Learning how to sing harmony in a group can be just as fun and fulfilling as singing solo, and it brings its own set of challenges that will test the soundness of your vocal skills and techniques. Singing in harmony requires you to build a chord with the notes sung by one or more other people. It's difficult enough to hit the right notes when you sing solo, but singing in harmony increases the level of difficulty by a notch or two because not only do you have to be conscious about your own pitch, you must now also listen to what the other people are singing around you to make sure that your own note is in the right place within the chord.
To understand how musical harmony works, you need to at least know the progression of notes on a scale: C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. There are many kinds of harmonious mixes that you can derive from this simple octave of notes, and this is the subject of books, college courses and doctoral dissertations. But the simplest way to think about this is the major triad or major thirds, which consists of the note you start with, then the third and fifth notes after that. So, for example, if you start with C, its major triad consists of C, E and G. If you start with F, the major triad is F, A and C. And so on, and so forth.
It's easy to practice building chords so that you can learn how to sing in harmony. Of course you will need some basic knowledge of musical scales, if only to know how to progress to the third or fifth notes. Sit at a piano and hit any major key (any one of the white keys on the keyboard). First, mimic the note you just hit; you and the piano should sound as one. Then in your mind, locate the third note from what you just played and sing that new note while the original note is still resonating. If done correctly, you would have produced a simple major third chord. Now hit one a major third chord on the piano, then supply the fifth note with your voice.
To make it interesting, try going the other way -- hit any major key, then find the third note below, or the fifth note below. This simple exercise should let you feel comfortable with singing chords and have you singing in harmony in no time.
There are other types of chords you can learn, besides the major triad. The "major six" consists of the major third chord, plus the sixth note. The "major six add nine," as you can imagine, consists of the major six plus the ninth note. The "major seven" is a major triad plus the seventh note, while the "major nine" is the major seven plus the ninth note. There are countless other chord variations, and some can be truly complex and challenging. But you can use any of these chord structures as your building block when you learn how to sing harmony.
To understand how musical harmony works, you need to at least know the progression of notes on a scale: C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. There are many kinds of harmonious mixes that you can derive from this simple octave of notes, and this is the subject of books, college courses and doctoral dissertations. But the simplest way to think about this is the major triad or major thirds, which consists of the note you start with, then the third and fifth notes after that. So, for example, if you start with C, its major triad consists of C, E and G. If you start with F, the major triad is F, A and C. And so on, and so forth.
It's easy to practice building chords so that you can learn how to sing in harmony. Of course you will need some basic knowledge of musical scales, if only to know how to progress to the third or fifth notes. Sit at a piano and hit any major key (any one of the white keys on the keyboard). First, mimic the note you just hit; you and the piano should sound as one. Then in your mind, locate the third note from what you just played and sing that new note while the original note is still resonating. If done correctly, you would have produced a simple major third chord. Now hit one a major third chord on the piano, then supply the fifth note with your voice.
To make it interesting, try going the other way -- hit any major key, then find the third note below, or the fifth note below. This simple exercise should let you feel comfortable with singing chords and have you singing in harmony in no time.
There are other types of chords you can learn, besides the major triad. The "major six" consists of the major third chord, plus the sixth note. The "major six add nine," as you can imagine, consists of the major six plus the ninth note. The "major seven" is a major triad plus the seventh note, while the "major nine" is the major seven plus the ninth note. There are countless other chord variations, and some can be truly complex and challenging. But you can use any of these chord structures as your building block when you learn how to sing harmony.
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