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Close Harmony
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Subject: Close Harmony From: dwditty Date: 04 Apr 99 - 08:38 PM I have been listening a lot latley to Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. Does anyone have any tips or places to turn to learn how to sing close harmony? Yes - I know I need other people, but beyond that... DW |
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Subject: RE: Close Harmony From: Roger in Baltimore Date: 04 Apr 99 - 09:08 PM dwditty, I highly recommend the cassette tape series "Learn to Sing Harmony" taught by Cathy Fink, Marcy Marxer, and Robin and Linda Williams. It is available through Homespun Tapes, 1-800-33-TAPES. Costs $37.50 US Dollars. They review the basic theory of harmony and take you through many examples giving you opportunities to sing along with a harmony part and then to try it on your own with the lead part. In my search for better harmony singing I found this tape series invaluable. All four people have a love for traditional and country music and all the songs were familiar to me. Enjoy the music! Roger in Baltimore |
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Subject: RE: Close Harmony From: Ralph Butts Date: 05 Apr 99 - 07:50 AM dw..... If you shoot up 395 to Pomfret, we can try it out on some Dave Van Ronk. ....Tiger |
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Subject: RE: Close Harmony From: Charlie Baum Date: 05 Apr 99 - 09:38 AM What you need to do is to sing along--recordings will do fine--and try out possible harmonies experimentally. Don't be afraid to hit odd notes. But DO listen to yourself and to the chords and combinations you produce. By playing around, allowing trial and error, and critically analyzing whether the results sound good or not, you'll develop an internal sense of how to harmonize. The reason I suggest recordings at first is that you can allow yourself to go off on explorational limbs without the possible embarrassment of having someone else hear you. But remember, the "wrong" notes aren't mistakes. They're experiments! --Charlie Baum
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Subject: RE: Close Harmony From: Ross Date: 05 Apr 99 - 11:16 AM This works well. I sometimes takes a tape of myself singing my songs in the car while I commute. All alone at 7 AM I can hit some REALLY interesting "experimental" notes. After years of only singing alone, I can now fake harmony sometimes. |
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Subject: RE: Close Harmony From: DonMeixner Date: 05 Apr 99 - 12:59 PM When I was learning to sing in harmony I chose a simpkle route. I sing very much like Tom Paxton so I chose his recordings to sing along with and only on the choruses. I would find the highest note in the chorus and sing along to that point, then I'd stop any pretense of melody and sing the words to that note for as long as it fit what was being sung. This worked three ways, I got used to singing a diferent line at the same time some else sang the melody. I learned how to hear a "crashing" tone. And I learned breath control. Then I picked a note in the middle range of the chorus and held that note until the vocal line returned to the note I was holding. The benefits were the same as above. Find a copy of The Corries at The Lyceum and listen to Liverpool Judies. Try and do what they have the audience do. Next find a copy of The Limelighters with Red Grammer singing "Harmony". Be amazed. DonMeixner |
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Subject: RE: Close Harmony From: Joe Offer Date: 05 Apr 99 - 03:39 PM I'm still struggling to learn to sing harmony. I've always sung harmony parts I learned by rote, but I want to be able to do it more automatically. I'm making pretty good progress. One thing I've learned is that for "close" harmony, it helps to BE close to the people you're singing with. If I can get my ear within 3 feet of the other voices, I find it much easier to harmonize, or to follow somebody who's really good at harmony. Singing close to others also helps me adjust the volume of my voice; and to listen for the blend of voices, and not just listen to the sound of my own voice. Showering and toothpaste or mouthwash are very helpful for this type of singing... -Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: Close Harmony From: Vixen Date: 05 Apr 99 - 04:25 PM Ralph Butts and DWDitty--- 395 and Pomfret CT???? The Vanilla Bean???? My partner and I are hosting the open mic there on 4 June--come on by and introduce yerselves!!!! (we call ourselves VicTim) Vixen PS--I'm learning to sing harmony, and if Tim (my partner) doesn't give me a harmony part, I try Don Meixner's strategies of picking a note and holding it until something changes. |
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Subject: RE: Close Harmony From: Ralph Butts Date: 05 Apr 99 - 06:22 PM Vixen... Could that be Tim St. Jean from Sleepy Maggie? ....Tiger |
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Subject: RE: Close Harmony From: Ross Date: 05 Apr 99 - 07:13 PM A P.S to mine above. I sang (too) briefly with a woman who is a harmony machine. She can sing harmony with anyone, the first time she hears something. She claims growing up she would sing sounds around / harmonize with, any noise she heard; blender, vacuum cleaner, radio, cars, anything. Her method seems to have worked. (I'd try this with no one around) |
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Subject: RE: Close Harmony From: Chet W. Date: 05 Apr 99 - 09:17 PM Sing in the car. What else have you go to do with your mouth? It helps. Also a good setting for working out song(writing) ideas. Chet |
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Subject: RE: Close Harmony From: Vixen Date: 06 Apr 99 - 11:03 AM Dear Ralph-- Yes, it's Tim St. Jean, but not from Sleepy Maggie--that was Al Libera and Ginny Johnson. We played a gig with Ginny back in the fall. I used to follow Sleepy Maggie. Tim plays with Springwater. So how do you know Tim, and where are you located??? Vixen |
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Subject: RE: Close Harmony From: sam pirt Date: 06 Apr 99 - 05:12 PM I can tell you a good place to learn close harmony. Cottingham folk club ( GREAT CLUB!!!!) ran some workshops on harmony singing just a couple of months ago with a group called Cockersdale an Acappela group, from the UK. The only trouble is it may be difficult for those people outside the UK. Bye, Sam |
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Subject: RE: Close Harmony From: katlaughing Date: 06 Apr 99 - 05:57 PM Ross, did your friend grow up harmonizing with objects or people, too? ***smile*** From my experience, this is something which can become innate, with early childhood training, intentional or not. Since I was the youngest of five, from the time I was born I heard all types of music being sung and played in our home. I liked being "different" so became the one most likely to harmonize when we all sang together. I am sure I must have followed the lead of my big sister or mom and dad and later in school orchestra and chorus I got lots of practise. I love the suggestion above. Definitely sing in the car; it makes the people in the car next to you think you're crazy and so, they leave you alone, esp. if you have a tiple in the back seat!***BG*** And, most bathrooms have great acoustics, so shower singing gives great "feedback". And, it is fun to harmonise to what's being played on the radio. Most important: have fun! katlaughing |
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Subject: RE: Close Harmony From: Roger in Baltimore Date: 06 Apr 99 - 07:49 PM DWDitty, Sam Pirt's post gave me another idea. This summer there will be many folk festivals that provide instructional weeks, often including vocal techniques and HARMONY. There are two I am certain about. Commonground meets the week following July 4th (7/4-7/11) right here in my hometown, Westminster, Maryland, USA (30 miles northwest of Baltimore). Their web-site is www.commongroundonthehill.com. One class is called "Harmony Singing" led by HOT SOUP!, a trio of my buds Christina Muir, Sue Ribaudo, and Sue Trainor. Then August 8 -15 is Vocal Week at Augusta Heritage Center (www.augustaheritage.com) at Davis and Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia (northwest near the southern Maryland border). I have not personally been there, but I've heard many good things. Well HOT SOUP! is leading a weeklong harmony workshop there. There are surely more, but these are two I know about. Enjoy the songs! Roger in Baltimore |
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Subject: RE: Close Harmony From: harpgirl Date: 06 Apr 99 - 11:14 PM ...Linda and I sing close harmony in the DoneyGals...one thing which helped me as much as repetitive practice and suggestions from one another was a shape note singing workshop at the Ozark Folk Center last summer with Charles Whitmer. The hymnals had all four parts clearly marked and we had large groups of people in each part...Linda, as a classically trained cellist and as a soprano finds very pretty high harmonies...my range is lower and with less formal training I found the clarity of shape note singing inspiring and thrilling as well as instructive! If I do say so, Linda and I sang harmony for Grey Funnel Line at the Florida Old Time Music Championship and won second prize for group singing...I was first in autoharp! harpgirl |
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Subject: RE: Close Harmony From: mountain tyme Date: 07 Apr 99 - 02:06 AM I am male and sing tenor harmony to a female over twenty years now. The choice of type of harmony has to be decided before the key can be established. My choice has been "blood" harmony (siblings) of the 1800's thru 1940. This is the closest but hardest of the harmonys to acomplish. Listen to the great brother duets an the rare sister duets of years gone bye. Look back a few months of threads and you will find a previous harmony thread with some very helpfull & thoughtfull insights. |
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Subject: RE: Close Harmony From: hank Date: 07 Apr 99 - 09:23 AM Singing everywhere is a good way to devolp harmony. Careful about singing in the car though. They are noisier then you think, and it is easy to ruin your voice singing too loud at what sounds like a normal volumn. |
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Subject: RE: Close Harmony From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Date: 07 Apr 99 - 01:39 PM Harpgirl mentioned hymn singing. I'm sure that's how I developed my harmony-singing ability- years of sitting in church with my alto mother on one side of me and whoever singing melody on the other side. Lots of hymnbooks are pretty insipid now but if you can find and frequent a place with a robust hymn singing tradition it's a great way to learn. |
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