VOCALS
ASK A VOICE COACH : HARMONIES | Renee Maranan
I have no official training and have never taken lessons for vocals . I can sing melody well but struggle a lot when it comes to singing harmony . Do you have any recommendations on how I can grow in singing harmony without the ability to pay for lessons ? Thank you !
Grace and Peace , Zach
Harmony can add so much to a vocal performance , but it doesn ’ t necessarily come naturally to everyone . This is okay ! There are ways to improve your ear using simple exercises that you can do on your own .
FIRST THINGS FIRST : THE MAJOR SCALE , SUPER SIMPLIFIED There are several different types of scales in music , but the major scale is the most familiar and most commonly used scale in Western music . You can learn the major scale by listening to the “ Do-Re-Mi ” song from The Sound of Music or simply searching “ major scale ” on the internet . If you have access to a piano , you can play the C major scale by following the pattern below and singing the numbers underneath each note ( tip : you can download a free piano app for your phone ):
SCALE DEGREES AND INTERVALS FOR TOTAL BEGINNERS Every note within each scale is numbered according to degrees . The first note is the 1st degree , the second note is the 2nd degree , and so on . Musicians will sometimes call these notes according to their solfège names : do , re , mi , fa , sol , la , and ti . Another way that musicians label these notes is by their numerical degree name : 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , and 7 . Labeling them is important because it helps the musician to remember where they are within the scale in relation to the 1 , which is also called the tonic or the home note .
When two notes are played consecutively or simultaneously , the space between them is called an interval . The two notes of an interval can either be played separately ( melodic intervals ) or simultaneously ( harmonic intervals ). Here ’ s one way to remember it : the song melody is made up of a sequence of melodic intervals , whereas harmonies are a stack of one or more harmonic intervals .
Okay , so how do I actually use this information to learn harmony ?
Start by internalizing the major scale pattern by plunking it out on the piano and singing along to it with the numerical scale degrees . Once you ’ ve internalized the major scale pattern , you can start practicing with intervals and arpeggios . Try these simple exercises below :
MAJOR THIRD
• Try playing / singing the following pattern using the C major scale : 1 - 2 - 3 - 1
• Once you got the hang of that , try skipping the middle : 1 - 3 - 1
• Practice the melodic interval on your own
• Once you get the hang of it , try practicing with another person . One of you can start by singing and holding the 1 , and the other can come in and hold the 3 so that you ’ re sustaining the two notes simultaneously .
PERFECT FIFTH
• Try playing / singing the following pattern using the C major scale : 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 1
• Once you got the hang of that , try skipping the middle notes : 1 - 5 - 1
• Practice this melodic interval on your own
• Once you get the hang of it , try practicing with another person . One of you can start by singing and holding the 1 , and the other can come in and hold the 5 so that you ’ re sustaining the two notes simultaneously .
ARPEGGIO
• An arpeggio is a chord that is played melodically ( each note separately ) instead of harmonically ( all notes played together ).
• Try playing / singing the following pattern using the C major scale : 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 1
• Once you got the hang of that , try skipping the middle notes : 1 - 3 - 5 - 1
• Practice the arpeggio on your own
• Once you get the hang of it , try practicing with two other singers . One of you can start by singing and holding the 1 , the other can come in and hold the 3 , and the third singer can come in and hold the 5 , so that you ’ re all sustaining the three notes simultaneously .
Doing this exercise in the C major scale is the easiest way to get started . Eventually , you will want to be able to sing other types of intervals , arpeggios , and patterns on the C major scale as well as on other scales .
If you want to dive deeper , you can also check out courses such as this one by Berklee College of Music , offered through Coursera . Courses such as this are often available for purchase for those who want a certificate of completion , or even free of charge to those who just want to audit the course .
Got a question for Renee ? Send an email to hello @ reneemaranan . com and write “ Ask the Voice Coach ” in the subject line .
Renee Maranan Vocal Instructor | Life Coach Ambassador for the Institute for Vocal Advancement www . ReneeMaranan . com Instagram @ reneemaranan
28 November 2023 Subscribe for Free ...