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Answer the call, then lead the crew.

Work songs from the sailing ships, from the collections of people who heard them sung: the shantyman calls, and the crew answers together, on the beat of the work. You start in the crew and end leading it, with a crew of your own voices behind you.

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What you'll learn

The crew answers, on pitch: one breath an answer, taken in the call
On the pull: the same answers on the beat, for sweating up, stamp and go, the long hoist and the capstan
The shantyman: leading the verse, finding a call's first note from the crew's last, and making up a line of your own
A crew of you: a part under the tune, the chord roots, and your own answer and part kept as a song

The course, unit by unit

4 units, 18 lessons

Stage 1Unit 1

The crew answers
1. The answer Start here
2. Sweating up
3. Breathe in the call
4. Haul Away, Joe
Stage 2Unit 2

On the pull
1. On the pull
2. Stamp and go
3. The long hoist
4. Walk it round
5. Into port
Stage 3Unit 3

The shantyman
1. Lead the call
2. Find the call
3. Make up a line
4. Lead Leave Her, Johnny
Stage 4Unit 4

A crew of you
1. All together
2. A part under the tune
3. The root
4. Stack a crew
5. Your crew

What the app listens for

Your notes on pitch, and in the second part, whether your answers land on the beat. How big you sing, the strength of a pull and a crew's spirit aren't scored, and the course says so. Headphones or a speaker both work for the first three parts: the shantyman's calls sound in your rests either way. The last part asks for them, since the crew and your own takes sing under you.

Up to three stars for the notes on pitch, and in the second part on the beat, and XP.The same take says it plainly, like "21 of 24 notes on pitch" or "93% on pitch and time", with no stars or XP.

Singing safely

As big as you could keep up for the whole song, like calling a friend across a garden, not across a street.
Pull with your body, not your throat.
A shout has no pitch, so the app can't score it.
Stop if anything tightens or hurts.

The songs

Drunken Sailor R. R. Terry, The Shanty Book Part I (1921), No. 14, checked against W. B. Whall (1913); public domain
Haul Away, Joe Cecil Sharp, English Folk-Chanteys (1914), No. 27, as John Short of Watchet sang it; public domain
Blow the Man Down W. B. Whall, Ships, Sea Songs and Shanties (1913); public domain
Leave Her, Johnny Cecil Sharp, English Folk-Chanteys (1914), No. 2; public domain
The course's own lines Written for the course, set in your range

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