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Unit 5 · Your part in a chord

Sharps and flats at the start

Read a key signature, its sharps or flats at the start of each line, to find do: the last sharp is ti, the last flat is fa. Then read a hymn. Free.

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More in Your part in a chord

What it teaches

Real music starts each line with a key signature: the sharps or flats there say which notes are always raised or lowered. Do moves with the key: it's the key's home note.

Count them. The sharps or flats at the start of every line

All the way through. Those notes stay raised or lowered

A pickup. The tune can start before the first bar line: count from its beat

Do is home, and the signature tells you where it sits: look at its last sharp or flat.

Sharps. The last sharp sits on ti: do is the next line or space up

Flats. The last flat sits on fa; with two or more, do sits on the next-to-last flat

None. Do sits where the lesson's lines have always shown it

What you sing

  1. Amazing Grace's first line. Find do from the signature, then read: names faint.
  2. Its second line, with the same signature.
  3. Its last line. It starts like the first: spot where it changes.

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

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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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