more practice - This Land is Your Land

Here is another song with harmony parts above and below the melody.  Click here to listen.  The melody is sung by students from Saint Patrick Catholic School in Charlotte.  I recorded it when I taught music there.  The harmony parts are pretty easy to hear because the timbre of my voice is very different than that of the kids singing the melody.

harmony practice

Listen to You Are My Sunshine as sung by my sisters and me.  It is an example of a song that has one harmony a third (mostly) above the melody and one harmony below.  Notice that the harmony below needs to jump more to fill out the chord.  This is from a Charlotte Folk Society gathering at least ten years ago, perhaps even longer.  We were still meeting in the Bryant Music Building.

singing harmony by ear class

Here are two YouTube lessons that I have done related to singing chords.  The more you practice singing the chord tones, the easier it will be to sing a harmony part by ear.  In the second YouTube lesson, see if you can add a harmony part while I sing "Down in the Valley".  Remember that the easiest way to do this is to sing one chord tone until the chord changes; then move to the closest chord tone in the new chord.

I, IV, V chords introduction
I, V7 chords

Also, remember to listen for the chord changes in any songs you listen to this week.  Can you anticipate the chord change?  Can you sing the chord tones in your mind or out loud and move to one in the new chord?

Have fun and see you Monday!

our final class for May

Here are the parts for Circle Round for Freedom:

melody (middle line)
Soprano (top line)
Baritone (bottom line)

As you are singing this week remember to take a nice deep breath and to let the air flow out as you sing.  I know this sounds obvious; but, if you consciously think about letting the air flow, you will have more energy in your song and will be able to sing those higher notes with ease.  High notes need lots of energy. See you next week.