“Can you play my note in measure 37?”
That’s a question I field more often than you’d think, and I suspect I’m not alone. It’s especially disconcerting when we’re nowhere near m.37, or, indeed, in the same piece. (It happens.) Sometimes they repeat the note, as if that will help them “memorize” it and sing it accurately in the future.
The missing perspective for many students is that their notes are contextual. Hearing that note in m.37 is much less helpful than hearing the line that leads into that note, and even less helpful when that phrase isn’t under the rehearsal lens at that moment.
Unless you have absolute pitch, hearing a director play a pitch won’t help you. And if you have absolute pitch, you aren’t going to need that help.
If you’re going to ask for help with a note, here’s how to ask with an emphasis on context:
“Can you help me get into m.37? We’re having trouble finding ____.”
It’s contextual and it shows understanding about how every note is contextual to the notes around it.