How to Sing in Harmony

Singing solo can be difficult enough as it is. However, singing with others and learning the basics to harmony and blending can make this difficult art even more challenging. There are a few steps that even the most prolific singers can remember to help them sing in harmony. Learn how to help yourself (or the student in your life) sing in harmony and master this sometimes elusive skill.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Learn basic scales before attempting to sing harmony. Learn the lead part so that you can learn the harmony easier.

2. Try playing the harmony on an instrument such as the piano to help you hear the notes you will be singing. Play or sing the scale of the harmony to accompany the melody before attempting to sing the notes out of scale order.

3. Listen to a teacher or knowledgeable person who knows the harmony of a particular piece. Train your ear to recognize the melody and the notes that compliment the main theme.

4. Train your ear to hear dissonance and resonance within the music. When a note is sung correctly in harmony, there will be a vibration that accompanies the sound. Note that if it sounds right it most likely is right; discord in harmony is fairly easy to detect once the ear is trained.

5. Attempt to sing the same notes as the lead part and then sing the notes in the chord above or below the lead part. Know that the baritone part is typically the most difficult and often has a strange succession of chords that will not sound like a tune in its own right.

Tips & Warnings

• Sing scales that compliment each other by either recording one scale and singing along with it or singing along with a choir or friends to help train the ear.
• Use one of the many vocal training audio sets that are sold in music stores and online.
• The best way to learn harmony is simply to do it, although some theory will help you learn it a bit faster than you would have through trial and error.

Resources

• Watch some instructional videos on harmony singing.
• Here's a good website for learning basic music theory.

[lunaria]

on 6/10/2009 I found your advice very useful! I tried this on a couple of my students and it got us started. They both already have great ears, but had a mental/emotional block keeping them from harmonizing well. What worked for them was to have them sing a made-up melody (as if they have never heard the real melody) while I play the accompaniment to a song they know really well. I then get them to sing like that while I sing the melody quietly, getting louder on every repeat. Their melodies usually end up being a little to embellished to be a harmony part, but it gets them singing non-chord tones without them even thinking about it. It also works on their improv skills.