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Unit 1 · Find the flip

Find the flip

Find where your voice flips with quiet sirens, check it in the same spot twice, then jump over it on purpose into your first "yo-hee-o". Light, never a crack.

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More in Find the flip

What it teaches

Herders called across valleys with a voice that flips, and the flip is already in yours. Listen for the jump: yours will do this too. The app hears the jump in pitch, not which voice made it: you'll hear that part yourself.

Warm up first. A lip trill or a quiet siren, up and down

A light flick. Never a crack, never a slam back down: medium volume, land at speaking volume

Stop if it strains. Tightens, tickles or hurts: rest. Don't yodel when ill, and see someone if hoarseness lasts more than two weeks

What you sing

  1. Slide up and down once on a quiet "oo", following the ribbon. Somewhere your voice may jump: that's your flip. Go only as high as feels easy, and keep the top light, never louder.
  2. Breathe, then once more, the same way. Two jumps in the same place make sure it's your flip.
  3. A higher siren, twice up and down, lighter still, like an owl's hoo: many voices, often men's, flip higher. If yours already jumped twice in the same place, sing it gently or skip it.
  4. Now on purpose: from below your flip, jump over it and back, then your first yodel hook, "yo-hee-o", twice. Listen, then sing it back.

Singing safely

Voices that are still breaking should wait before yodeling. Keep every flip light and at a medium volume, land gently, and stop if anything tightens, tickles 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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