How to find your starting note

When a choir sings without accompaniment, someone gives a note, and everyone has to find their own first note from it. If you've ever started a song a little off and spent the first line climbing back, this is the skill that fixes it. It takes a few seconds once you know the steps.

1Get the key note

Often the note you're given is do, the home note of the song's key, from a piano, a pitch pipe or the director. Some directors give each part its own first note instead, or play the opening chord. Whatever you're given, hold it silently in your head: humming it out loud while others are still finding theirs can put them off.

2Hear the home chord

Songs very often start on a note of the home chord: do, mi or so. From the key note, sing up through the chord in your head, do, mi, so, and back down. Some directors play the opening chord, or have the group sing it, so every part hears its note in it.

3Count to your note

Find where your first note sits from do. On sheet music, the key signature tells you where do is (the sight-singing guide shows how), and the first note of your part tells you how far from it you start. Is it do itself, mi a third above, so a fifth above, or so below?

Then sing your way there in your head: do, re, mi, or do, mi, so. Stop on your note, and hold it there.

4Hear it before you sing

Hold your note in your head while the others find theirs, and check it against the key note: does it sit where you counted? Then take a breath and start. In a group, sing the first note softly, so you can hear whether it lands in the chord.

When your part comes in later

Not every part starts on the first beat. If yours comes in after the others:

• Listen to the parts just before you. Your first note is often one they're singing, or a step or a third away from it.
• Mark it in your music. Write a reminder over your entry, such as "same as the altos" or "a step above the tune".
• Keep it in your head. Hear your note silently through the rests, so it's ready when your entry comes.

Using a pitch pipe

A pitch pipe gives one note at a time. Blow gently and steadily: blowing hard can pull the note flat. Or use an app that holds the note as long as you need. Give the group the key note, let everyone sing it together, then sing or play the home chord so each part finds its own note in it. Barbershop groups often tune up this way. The free pitch pipe can hold a note and play the key chord, and works offline at rehearsal.

Practise with Stackapella

Every song's part pages name the key and the part's range, so you can find do and count to your first note before you sing. Then hear the part on its own to check it. Silent Night's alto part is a good one to try: it's in C, so do is C, and the alto starts on E, mi, a third under the tune.