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Deep River: the melody (alto)

The melody of Deep River, sung by the alto, in Eb, from Bb3 to Eb5. Hear it on its own or with the others, then sing it and watch each note light up.

Carries the tune, twice through the refrain, with its octave leap from "is" up to "over" in "my home is over Jordan", and shares it with the soprano in the verse up to "gospel feast". Its highest note, an E-flat, comes on "over" both times and on "gospel", its lowest, a B-flat, on "into" in the second refrain and on the last "river", and it sings E-flat, G or C most of the time.

Range
Bb3 to Eb5
Key
Eb
Guide voice
The app's own voice

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How to learn the alto part

  1. 01 · Your part

    Hear your part on its own until the tune of it is in your ear.

  2. 02 · With the others

    Hear it with the others, so you know where it sits in the chord.

  3. 03 · Sing it

    Sing it with the others under you and watch each note light up as you land it. The mic listens only while it plays, and nothing is recorded.

About Deep River

Words: traditional spiritual, as H. T. Burleigh set them (1914)

Tune: traditional spiritual, as arranged by H. T. Burleigh (1914)

Deep River is an anonymous African-American spiritual, in print by 1875, in J. B. T. Marsh's The Story of the Jubilee Singers, and popularised by the singer and composer Harry T. Burleigh. This is Burleigh's own setting for mixed chorus, as G. Schirmer printed it in 1914, in E-flat as he wrote it: where his tenors or basses divide we sing one line, and two low bass notes go up an octave. It is for 4 singers, slow and smooth: the alto sings the tune twice, the soprano joining the second time, on long notes above it, then everyone sings the verse, "Oh, don't you want to go".

All about Deep River More spirituals, part by part

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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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