How to Harmonize Singing

Vocal harmonies are a cornerstone of popular music. From Broadway musicals to the Beatles, from the peaceful easy '70s rock of the Eagles to the modern romp of My Chemical Romance, vocal harmonies are everywhere, imbuing songs with depth, beauty and texture. Here, you will learn a simple, quick method of developing vocal harmonies.

Things You'll Need

• Voice recorder

Instructions

Choose Your Melody Note

1. Every harmony needs a melody. For this exercise, we will build a three-part harmony. So pick a note that is at the low end of your singing range, and sing it loud, clear and long into your voice recorder.

2. Use the scale: Harmonies happen when you perform two or more notes from the same scale. For this exercise, we'll use the scale everyone knows: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do. (That last Do is actually the same note as your root note, just an octave higher.) Remember the note you just picked? Well, we'll use that note as Do. Now sing through the rest of the scale.

3. Add the third: Now that you have your root note and have sung through the scale, let's pick a note from it to start building the harmony. A very common three-part harmony is the root (Do), the fifth (So) and the octave (Do.) Play back your root note (Do), and sing along with it up the scale until you hit So. Now, sing So into your voice recorder as well, loud and clear and long, just like the first time. Once you get both notes in your head, go back to your root note and sing the harmony note.

4. Add the octave: Now you have two notes in perfect harmony. A great way to cap off a root-fifth harmony is to sing the root note an octave higher (Do-Re-Do). Repeat the same process we used above to find the high Do. You now have a three-part harmony, so find some friends and sing it!

5. Other harmonies: Root-fifth-root is a common harmony, but there are many more. There are root-third-octave, root-seventh.... so many different options. Experiment with them and find the one that works best for your song.