Elvis struggling to hold note is pitiful sound (6)
I believe the answer is:
snivel
'pitiful sound' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with communicating as well as being verbs in their base form.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'elvis struggling to hold note' is the wordplay.
'struggling' indicates anagramming the letters (the letters struggle or wriggle into a new form).
'to hold' indicates putting letters inside.
'note' becomes 'n' (abbreviation).
'elvis' with letters rearranged gives 'sivel'.
'sivel' placed around 'n' is 'SNIVEL'.
'is' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for snivel that I've seen before include "Blubber contemptibly" , "Complain whiningly" , "Whine (with a runny nose?)" , "Cry in miserable whining way" , "Blub revoltingly" .)