How To Learn To Sing Harmonies
If you wonder how to learn to sing harmonies, you are in the right place. More often than not we fail when we try to learn to sing harmonies because we just don’t know how to get started! In today’s video and blog post, you will find out what are the first steps to learn to sing harmonies so you can get started the right way! Once you understand the basics, the process is much easier, faster, and fun… you will be singing fun harmonies in no time!
Table of Contents
How to learn to sing harmonies – video transcript (adapted to suit blog post format)
If you would love to sing in harmonies, but don’t have any idea of how to get started. This video is for you because I’m going to teach you how to get started from scratch.
My name is Jorgelina. I am a vocal coach, singer, and songwriter, and I specialize in teaching adults how to sing contemporary music from a holistic and integral approach.
Make sure that you stick until the end because I am going to show you an exercise that you can practice every day to get better and better at singing harmonies.
Now for this video, of course, I am going to assume that you can sing in tune. And if you don’t know or if you can’t sing in tune, and you know it, then go ahead and take a look at another video that I released recently. So if that’s you, go ahead, start there, and then when you can identify the pitch easily, come back to this video.
How to learn to sing harmonies: identifying the notes from a chord
The first thing I want to show you is the skill of understanding what note are you singing from a chord. When we talk about chords, we are talking about notes that are played simultaneously.
So for example, this is the C major chord (plays C chord in the piano). So I’m playing three different notes at the same time. And what you want to get really good at is singing the different notes within a chord (demonstrates).
I’m using an ‘oo’ sound because it’s gentle on my voice but you could also sing DO MI SO or you can sing ‘1 3 5’. I recommend spelling the chord with numbers. So, what do I mean by this?
Let’s say that I’m playing the C major chord. In a major triad like this, what I have is the first note, and it’s third, and then it’s fifth. So in this case, if I start in Do I have Do. The next note is Mi. That’s the third. When I say the third, I mean the interval of a major third and then a minor third above that we have a perfect fifth from the root note.
So what I would recommend you to do is to be able to sing 1 3 5 like this (demonstrates). This is really useful because when you sing harmonies you have to get really good at starting on the right note.
So, let’s just try that. I’m going to play different chords, and you spell them with one, three, five. I’ll do the first one, and then you do the rest with me as well.
That might have been really easy for you, or it might be really hard. In this case, just stop the video here, come back, and practice it more times. You can come back to it tomorrow if it is too much.
Singing parallel thirds – your first step for singing harmonies!
Now I have found that one of the easier ways to start singing in different harmonies is to start with a type of harmonies that we call the parallel third. Let’s say that we are singing in two voices. The two voices move like this (demonstrates). So they move in the same motion, but starting a third above the root.
(DEMONSTRATION AND EXPLANATION IN THE VIDEO)
This is a really good skill to get started because parallel thirds are used in a lot of songs. Once you get the hang of it it’s really easy to do it and play around different songs at any time and it’s also a resource that actually makes the songs sound really good!
So even if it is simple and used a lot, it’s still a favorite. Now go ahead and practice that, and once you get the hang of it, one song that I would recommend you to start with is the song Falling Slowly from the movie Once. is a fun exchange of voices in the chorus, but don’t worry too much about that. I think you can find videos of those voices sung separately and that’s a really good song to start with because it’s slow enough and it’s very organized, the steps (intervals), are small so if you want to train your capacity to sing a parallel third, which is a great starting point to sing in harmonies, that is a song that I would recommend.
Now, as I said before, I actually have a resource prepared for you today, if you go to the description below now, you are going to be able to download a little exercise that I prepared for you that contains very easy and slow melodies that you can learn, and you can use them to practice your parallel thirds.
Want to receive weekly articles in your inbox? Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly original singing articles and videos, and to receive all the news about our latest online singing programs!
Want to learn singing from a contemporary and holistic approach? Join us today!
In person singing programs (Auckland, NZ – North Shore area – Unsworth Heights)
Singing lessons and classes for adults in Auckland, NZ (North Shore area – Unsworth Heights)
Singing lessons and classes for kids and teens in Auckland, NZ (North Shore area – Unsworth Heights)
Singing programs online – A holistic approach to contemporary singing
Online singing programs – contemporary singing from a holistic (and scientific!) approach
I help people to develop their voice and singing from a holistic approach. I teach vocal lessons in person in Auckland, NZ, and online. Also stay tuned for my new online singing programs!❤️
My greatest passion has always been the voice, music and energy arts.
My personal and artistic journey has led me to understand that the voice and the body are fully connected, and that includes not only the physical body but also the mental, emotional and spiritual body.
Through holistic vocal training you not only learn to become a great singer while taking care of your voice, but you also improve your mental and physical wellbeing❤️
AUCKLAND CONTEMPORARY SINGING SCHOOL - COPYRIGHT 2024 ©
leave a comment