{"id":1445,"date":"2014-04-24T15:02:15","date_gmt":"2014-04-24T19:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musikalessons.com\/?p=1445"},"modified":"2023-01-25T17:31:09","modified_gmt":"2023-01-25T22:31:09","slug":"easy-ear-training-tips-for-singing-harmony-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musikalessons.com\/blog\/2014\/04\/easy-ear-training-tips-for-singing-harmony-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Easy Ear Training: Tips for singing Harmony"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever tried to sing harmony and didn\u2019t know where to start? Did you feel awkward when you had a hard time finding your starting pitch? Singing harmony can be tricky at first and can often make a musician feeling vulnerable. It takes a little practice and a little patience but once you can start singing harmony it\u2019s a very powerful tool you can use in your bag of tricks as a musician. Everyone has a voice and I feel everyone can learn to sing at some level. Now, if you\u2019ve been playing music for awhile learning to sing harmony won\u2019t be as hard as it seems. You\u2019ll begin to hear the \u201csplit\u201d or the intervals<\/strong> one needs to sing harmony successfully. In this post I\u2019m going to go through a few tips you should use if you\u2019re first starting out singing harmony. I will use the song \u201cAmazing Grace\u201d as an example for singing some basic harmony. We will also talk about using intervals to recognize pitches<\/strong> and where to start. This post will help you get started learning how to sing harmony!<\/p>\n

So you want to sing harmonies? Let’s get started!<\/h2>\n

\"sing\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The first thing you should know is what note that the lead part starts on. So often people are trying to sing harmony but the lead singer is unsure of the lead part.
\nSimply make sure the lead singer knows what his or her line is and that way you\u2019ll know where to begin. The second thing you need to know is what chord you\u2019re starting on. This is vital for obvious reasons. Thirdly, you\u2019ll need to know the I, III, V notes of the chord. Now, here is where it may get a little tricky.<\/p>\n

Lets take the song Amazing Grace. For this example we\u2019ll be in the key of G. The I, III, V notes are G, B, D. They make a triad or a chord. It is very helpful to have all your major triads memorized as it will help speed along this process. Overtime you will begin to know them like two plus two. The melody starts on the 5th note of the chord. The fifth note of the G chord is D. OK, you have two options now. One can either sing the I which is G or the III which is B. Listen here<\/p>\n

<\/b>Audio Sample<\/a><\/p>\n

So, from here you can follow the melody line as it changes by singing either the I, III, or V note of each chord. Typically the melody will fall on the I, III, or V of each chord. As a harmony singer you need to sing one of the notes that the lead part is not singing. As a general rule you want to either stay above or below the lead line. It wouldn\u2019t sound as smooth if you were singing above the lead and then shifted down below the lead line and back up again. Again, rules can be broken and they may need to be in certain cases but for now either be above the lead or below. To determine what part you\u2019re going to sing it\u2019s good to know your range and if you\u2019re a bass, tenor, alto, or soprano. That may be a an entirely different post. Go ahead and experiment with both parts and see which part feels more comfortable.<\/p>\n

The problem that you may run into is when the song changes chords you may catch yourself singing the melody. If you\u2019re not used to singing harmony it\u2019s a very common mistake to fall into singing the lead line. You should know your part like it is the lead line. When you practice make sure you know your line perfect. Let it sink into your whole body. It should resonate within yourself. You should feel your part \u201cfit\u201d in between the other two parts (if you\u2019re singing three part). Another problem that many harmony singers face is if they are singing the low part they often jump up and sing the high part. I\u2019ve found it is a lot easier to sing higher than lower. And that\u2019s because you can often get more volume when you sing high. Singing low you might have a hard time hearing yourself and you will need to use more breath for support<\/p>\n

One thing to help your harmony singing skills is to begin understanding and recognizing intervals<\/em>. This will really begin to strengthen your ear! One trick is to match certain intervals with popular tunes. I will give just a couple examples here.<\/p>\n

<\/b>Audio Sample<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/b>There are many things to consider when singing harmony with others but I encourage you to just start with the basics with some of the things I\u2019ve mentioned above. This should act as a launching pad for you beginners out there. I can\u2019t stress how important it is that you are sure of the lead line. If the lead line keeps changing then you\u2019ll have to change the harmony and that can become frustrating especially if you\u2019ve been working on your part! I\u2019ve also given you some common mistakes that people often make when they first start out, so be aware of these. Remember, start basic, pick an easy song and don\u2019t complicate things. Singing harmony of any complexity is often very enjoyable!
\nGood Luck!<\/p>\n

Find Jason on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever tried to sing harmony and didn\u2019t know where to start? Did you feel awkward when you had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,334],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nEasy Ear Training: Tips for singing Harmony<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This article from the Musika Music Education Blog introduces singers to ear training and provides some helpful tips for improving those skills.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musikalessons.com\/blog\/2014\/04\/easy-ear-training-tips-for-singing-harmony-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Easy Ear Training: Tips for singing Harmony\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" 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