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Unit 2

Fix the hard bars

Learn two new lines a little slower, find what makes a bar hard, then sing it slow and clean and bring it up to speed until the verse holds. Free.

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Two new lines

Learn a new line a little slower, then join it to the next, so the joins get practised too. The joins are where singers get lost.

One line, slower. Hear it, then sing it back

The next line. The same

Then both together. At speed, with the guide, straight through the join

What you sing

  1. Hear line 3, a little slower, then sing it back.
  2. Hear line 4, a little slower, then sing it back.
  3. Lines 3 and 4 joined, at speed, with the guide.

Find the hard bars

Most of a part comes easily. A few bars don't: give them the time.

What makes a bar hard. A jump, a note from outside the key, or your line moving while the others hold

This one. On "-hem" you slip down a half step to a note from outside the key, just above the second "O" and "to", then leap up a fourth to a long note above the tune.

Slow it right down. Same notes, same pitch, much slower. Take a quick breath from the end of "O come ye," and keep it easy.

What you sing

  1. Line 3, slowly: each note waits until you're on it.
  2. Line 3 slowly on the stave, with the guide: watch for the note from outside the key.

Up to speed

Slow and clean first, then a little faster each time. A bar you can sing slowly comes at speed; a bar you always rush never does.

A little faster. With the guide

Faster again. Still with the guide

Full speed. No guide, the other parts on, as at rehearsal

What you sing

  1. Line 3 a little faster, with the guide.
  2. Faster again, with the guide.
  3. Full speed, the guide off, the other parts on.

Challenge: The verse

What you sing

  1. The verse at full speed, the guide off: the hard bar where it lives.

Singing safely

An easy, medium-soft voice, not a whisper. A note too high or low is sung lightly, never louder. Stop if anything tightens.

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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