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Unit 2 · Stacking parts

Three layers

Stack the four-bar loop three layers deep, a bass, a soft pad and a rhythm part, then sing all three from memory with nothing lit, as on stage. Free to sing.

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More in Stacking parts

Three layers

Now the four-bar loop, three layers deep: the bass, a pad over it, then a rhythm part over both.

Once round each. The pad starts with your bass, on its first beat

Never push. Never sing louder to hear yourself: lower your headphones instead

Headphones on. Through a speaker, your loops rest while you sing

What you sing

  1. The four-bar bass, once round. Easy volume, light, never pressed; stop if anything tightens or hurts.
  2. The pad, from your loop's first beat, once round: mi, mi, fa, re, each held soft on "oo".
  3. Listen once round to your two layers, then "doo-doo" in the gaps: on so, so, la, so.
  4. The top part once more on its own, then hear yours beside the guide's.

Challenge: The band

The band: all three layers on the four-bar loop, nothing lit while you sing. From memory, as a looper on stage.

Nothing lit. Your notes show after each take, not during it

Once round each. Then the top part twice

Headphones on. Through a speaker, your loops rest while you sing

What you sing

  1. The bass, once round, from memory. Easy volume, light, never pressed; stop if anything tightens or hurts.
  2. The pad from the first beat, once round, from memory.
  3. Listen once round, then the rhythm part twice round, from memory.

Singing safely

Headphones on. An easy volume, the middle of your voice; the bass sung lightly, never pressed. Stop if anything tightens or hurts.

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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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