Vocal Harmony, Many Voices As One

Vocal harmony is simply two or more voices singing together, usually in a pleasing way but not necessarily. The harmony parts are most often the third, fifth or seventh of the chord. Most common today is two or three part harmonies. To be the best harmony singer you can it is helpful if you learn a little about chord structure. You have to learn to hear the other parts in the song, to separate them. Music theory may also be learned by taking a college course if you like.

If you listen to all music with an ear toward harmony you will begin to hear more and more detail. Try to pick out a harmony part and sing along with it as the song plays out. Try to find another person who is interested in singing and practice with them. If you both trade off who sings which part, that can be fun and give you each an opportunity to sing the harmony as well as the melody. You may of course have to transpose songs into other keys so that you both are comfortable with your parts.

The local college usually has a choir you can join or class you can take. At first you may be nervous, but everyone is there because they love to sing. There are choirs, madrigals and musicals just to name a few. Another excellent choice in music for learning harmonies is folk or bluegrass.

Sing Vocal Backup