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Unit 1 · The plain voice

Tell it

Sing a ballad as a story, each word given its own time and the long words lasting, on Barbara Allen over a drone, plain and clear. Free, line by line.

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More in The plain voice

Tell it

A ballad is a story. Each word gets its own time, the way you'd tell it.

Listen to the line. Barbara Allen, a ballad hundreds of years old

Let the long words last. "Town", "born", "fair"

Plain and clear. So every word reaches the listener

What you sing

  1. The first line at your own pace. Each note waits until you find it.
  2. Listen, then tell the whole line back over the drone.
  3. And the second line, the rest of the story.
  4. Sing the first line once more, then hear yours beside the guide's. We don't score how a story is told.

Challenge: Barbara Allen

The whole first verse, on your own over the drone, every long note plain.

Listen to the verse. Two lines, one story

Breathe after "dwellin'". Halfway, where the line turns

Plain and steady. A light wave is fine, never squeezed

What you sing

  1. The verse at your own pace first. Each note waits until you find it.
  2. After a bar of the drone, sing the verse.

Singing safely

Sing at an easy volume, in the middle of your range. Stop if anything tightens, scratches or hurts, and rest your voice.

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Stackapella teaches you to sing harmony one part at a time, right in your browser.

Stackapella recording the alto part of Amazing Grace: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up. Stackapella recording the alto part of Amazing Grace: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up. Stackapella recording the alto part of Amazing Grace: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up. Stackapella recording the alto part of Amazing Grace: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up.
  • A guide sings your partHear your line over the others, slow it down, then take your turn.
  • Your notes light upEach note shows where you landed, and a hint when to go up or down.
  • Record every part yourselfStack your takes in time until you're the whole choir.
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