Learn To Sing Harmony
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How to Learn to Sing Harmony
Many people want to learn to sing harmony, but don't know how to learn to sing it. After all, how many places can you go to learn it once you're out of school? You're chances of learning are over, right?
...Wrong. There are so many places and ways to learn that it's incredible more people don't do it. I'm going to show you how to get started because if you can carry a tune and sing melody on key, chances are good that you can learn to sing harmony as well.
First, you need to make sure you can sing on key. If you're not sure, ask someone. Most people can hear if someone is singing the same note as what's being played on a piano or on the radio. Try playing a note on the piano and see if you can match the pitch by singing the same note. Once you have that down, you can learn to sing the harmony.
Get a piece of sheet music that has harmony written in. If you don't know how to read music, it's time to learn. There are tons of lessons available on line and elsewhere that can teach you how to read sheet music. The notes that are for the harmony part should be learned as their own song. Play the notes for the harmony part and sing along.
Then, have someone sing the melody while you sing the harmony and get someone to play the accompaniment on the piano. Singing to the radio works as well, but it is sometimes really hard to hear where the harmony notes are when you first start listening for them. That's why I recommend sheet music to begin with. You can always stop and take a hard section over again or go slow, or pound out the harmony notes as you sing.
Keep practicing and then try it without any accompaniment and see if you can stay on pitch while someone else sings the melody (preferably someone else who can stay on pitch as well). Then, you know you have it mastered. Singing without accompaniment is much harder than singing with the accompaniment, so if you can make it sound good that way, you have it made.
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Comments
Thanks Sherry. I am glad you stopped by and commented. You're such a great resource with so many things. I appreciate your talents as well.
Fantastic article. Great reading and encouragement for anyone (not me) that would like to move in that direction. Look forward to your next page. Enjoyed the way you layed out the pictures in article.
Great Hub, Amy. Very incormative to even non singers!!
Thank you for your comments, Bill and Kim. Great to hear from you.
Hi Amy, thank you so much for this information. Where can I go learn how to not experience stage-fright? I know that you are multi-talented and also play the piano, congratulations.
I'll have to write a new article about how to get over stage fright, but basically it involves getting in front of people over and over and over and over, so you practice performing. Start with easier stuff and friendly people. Believe it or not, sometimes it is less scary to perform for strangers. I'd much rather perform in front of thousands of strangers than in front of 2 friends. Weird, I know, but I've found that to be true for lots of others as well. No matter what, it will be scary until you get used to it, so practice a bunch because when you are nervous, you tend to forget things easily.
Great article. Singing is not a strength of mine but I can relate with you about performing in front of strangers verses friends. Strangers are much easier. I use to do wedding photography and I liked photographing strangers rather then someone I knew. Strange indeed.
I've always wondered whether a person could really tell what they sounded like while singing or speaking. If you record your voice and listen to the recording, your voice sounds different or at least what it sounds like to other people. As for me, I've been told that I don't sing on key, and most of the time they don't need to tell me. I've got a keyboard, so I will try to play some notes and see if I can hit the right pitch.
Good post, Amy
I like it Amy. I've helped several people learn to sing. It is wonderful to see their eyes light up when they finally get it. Enjoyed your article.
Hi Amy I am envious of anyone who can sing, as you may have guessed, I am not one of them! Enjoyed the post and look forward to reading more. I also joined your fan club, hope you'll join mine. All the Best Kevin
I love to harmonize. I began as a young girl, harmonizing with girlfiends. We used to sing in the bathroom because the acoustics were so good. Now I almost have to harmonize! Sing Happy Birthday in unison? No, I don't think so! I recently attended a women's art retreat and each evening we sang & harmonized. Thanks for a great article!
I am envious of your women's retreat. That sounds like fun to sing and harmonize every evening. It reminds me of when I was a young girl and we would all gather around the piano. It was so much fun to connect in a musical way with my whole family gathered around.
This is a great post. It so true that once I left school all on my thoughts of singing went out the window. So I thank you for the insite on getting back on track.
Chris, I bet you can sing well considering how talented you are with poetry. Thanks for commenting.
You reminded me of how much fun it was to do dishes when I was growing up. My sister and I would sing our hearts out, loudly, and with harmony. I don't know if we were ever on key, but the dog joined in, too.
When I think of me singing, I think of the dog howling. He would usually be my only accompaniment. If your singing is as good as your inspiration and help to all of us here at the forum, which I am sure it is, I would love to here your church choir.
God bless you Amy.
Brian
Thanks so much for your vote of confidence. By the way, my dog and my baby join in when I sing, too.
Thanks for the tips Amy, I usually sing by myself and may give this a shot. I learned the piano in 5th grade so I am able to read music.
Thanks for the comment Janet. It's so much easier to sing when you can read music.
Sherry Balcom says:
12 months ago
I love that you can sing and share music with the world. I am not the best singer but would love to learn more about it and be able to have people enjoy me singing. I have a voice like Patsy Cline and it is not the modern songs now days.