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Sing one long, joined line.

Classical is how you join the notes, not a voice you put on. In your own voice at an easy medium volume, you learn a joined line, a clean start and one breath a phrase from the old Italian teaching books, and end with Caro mio ben, a song for voice and piano.

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What you'll learn

Joined: notes with no gap between them, a clean start, and one vowel over many notes, on Concone's vocalise and Vaccai's first lesson
One breath: Brahms's lullaby phrase by phrase, a steady long note, and a phrase that ends on time
Italian: skips that stay joined, the leaning note (appoggiatura) and a slide on purpose, on Vaccai's Semplicetta tortorella
A song for voice and piano: Caro mio ben in three parts, then whole, kept as a song

The course, unit by unit

4 units, 16 lessons

Stage 1Unit 1

Joined
1. One joined line Start here
2. A clean start
3. One vowel, many notes
4. Your first Italian song
Stage 2Unit 2

One breath
1. Breathe at the comma
2. Steady in the middle
3. The end of a phrase
4. A phrase on one breath
Stage 3Unit 3

Italian
1. Skips that stay joined
2. The leaning note
3. A slide on purpose
4. Semplicetta tortorella
Stage 4Unit 4

A song for voice and piano
1. Caro mio ben, the opening
2. The middle
3. The return and the ending
4. Caro mio ben

What the app listens for

Whether your notes stay joined (on the vowel lines, by the sound not dipping at each change), where each note lands, coming in after a breath, a long note that doesn't sag, a phrase that ends on time, the leaning note on the beat, and a slide where one is asked for. Your volume, the colour of your vowels and the words aren't scored: you check those yourself.

Up to three stars a take, and XP.The same take says it plainly, in words, with no stars or XP.

Singing safely

Your own voice at an easy medium volume: classical is how you join the notes, not a voice you put on.
Short sessions, in the middle of your voice.
Stop if anything tightens or hurts.

The songs

Caro mio ben Credited to Giuseppe Giordani (Giordanello), in Alessandro Parisotti's Anthology of Italian Song of the 17th and 18th Centuries (New York: G. Schirmer, 1894); public domain
Wiegenlied (Brahms's lullaby) Johannes Brahms, Op. 49 No. 4 (1868), in Arthur Westbrook's English words (1901); public domain
Semplicetta tortorella and the first lessons Nicola Vaccai, Practical Method of Italian Singing (Boston: G. D. Russell, 1878); public domain
A vocalise Giuseppe Concone, 50 Leçons de chant pour le médium de la voix, Op. 9 (Leipzig: C. F. Peters, Edition Peters No. 980); public domain

Start here

New to singing harmony? Start here

Learn to sing harmony from your first note, in short lessons, with your notes lighting up as you hit them. In unit 7 you sing all four parts of Amazing Grace. Like every course, it's free.

Start the beginner course