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Unit 5

Your first harmony

Sing your first harmony: notes above and below a drone, a third that rings, a round where the parts fit by themselves, and a part in thirds. Free to start.

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Free in the app: sing one lesson of each course with no account; a free account opens the course unit by unit.

Hum against a drone

Harmony is two notes at once.

Hum the drone's note. Match it first

Climb to mi. Two steps above the drone

Drop to la. Below the drone

What you sing

  1. Find each note over the drone: the same, then mi above, then la below.
  2. Hear them over the drone, then sing them with it.
  3. Now just the drone: the same note, then above, then below.

Find the third

A third is the sweetest harmony.

Hear a note. Hold it in your ear

Mi above do is a third. Two notes that ring together

Sing it against the note. Let them blend

What you sing

  1. Find mi above the drone. It waits for you.
  2. Hear mi over the drone, then sing it with the drone.
  3. Now just the drone: sing the third above it.
  4. The third below: hear la under the drone, then sing it.
  5. Now just the drone: sing the third below it.

A round

In a round, the harmony happens by itself.

Everyone sings one tune. The same words, the same notes

Start at different times. One voice, then the next

Hold your own line. The harmony comes on its own

What you sing

  1. Learn the 2nd voice of Are You Sleeping, which starts two bars after the 1st.
  2. Now on your own: sing the 2nd voice's first line over the chords. Keep your own words.

Two parts in thirds

What you sing

  1. Learn the alto of Michael, Row the Boat Ashore: it holds one note, A, most of the way while the tune moves around it, and ends on that A, above the tune.
  2. Now on your own: sing the alto's first line over the chords. Listen to the chords, not the tune.

Challenge: Record the round's 2nd voice

What you sing

  1. The unit's challenge: record the 2nd voice of Are You Sleeping.

Singing safely

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

Free tools by Stackapella

All of these are free, and so is every course.

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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