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.

Feb. 28th

Great job singing with the microphone tonight...not a shy singer in the group!  Next week will be our last class.  I invite each of you to share a song with the class.  It can be one we've done or it can be a song of your choosing.  I'm so proud of the progress you've all made!  Here are the parts for "Circle Round for Freedom" and also a singing exercise in minor mode.

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

singing exercise in minor

Feb 7th

We talked a bit about the different registers of our voices.  We are most familiar with our chest register as this is where our speaking voice is.  Our higher register, or our head voice, is not as familiar and it feels kind of funny at first to sing up there.  This will get more comfortable as you use this part of your voice. Your brain is building new lines of communication with your vocal folds as you expand your singing range.   We also talked about the place in your voice where the chest and head register come together.  You will learn how to maneuver around that spot so that you don't have a gap or a big change in tone.  Once again, it is just a matter of practice.  If there is a place in a song where you feel your voice jump or give out, just take it slowly and think about how you want it to sound before you sing it.  Keep practicing the songs and exercises from the previous lessons.  This coming week we will sing the minor key songs listed in the previous post as well as Wimoweh.  See if you can pick out the different parts as you listen to Ladysmith Black Mambazo sing Wimoweh.  Try to sing or hum along with one of the parts. 

January 31st

Here are a few singing exercises.  You can follow the notation for the C scale exercise on the sheet I gave you last night or you can follow the Tone Ladder.   The advantage of the Tone Ladder is that you can see the whole and half steps.  If you have the sounds in your ears without that guide, then you will do well with the standard notation (the sheet from last night).  Don't forget to do the voice sliding exercise everyday and also some deep breathing.

Ee, eh, ah, oh, oo exercise
C major scale exercise

We sang mostly in the key of C major and D major last night.  These two songs are in E flat which is just a little higher (half step) than D.  See how you do with these.

"Make New Friends"
"Sing, Sing, Together"

So far we have been singing songs in major keys.  Listen to these songs that are in minor keys.

"Out of Eternity"
"Shalom Chaverim"
"Ah, Poor Bird"
"Peace Round"