How to learn to sing simple harmony when you can't read music?
May 10, 2018 5:50 AM Subscribe
I would love to be able to sing simple harmony to equally simple folk songs but I have no formal musical training or knowledge and can't read music. Help?
I love to sing. It's a pretty basic Rise Up Singing and other folk-i-ness level. I have a strong voice, can carry a tune, and have a good ear.
But I can't for the life of me figure out how to sing even basic harmony! When I listen I hear and pick up the tune very quickly but even what I can hear that harmony is being sung and love it, I can't hear what the singer is doing.
When I've asked more musical friends, there answers have involved a lot of more formal musical language or being able to read music.
I would really like to be able to sing simple harmony to equally simple folk music-- this is for my own car singing pleasure and I don't have the time to join a choir.
So-- are there websites, for example, where you can hear just the harmony to various songs? Or ways of explaining how to find the harmony that aren't contingent on a more formal knowledge of music? Did you learn to sing harmony successfully? Share your secrets with me!
I love to sing. It's a pretty basic Rise Up Singing and other folk-i-ness level. I have a strong voice, can carry a tune, and have a good ear.
But I can't for the life of me figure out how to sing even basic harmony! When I listen I hear and pick up the tune very quickly but even what I can hear that harmony is being sung and love it, I can't hear what the singer is doing.
When I've asked more musical friends, there answers have involved a lot of more formal musical language or being able to read music.
I would really like to be able to sing simple harmony to equally simple folk music-- this is for my own car singing pleasure and I don't have the time to join a choir.
So-- are there websites, for example, where you can hear just the harmony to various songs? Or ways of explaining how to find the harmony that aren't contingent on a more formal knowledge of music? Did you learn to sing harmony successfully? Share your secrets with me!
It won't teach you how to improvise harmony but if you just want to memorize it for common pieces like Peter, Paul, and Mary songs or something, I suggest you stand next to someone who can do it and who has a strong voice and copy them. I can sort of pretend to read music from childhood music lessons but not really, yet I know the harmony to several pieces because I stood next to a bass and followed their voice enough times to just get it by rote memorization.
posted by Wretch729 at 6:13 AM on May 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Wretch729 at 6:13 AM on May 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
(search tips for youtube: often the soprano sings the melody and the alto, tenor, and bass sing harmonies - listen to a bunch and pick what sounds good in your voice. If a soprano is singing harmony sometimes it's called a 'descant' if higher notes feel better for you. )
posted by heyforfour at 6:15 AM on May 10, 2018
posted by heyforfour at 6:15 AM on May 10, 2018
even what I can hear that harmony is being sung and love it, I can't hear what the singer is doing.
are there websites, for example, where you can hear just the harmony to various songs? Or ways of explaining how to find the harmony
I'm not sure there's a lot to learn. I suspect you just need practice to help you feel "good enough" at improvising harmonies. Just play recordings of the duos or trios you like and just sing along with the one singing harmony. Soon you'll internalize what they're "doing."
The next step (using a formal knowledge of music), would be called "arranging" the music, and you don't need to go there since you are just doing this for fun. I suspect you're just aiming too high. I have a lot of choral experience, but when I start improvising harmony I'm fine for a few bars and then go horribly wrong. It's OK.
posted by JimN2TAW at 6:15 AM on May 10, 2018
are there websites, for example, where you can hear just the harmony to various songs? Or ways of explaining how to find the harmony
I'm not sure there's a lot to learn. I suspect you just need practice to help you feel "good enough" at improvising harmonies. Just play recordings of the duos or trios you like and just sing along with the one singing harmony. Soon you'll internalize what they're "doing."
The next step (using a formal knowledge of music), would be called "arranging" the music, and you don't need to go there since you are just doing this for fun. I suspect you're just aiming too high. I have a lot of choral experience, but when I start improvising harmony I'm fine for a few bars and then go horribly wrong. It's OK.
posted by JimN2TAW at 6:15 AM on May 10, 2018
It won't teach you how to improvise harmony but if you just want to memorize it for common pieces like Peter, Paul, and Mary songs or something, I suggest you stand next to someone who can do it and who has a strong voice and copy them. I can sort of pretend to read music from childhood music lessons but not really, yet I know the harmony to several pieces because I stood next to a bass and followed their voice enough times to just get it by rote memorization.
I actually think you *can* learn to improvise harmony by this method if you have any kind of natural ear for it - if you get familiar enough with how typical Western pop/folk harmony sounds, you can learn the parts of music theory that you need sort of instinctively. I'm not sure it's any *easier* or *faster* than learning the basics of music theory in a class or book or learning to read music, but it's certainly possible. There are tons of orally/aurally transmitted folk musics that work this way.
As for websites/learning aids, I don't know of any for popular/folk music but this is definitely a thing for choral music (and I think musical theater). The one I'm most familiar with is CyberBass, which provides midi tracks for a ton of choral works.
It doesn't sound like that's the kind of music you're interested in learning, but there are probably some things in there that might be useful for you - for example, check out #15 "Erkenne mich, mein Hüter" from the Bach St. Matthew Passion - it's roughly the same as Paul Simon's "American Tune" minus the bridge. ("Tutti" means all the parts together; Soprano in this case is the melody; Alto, Tenor, and Bass are the three harmony parts.)
posted by mskyle at 6:37 AM on May 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
I actually think you *can* learn to improvise harmony by this method if you have any kind of natural ear for it - if you get familiar enough with how typical Western pop/folk harmony sounds, you can learn the parts of music theory that you need sort of instinctively. I'm not sure it's any *easier* or *faster* than learning the basics of music theory in a class or book or learning to read music, but it's certainly possible. There are tons of orally/aurally transmitted folk musics that work this way.
As for websites/learning aids, I don't know of any for popular/folk music but this is definitely a thing for choral music (and I think musical theater). The one I'm most familiar with is CyberBass, which provides midi tracks for a ton of choral works.
It doesn't sound like that's the kind of music you're interested in learning, but there are probably some things in there that might be useful for you - for example, check out #15 "Erkenne mich, mein Hüter" from the Bach St. Matthew Passion - it's roughly the same as Paul Simon's "American Tune" minus the bridge. ("Tutti" means all the parts together; Soprano in this case is the melody; Alto, Tenor, and Bass are the three harmony parts.)
posted by mskyle at 6:37 AM on May 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Listen to a lot of the kind of music you'd like to sing, and see if you can pick out the harmony from the melody. A good place to start might be Simon and Garfunkel, since their voices are so different from one another. Listen to "The Boxer" - the beginning has just one part, up to "for a pocket full of mumbles such are promises." Then in the next line, "All lies and jest" the harmony comes in. Or the Indigo Girls. In "Closer to Fine" the first couple of lines are solo, and then the harmony comes in on "Now darkness has a hunger that's insatiable." Try to follow the separate lines. The more you listen, the more you'll be able to hear it in your head.
posted by Daily Alice at 6:48 AM on May 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Daily Alice at 6:48 AM on May 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
Hello, fellow car-singer-without-formal-music-training! I'm a harmonizer too. My approach has been to play music in the car and sing along with the harmonies; Dave Rawlings Machine's "Short-Haired Woman Blues" has been excellent for this purpose. (Heck, lots of Gillian Welch/DRM will serve. Listening for the harmony is easier when it's this duo--I listen for her, or for him.) The more I master established harmonies, the more confident I am about making them up for other songs.
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:51 AM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:51 AM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Another vote for finding music you like and know well that has strong harmonies. Crowded House was my go-to for this for many years. Also, it would help tremendously to join some sort of friendly, non-expert choir -- once you learn a harmony this way, it can help you figure out how it fits to the melody, and give you a better idea of what improvising harmony is like.
Please don't be frustrated if you find it really hard -- I have a knack for it and have been doing it since childhood, and have had formal training, and it's still damn hard sometimes. Especially if you don't know the song so well it's in your bones. I suck at reading music, so I know it can be done without that, but a good ear seems pretty necessary.
posted by fiercecupcake at 7:04 AM on May 10, 2018
Please don't be frustrated if you find it really hard -- I have a knack for it and have been doing it since childhood, and have had formal training, and it's still damn hard sometimes. Especially if you don't know the song so well it's in your bones. I suck at reading music, so I know it can be done without that, but a good ear seems pretty necessary.
posted by fiercecupcake at 7:04 AM on May 10, 2018
I'm an amateur musician who *can* read music and sing and has an otherwise decent ear and plenty of formal musical training. But picking out harmonies is often very hard work for me. I know people with less formal training who are better than me at it. So, there's one data point for you.
I'm glad I have those other skills, nothing wrong if you want to learn any of that stuff too, but if it's hearing and singing harmony parts that you want to learn, I'd work directly on that and not assume you need to learn X, Y, and Z first.
Following this thread with interest!
posted by floppyroofing at 7:11 AM on May 10, 2018
I'm glad I have those other skills, nothing wrong if you want to learn any of that stuff too, but if it's hearing and singing harmony parts that you want to learn, I'd work directly on that and not assume you need to learn X, Y, and Z first.
Following this thread with interest!
posted by floppyroofing at 7:11 AM on May 10, 2018
Best answer: It sounds like you're saying that you have difficulty picking out the harmony part and hearing it as a separate thing, even if you like the overall effect of the harmony, in which case, a lot of these recommendations might not help. On a different axis, I'd say that a very helpful starting point might be learning about musical intervals. A ton of easy-to-learn music has harmony based on major thirds and fifths above and/or below the melody. If you can play around with a piano, either one on an app or in person, you can feel your way around to Mary Had a Little Lamb or Twinkle Twinkle, then see what they sound like if you follow that line with a harmony a major third above, then play the harmony alone, then sing the harmony part with the melody. I bet a few exercises along those lines would help train your ear a bit to be able to pick out harmony lines.
I do think it's something that can be learned; I played clarinet as a kid up through high school, and what I sing along with are usually the bits that a clarinet would play if it was in the mix, not the melody. When people talk about an interesting bass line, on the other hand, I have to really pay attention to be able to pick it out.
posted by tchemgrrl at 7:18 AM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
I do think it's something that can be learned; I played clarinet as a kid up through high school, and what I sing along with are usually the bits that a clarinet would play if it was in the mix, not the melody. When people talk about an interesting bass line, on the other hand, I have to really pay attention to be able to pick it out.
posted by tchemgrrl at 7:18 AM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Interesting question. I like to sing and have asked trained musicians about harmonizing. It's a learned skill, from lots of practice and close listening to what sounds good or not. Barbershop style close harmonizing is one style. I listen to a fair amount of Balkan music and sometimes the harmonizing is kind of harsh. There's wide latitude among music for harmony.
I did some searching on youtube, listening to alto parts.
posted by theora55 at 7:24 AM on May 10, 2018
I did some searching on youtube, listening to alto parts.
posted by theora55 at 7:24 AM on May 10, 2018
Might be easier for you to hear the harmonies if you listen to acapella music. Fewer distractions. Actually I just googled "acapella harmony" and I got a number of results that might be fun for you to play with.
posted by windykites at 7:24 AM on May 10, 2018
posted by windykites at 7:24 AM on May 10, 2018
Probably a good starting point is to listen to a 1-3-5-1 type sequence of notes and remember how that sounds. If you're harmonizing with just one other line of music, 1-3-5 intervals tend to sound decent most of the time.
So for instance the notes of "say can you see" in the beginning of "The Star-Spangled Banner" -- that's a sequence of 1-3-5-1 (the last 1 is a higher version of the first 1). If you were harmonizing, you could sing "say" with the note of "can", "you", or "see" instead, and it would sound good. If you can get a solid feel for those intervals/relative pitches, you can use it on every note of a song, more or less.
That's the best I can do to simplify it. Other than that I agree that harmony doesn't mean you have to be singing a different note from the melody at all times, and that hands-on experimentation will serve best for discovering what you like to hear.
posted by inconstant at 7:46 AM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
So for instance the notes of "say can you see" in the beginning of "The Star-Spangled Banner" -- that's a sequence of 1-3-5-1 (the last 1 is a higher version of the first 1). If you were harmonizing, you could sing "say" with the note of "can", "you", or "see" instead, and it would sound good. If you can get a solid feel for those intervals/relative pitches, you can use it on every note of a song, more or less.
That's the best I can do to simplify it. Other than that I agree that harmony doesn't mean you have to be singing a different note from the melody at all times, and that hands-on experimentation will serve best for discovering what you like to hear.
posted by inconstant at 7:46 AM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
(Just ignore the 1-3-5-1 thing if it sounds jargony and focus on the example. It's just a way to denote the relationships between them -- that 3 is so much higher than 1, 5 is so much higher than 3, etc.)
posted by inconstant at 7:49 AM on May 10, 2018
posted by inconstant at 7:49 AM on May 10, 2018
I'm a very good harmonizer and yet I can't always pick out what people are doing from recorded music nearly as well as I should be able to given my experience and the amount of time I spend singing.
One thing that helps me a LOT is singing along to the recording with some kind of instrumental chords in the background (I sing a lot of a capalla so this isn't always an option). Hearing the options in something other than a second human voice helps a lot.
posted by twoplussix at 9:00 AM on May 10, 2018
One thing that helps me a LOT is singing along to the recording with some kind of instrumental chords in the background (I sing a lot of a capalla so this isn't always an option). Hearing the options in something other than a second human voice helps a lot.
posted by twoplussix at 9:00 AM on May 10, 2018
I learned how to harmonize by singing along with singers way too high or low for my natural range.
posted by kapers at 9:10 AM on May 10, 2018
posted by kapers at 9:10 AM on May 10, 2018
You could try singing along to David Bowie's Space Oddity. It's mixed so that one harmony is in your left ear and one in your right so you can isolate them by taking one earbud out and then practice each version. (I'm sure there are many other songs like this but this is the one I can remember right now!)
For me harmony skills are a lot like the rubbing tummy while patting head trick. You have to learn to have your brain think about the harmony and the music separately. Once you've done it with one song it'll become easier with each subsequent tune.
posted by merocet at 9:13 AM on May 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
For me harmony skills are a lot like the rubbing tummy while patting head trick. You have to learn to have your brain think about the harmony and the music separately. Once you've done it with one song it'll become easier with each subsequent tune.
posted by merocet at 9:13 AM on May 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Can you play a little piano? A lot of vocal harmony is in thirds, and you could learn to play that sound as follows: pick out a melody in the C major scale (that's just all the white keys, starting on 'C', which you can find visually by looking it up online: here, for example). Then play the melody with a harmony note a third higher: that just means, the harmony note will always be two white keys above the melody note.
posted by thelonius at 10:09 AM on May 10, 2018
posted by thelonius at 10:09 AM on May 10, 2018
Where are you located? There are usually adult- or continuing-education schools where you can learn basic music theory for a very low price, and get to do a lot of singing with other like-minded people in the process. As the folks above have said, understanding thirds and fifths is your absolute best bet for learning to sing basic harmonies to Rise Up Singing-type folk music. If you have access to a piano, just hitting a note, holding it down and then hitting a third, or a fifth, can train your ear pretty well if you practice.
posted by tzikeh at 10:10 AM on May 10, 2018
posted by tzikeh at 10:10 AM on May 10, 2018
Here's how i did it:
1. hung out with other folks who knew how to harmonize, singing with and imitating them. it helped that they were kind and sympathetic to a new learner.
2. listened to a ton of harmony-heavy folk (peter paul and mary, simon and garfunkel, etc.) and learned the harmony lines.
3. finally had enough confidence to harmonize with other folks while we sang.
i'm a classically trained singer and cellist, but that training really didn't have a lot of bearing on learning to harmonize. learning how a typical harmonic line works is a long process of listening, imitation, trial & error.
posted by hollisimo at 10:10 AM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
1. hung out with other folks who knew how to harmonize, singing with and imitating them. it helped that they were kind and sympathetic to a new learner.
2. listened to a ton of harmony-heavy folk (peter paul and mary, simon and garfunkel, etc.) and learned the harmony lines.
3. finally had enough confidence to harmonize with other folks while we sang.
i'm a classically trained singer and cellist, but that training really didn't have a lot of bearing on learning to harmonize. learning how a typical harmonic line works is a long process of listening, imitation, trial & error.
posted by hollisimo at 10:10 AM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I already knew how to do basic harmonies, but I upped my game (focus on close harmonies) on a long road trip using Simon and Garfunkel on repeat.
1. Listen to a song, note their harmonies.
2. Full left channel. Only one voice. Sing along.
3. Full right channel. Try to sing the left channel line as an accompaniment to the right.
4. Listen to, and sing along with, the right channel.
5. Switch back to the left channel, and keep singing the right channel.
6. Middle balance, sing with the right channel.
7. Maintain middle balance, sing with the left channel.
posted by notsnot at 1:08 PM on May 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
1. Listen to a song, note their harmonies.
2. Full left channel. Only one voice. Sing along.
3. Full right channel. Try to sing the left channel line as an accompaniment to the right.
4. Listen to, and sing along with, the right channel.
5. Switch back to the left channel, and keep singing the right channel.
6. Middle balance, sing with the right channel.
7. Maintain middle balance, sing with the left channel.
posted by notsnot at 1:08 PM on May 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
Added note, you can hear on some songs like Dylan & Cash 'Girl from the North Country' (or Bowie & Bing 'Little Drummer Boy') where the tenor singer jumps around from 3rds to 5ths for a neat effect. Grace Slick & Marty Balin often used wide 5ths and played with different ideas.
Like any kind of improvisation, there's an added element of novelty and excitement when you experiment and take risks, and when you take risks there's always a chance of messing up and starting over, so it helps if you're not too self conscious.
One of my favourite under-rated harmony composers is Martin Gore of Depeche Mode. He crafts very nice understated close harmonies, gently slipped into the end of verses and choruses.
posted by ovvl at 4:24 PM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Like any kind of improvisation, there's an added element of novelty and excitement when you experiment and take risks, and when you take risks there's always a chance of messing up and starting over, so it helps if you're not too self conscious.
One of my favourite under-rated harmony composers is Martin Gore of Depeche Mode. He crafts very nice understated close harmonies, gently slipped into the end of verses and choruses.
posted by ovvl at 4:24 PM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Singing harmony is a slightly different skill than singing lead, just like all drummers are not necessarily (or even usually, not matter what they think) good percussionists. Lots of people who are really good singers struggle a bit with it. Coming up with parts is really getting close to the area of arranging, it's not something you should expect to just know how to do.
Keep in mind a lot of harmony is not about moving and harmonizing every note, don't make it super complicated. Sometimes a harmony part is one note all the way through while the other parts move, sometimes it only moves at certain points, goes down while the melody goes up, sometimes only sings certain notes.
That's actually the stuff I prefer rather than just singing a 3rd or 5th or whatever of the lead all the way through, which I think is kind of dull unless you're in a choir.
posted by bongo_x at 4:31 PM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Keep in mind a lot of harmony is not about moving and harmonizing every note, don't make it super complicated. Sometimes a harmony part is one note all the way through while the other parts move, sometimes it only moves at certain points, goes down while the melody goes up, sometimes only sings certain notes.
That's actually the stuff I prefer rather than just singing a 3rd or 5th or whatever of the lead all the way through, which I think is kind of dull unless you're in a choir.
posted by bongo_x at 4:31 PM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
I’ve experienced the same kind of struggles with learning to sing harmony. Other people seem to easily hear what harmony pitches are being sung, but to me it just sounds like some weird composite tone rather than a second voice. I have been able to learn harmony lines through repetition, but still can’t improvise. Most of what I can sing I learned using these lessons from Homespun. They sing each part separately so it’s easy to hear and learn, and it seems to match the style of music you’re looking for.
posted by doctord at 6:02 PM on May 10, 2018
posted by doctord at 6:02 PM on May 10, 2018
Oh! I popped back in here to mention another source of truly mind-bending harmonies: Alice in Chains. Jerry Cantrell is a music-theory monster who really made it work.
posted by notsnot at 7:24 PM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by notsnot at 7:24 PM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I sing harmonies fairly instinctively now. I have done a lot of fairly formal music training (though none in how to create harmonies), but really got good at it after I took up the ukulele (and sang songs that were too high for me).
Learning harmony parts separately was how I started in primary school. They are super boring sounding when you sing them by themselves, but we had them drilled into us to the point where I can still sing some of them 30 years later. They are surprisingly hard to find on the internet, I haven't found any more options than have been suggested above. I like the idea of tracks with the harmony and the melody split to the left and right. That would totally work. You could also join a choir that teaches songs with parts. Another thing to look for is songs with two melodies that are sung at the same time. The only one I can currently think of is the chorus of the Friends Theme Song, where "I'll be there for you" is sung two different ways. Also songs where by the end the lead singer is singing noodly other bits whilst the rest of the band or a choir sings the tune.
I don't know Rise up Singing, but it looks like a book with words and chords. Apparently Amazing Grace is in there, and I assume it looks something like this.
The easiest place to make an impact with a harmony is on the last note. Most of the time, there are two other notes nearby that you can sing. In the link above, the last chord is A, and the last note is an A (pretty common to end a song on the same note as the name of the chord). It doesn't really matter what the other notes are called, but they are in the arpeggio, which you've probably heard. It's a common warm-up exercise. People who add in a harmony after the last note has been sung, are generally just running up or down an arpeggio of that chord. Try it and see if you can make it work. Another place to find a note that works at the end is just before the last note, in this case the third last note "now" is one of them. So you can sing along with the tune, singing "now I" with everyone else, and then jump back up to the "now" note instead of going down with the tune. The first note in the song is often one too, and this is true for this song. Other notes that are sung under the same chord letter are also worth trying, so "maz-" (in amazing), "sound", "once" and "found". "Once" is actually the note as the start note, but up an octave.
To harmonise the whole song, I'll generally sing along for a verse, and then branch off in the second. Harmonising on the first note of any song is super tricky. Often, the easiest way to harmonise is to stay behind on a note, instead of going up or down with the tune. For example, in Amazing Grace, I can sing the first note with the tune, and then stay on it until the chord change at "sweet". Sometimes this note may still work for the next chord, but in this case it doesn't. So I'd take a punt on going up a bit or down a bit and see if anything's close. Heading up (coz the note I'm singing is pretty low for me), there's one not much higher, a semitone or two. Sing that until the next chord change at "sound", which is back to the A, so I can go back to the same note as before. It also works for the second note in this song, the "maze" note. It needs to change at "sweet" too, but the closest note (up a bit) is the same as the tune, so I either leapfrog over it, or drop down, either way works.
Staying on the same note for a long time is a bit boring though. You can do it as an "ah", and then it sounds more like you're doing it on purpose. The easiest way to not sound like a drone is to track the tune. Tune goes up, you go up. Tune goes down, you go down. It isn't always so straightforward, but that's a good place to start. For example, in this version of 500 miles away from home, there are two harmonies sung by the women, the one right at the end a bit higher than the one she sings for the rest of the song. Both follow the relative ups and downs of the tune very closely. If you can find a harmonising note at the beginning of the verse, you can learn to noodle along in tandem with the tune, especially if the tune has no big jumps.
In many folk songs, the first couple of lines will be kinda samey, then the third line will have totally different chords, and then the last bit will be back to the samey stuff, and eventually finish on the same chord as it started on. If you can't find a harmony in the third line, you can probably pick it up again at the end. The third line is often the most fun though:)
Also, slow songs are the easiest to practice with. Gives you more time to find the note.
posted by kjs4 at 9:48 PM on May 10, 2018
Learning harmony parts separately was how I started in primary school. They are super boring sounding when you sing them by themselves, but we had them drilled into us to the point where I can still sing some of them 30 years later. They are surprisingly hard to find on the internet, I haven't found any more options than have been suggested above. I like the idea of tracks with the harmony and the melody split to the left and right. That would totally work. You could also join a choir that teaches songs with parts. Another thing to look for is songs with two melodies that are sung at the same time. The only one I can currently think of is the chorus of the Friends Theme Song, where "I'll be there for you" is sung two different ways. Also songs where by the end the lead singer is singing noodly other bits whilst the rest of the band or a choir sings the tune.
I don't know Rise up Singing, but it looks like a book with words and chords. Apparently Amazing Grace is in there, and I assume it looks something like this.
The easiest place to make an impact with a harmony is on the last note. Most of the time, there are two other notes nearby that you can sing. In the link above, the last chord is A, and the last note is an A (pretty common to end a song on the same note as the name of the chord). It doesn't really matter what the other notes are called, but they are in the arpeggio, which you've probably heard. It's a common warm-up exercise. People who add in a harmony after the last note has been sung, are generally just running up or down an arpeggio of that chord. Try it and see if you can make it work. Another place to find a note that works at the end is just before the last note, in this case the third last note "now" is one of them. So you can sing along with the tune, singing "now I" with everyone else, and then jump back up to the "now" note instead of going down with the tune. The first note in the song is often one too, and this is true for this song. Other notes that are sung under the same chord letter are also worth trying, so "maz-" (in amazing), "sound", "once" and "found". "Once" is actually the note as the start note, but up an octave.
To harmonise the whole song, I'll generally sing along for a verse, and then branch off in the second. Harmonising on the first note of any song is super tricky. Often, the easiest way to harmonise is to stay behind on a note, instead of going up or down with the tune. For example, in Amazing Grace, I can sing the first note with the tune, and then stay on it until the chord change at "sweet". Sometimes this note may still work for the next chord, but in this case it doesn't. So I'd take a punt on going up a bit or down a bit and see if anything's close. Heading up (coz the note I'm singing is pretty low for me), there's one not much higher, a semitone or two. Sing that until the next chord change at "sound", which is back to the A, so I can go back to the same note as before. It also works for the second note in this song, the "maze" note. It needs to change at "sweet" too, but the closest note (up a bit) is the same as the tune, so I either leapfrog over it, or drop down, either way works.
Staying on the same note for a long time is a bit boring though. You can do it as an "ah", and then it sounds more like you're doing it on purpose. The easiest way to not sound like a drone is to track the tune. Tune goes up, you go up. Tune goes down, you go down. It isn't always so straightforward, but that's a good place to start. For example, in this version of 500 miles away from home, there are two harmonies sung by the women, the one right at the end a bit higher than the one she sings for the rest of the song. Both follow the relative ups and downs of the tune very closely. If you can find a harmonising note at the beginning of the verse, you can learn to noodle along in tandem with the tune, especially if the tune has no big jumps.
In many folk songs, the first couple of lines will be kinda samey, then the third line will have totally different chords, and then the last bit will be back to the samey stuff, and eventually finish on the same chord as it started on. If you can't find a harmony in the third line, you can probably pick it up again at the end. The third line is often the most fun though:)
Also, slow songs are the easiest to practice with. Gives you more time to find the note.
posted by kjs4 at 9:48 PM on May 10, 2018
If you live in NYC, Jalopy theater in Red Hook has harmony workshops and they are fun.
If you live in my area, I would happily take a stab at teaching. I love harmony singing
posted by bunderful at 8:09 AM on May 11, 2018
If you live in my area, I would happily take a stab at teaching. I love harmony singing
posted by bunderful at 8:09 AM on May 11, 2018
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Are you confident singing along with a harmony line that you know? (Beginning with a round/cannon, then singing along with harmony lines on e.g. Beatles songs?) If not, start there, by picking a song you know and like, and exploring youtube, where youll find practice videos that have just the harmony line on its own , or played more loudly than the other parts. Once you know how it goes, experiment with singing along to the original version.
Actually inventing new harmonies is a separate skill from 'holding your part' - I learned to do it by singing a well-known harmony line and just throwing in a new note from time to time. It sounds good or bad, and you take it from there. (Also, whether they realize it or not, the people harmonizing at a folk music sing are not truly inventing the harmony every time from whole cloth - even if improvised, they are remembering what they did last time, learning tunes from others , and hopping back and forth between the melody and harmony (or two different harmonies) to create new effects. )
posted by heyforfour at 6:12 AM on May 10, 2018 [3 favorites]