sounds the best. It doesn't mean you don't wanna challenge yourself. If you are in lessons, if you are working behind the scenes to just strengthen your voice, of course, pushing your range, stretching the boundaries.
Working on the things you're not as great at, that's really smart. That's gonna make your voice better and better. But when it comes to going for a song that has a high note, multiple notes higher than you can deliver your absolute best, it's just silly. It's just unprofessional. It just shows that you are putting your own ego, in all honesty, above the needs of the song.
Like I said at the start, Prince and insert any singer didn't put a song that was first sung by them in a particular key because it's the hard key. They put it in that key because that's where they feel and sound the best. And that's what you should do too. the song is not changing. The melody is the same. The difficult rhythms, the riffs, the high notes, the big intervals, we're not changing a thing.
It is the difference many times between a half step to a full step. That's what Chappell Roan does. She sings Good Luck Babe down one step, two notes from her recorded key. I can pretty much guarantee you that 99 % of the audience is none the wiser because she gives a killer performance. Her vocals sound fantastic and that's why she puts it in that key. She knows if she puts it the step up,
even though she can say, well, I do it in the same key as the recording. What does that really mean? Not really anything. And if she's straining or she can't give the power, the energy, the ease that people are used to, they're gonna be disappointed. They're sure not gonna notice if the high note is a half step or a step lower.
One of the other myths I saw, lots of responses to this Chappell Roan video, were instrumentalists saying, great, you're just gonna change the key on us at the absolute last second? How are we supposed to do that? So let me break that down really quickly. Number one, Chappell doesn't decide, right at the last second. Let's change the key right now. Very rarely, almost never does that happen. These are things planned in advance.
And these are high level players that to move a key up a step, down a step, a half step, up or down is no big deal. They can change on a dime. there's also so much technology now. A bandleader pushes a button and immediately everybody's charts are updated.
So 99.99 % of the time it is scheduled in advance and 99.9999 % of professional players can change the key no problem.
Another reason you are encouraged to change the key is you have a human instrument. What does that mean? It means that what happens to your body and your mind happens to your voice. If you are a female, have you ever sung when you're on your period? Or when you're pregnant, when you have hormonal changes? They affect your body, therefore they affect your voice. That might be a time where you're like, okay, I need to switch this key around so that I can give my best performance and...
I can keep my voice strong and healthy so I don't just sound good for this gig, I sound good for the next gig in three days, the one a week from now, and I keep my voice healthy so I can continue to do my job and I can continue to serve my audience and my fans.
If you've heard Taylor Swift talk about her eras tour, which was just a monster, I got to go, whoop, whoop, it was amazing. You wanna talk about vocal athleticism, but She did some shows where she had the stomach flu. Just horrible, right? In a perfect world, you cancel those, but she had like mega venues on this massive world tour. And there were times where she just had to take a bunch of medication, get on stage and do her best.
In those instances, she's gonna change the key. She's not gonna be hitting the high high notes. And again, she is such a pro, I can almost guarantee you the audience had no clue. Also, you don't have to be a Taylor Swift or a Chappellrone to change the key. If you sing in any kind of an event band, where you sing long sets, multi-hour sets, multiple days a week, it is smart, again, to put songs in keys where one, you show off your voice to your absolute best,
And two, it allows you to have your healthiest singing. It's not too heavy of a workload so that you can deliver at every single gig. And so you can stay healthy so you can have a long career. As singers with a human instrument, we don't have a transpose button. We don't have a capo. And I know not all instruments have that, right? Your horn section is like, yeah, I wish we had a transpose button.
Again, if you're a horn player though, that plays in many of these higher level situations, you're gonna be told in advance, you're able to figure that out pretty darn quickly, and it's no big deal.
and I heard so many other comments from people, one of them that always makes me giggle is like, see, it's always about the singer. Singers are divas. That's not the case. You're not a diva because you have a human instrument. Because you know, if you go out and scream and drink late at night,
you're not going to be able to deliver your best performance the next day. And the drummer can scream and drink, and they're going to be able to deliver probably just fine because their instrument isn't their body. Singers don't have a choice. If you work at a high level and you take your job seriously, you have to prioritize the health of your voice. If you care about your audience, you've got to prioritize the level of performance, the sound that you're able to give. You want to be able to really deliver.
to the people that come to see you. And the best way to do that is to put the song in the key that works best for you. And the last thing I wanna say is we talk a lot about lowering the key. I think I've mentioned that more than anything here. That's not always the case. I was working with the singer today. We needed to raise the key for his song. The original key, He sounds really good on it, but it's not in the sweet spot of his voice. It's in a really easy spot which sounds lovely.
but doesn't have the energy and the excitement that he wanted and needed for this cover. So we took it up three half steps, a step and a half, three keys higher, And that is the sweet spot for him. Doesn't change the song at all. Somebody listening isn't gonna be like, I can't even recognize that song. It's the exact same song.
We just put it where he can deliver the best performance. We made it a little more challenging for him. So it's not always about making it easier and lowering the key doesn't change the song, doesn't change the quality. It's about making it the absolute best for you as a singer, your health, and then the absolute best for what you can deliver so your audience can enjoy themselves and get the performance that they came for. I think I got a little preachy.
just hope that hearing this, you know that changing the key of a song, when you are able, when you are able to do that, and let me add that because somebody's gonna be like, I can't do that in my X, Y, or Z. If it doesn't work with your band, fair. It needs to work for everybody. We all work at different levels. Everybody's at different levels. But when you are able to tweak the key a little lower, a little higher, to make it feel the best and sound the best, and remember those are the two things.
We are always caring about as singers. Does it feel good? Is this something I can do consistently? And two, does it sound good? Am I going to be able to deliver how I want to deliver? Is the audience going to get what they are hoping to get? Those are the two things that we care about. And so many times a little tweak of the key, gets us there.
I hope this is helpful, guys. I hope you will play with putting songs in the best place for your voice when you are able, and you will feel not only no shame in that, you will feel proud that you are working at that professional level, because that is what the pros do. I got a bunch of freebies for you guys, like always. Check them out in the show notes. Thanks for listening. See you in the next episode.
