Learn how to sing in tune - harmonising

For the last two weeks I’ve been focusing on learning how to match pitch with another singer or instrument. That will help you become better at singing in unison with others. But what about singing in harmony?

Singing Trio by Walter Watzpatzkowski

I’ve covered many of the issues involved in harmony singing in a previous post (Singing in harmony – how do they do that?), but in this post I’m going to look in detail at how you stay in tune whilst singing harmony with others.

mind the gap

Basically harmony singing is when two (or more) different notes are sung at the same time. The gap between these two notes is technically called an interval.

Intervals can be of many different sizes. Two notes can be very close together (found often in Eastern European harmonies), very far apart (for instance, when men and women are singing together), easily found (because they are familiar from pop songs and Western classical music), tricky (because they sound a bit unusual like blues or jazz).

back to basics

I know for many of you out there this is very elementary and you all have music theory backgrounds and know your 7ths from your 2nds, but I want to go back to basics and really consider what we’re trying to achieve, so please bear with me!

climbing scales

Even if you don’t know what a scale is, you can practice singing in harmony. The easiest way is to find a piano or keyboard and find middle C (that is the white note nearest to the middle of the keyboard). This is note number one in the scale (of C). Play this note first, then the white note to the right and so on until you get to note number eight. These are the eight notes in the scale.

experimenting on your own

To begin to find out what singing intervals feels like, you can work on your own with an instrument such as a keyboard. Play the first note in the scale and sing a matching pitch (you’ve learnt how to do this from Learn how to sing in tune – matching pitch).

Keep singing this pitch (breath when you have to!) and play the second note in the scale. This may feel a bit weird as the two notes are very close together. Move onto the third note in the scale (whilst still singing note one) and it may feel a bit more familiar (this interval is called a third and is extremely common in Western harmony).

Carry on up the scale and just feel what the different intervals are like. You may prefer some intervals to others. It can seem like each interval creates its own mood.

You may need to keep going back to note one to check that you are still singing in tune.

experimenting with another voice

It’s more likely that you will be singing harmony with another voice rather than an instrument. If you’re starting out, it’s best to work with a singer who has some experience of being able to sing scales accurately and to stay in tune.

You can carry out the same experiment as you did with the instrument, but this time with a human voice. You sing (and hold) the first note in the scale and your friend sings each of the other notes in the scale in turn.

This experience will be different from singing against an instrument because the quality of the sound you are both making is much more similar. You will feel much more of a connection between the two voices and it may have a strong emotional effect on you. Again, depending on your personality and life experience, you will prefer some intervals to others. Each one will create its own mood.

it’s the same note, but it FEELS different!

You may discover an interesting effect at this stage: even though you are always singing the same note, it might feel different as the other note changes against yours!

That is a danger point since it can mean that you drift off towards the other note without noticing and are soon out of tune, especially if the particular interval is one that doesn’t feel ‘pleasing’ to you.

Often it’s the bass section in a choir who get the drone note and, even though on the face of it, it seems simple, it’s very easy for a drone (see below) to drift out of tune as all the other voices change around it.

moving on up

Basically what you’ve been doing up to now by sticking to the first note in the scale is singing a drone note. This is a very common harmonising technique in certain cultures (e.g. Scottish and Georgian). Now it’s time for you to move onto other notes.

Practising either with an instrument (preferably one that can sustain a note like an organ) or another singer, it’s your turn to move up the scale whilst the first note is being played or sung.

You’ve already learnt how to stay on pitch, so begin by singing up the scale with the instrument or your friend to check that you’re singing accurately.

Now, as the first note in the scale is being played, sing the second note in the scale, then move onto the third and so on. This is basically the same listening experience as when you were holding the drone note, but now you are changing pitch all the time.

choose your interval

So far we’ve methodically gone through all the possible intervals in a scale one at a time, in order. Now it’s time to pick specific intervals and see if we can sing them accurately.

Again, it’s easiest if you have something like a keyboard handy. Play the first note in the scale and then pick another note to create an interval. When you start out, the easiest, most familiar notes are the third and the fifth note in the scale.

Play the two notes in the interval. Choose one to sing and get your friend to sing the other one. Double check with the keyboard that you are matching the pitch correctly. Then get close to your friend to see what this interval feels like. If you think you’ve nailed it (the air will seem to shimmer and your voices appear to ‘lock in’ to each other), then try for each of you in turn to slide your note slightly up or down, then come back precisely to where you started.

Take turns at singing the first (root) note of the scale and the interval note. It’s amazing how different it can feel! Also, see what difference it makes sliding up as opposed to down, and then back to the original note.

working without instruments

Now that you’ve had some experience of singing against a keyboard or other instrument, we’ll now move onto just using voices without any external reference points.

Pick a comfortable note in the middle of your range and sing it. Let’s call this the first note of the scale. Now sing a scale, giving each note a number, i.e. 1, 2, 3, ... , 8.

This is the same as you did when singing against the white notes on the keyboard, it’s just that now note number one might not be a C. Make sure that the high note is comfortable for you. If not, choose a different starting note and try again.

Sing this scale a few times to make sure you’ve got it right. Get your friend to give some feedback on your accuracy.

Now we move on to building the scale up one note at a time. This is good practice for singing intervals accurately and is vital for harmony singing.

Sing note number 1, then 1, 2, then 1, 2, 3, then 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on. Basically you are building the whole scale by returning to the root/ first note each time, then adding one more note of the scale at the top until you reach note eight (by the way, note 8 is an octave above note 1 if that’s of any use to you!).

finding the right gap

Once you’ve nailed the building a scale exercise, you can move onto singing just intervals without any help from an instrument.

Start by singing note 1 in the scale. Then sing note 1 followed by note 2 (easy and familiar so far). Then sing note 1 followed by note 3 (we’ve missed out note 2!). Then try note 1 followed by note 4. And so on.

This is an incredibly useful exercise, but can be quite hard at first. Even though you’re now very familiar with the scale, can sing up it with ease, and can even build it one note at a time, you will find that sometimes you will over- or under-estimate the gap between note 1 and the note you’re aiming at. This is when a friend (or a keyboard) comes in as useful feedback. Try it for a while on your own, then get some feedback to see if you’ve been getting it right.

You might find that some particular intervals give you more problems than others. You will almost certainly find note 7 hard to get (this is blues and jazz), and some people find 4 rather tricky. You may also find that you are consistent in the way that you get it wrong. For instance, you may always misjudge note 3 by going a bit too high. If you find this out through feedback, then you note this tendency and try to correct it each time.

Once you can do this interval exercise quite well, move onto a different key by choosing a new note number one, and repeat the exercise.

up or down?

There are two ways of singing an interval when it occurs in a melody (as opposed to a harmony where both notes are sung at the same time): up or down. For example, you can start on note 1 and go up to note 3, or you can start on note 3 and go down to note 1. It's a good musical training exercise to go back over some of the exercises in this post and do them in reverse, i.e. start from the top and work downwards.

well-known intervals

If you have no instruments or friends nearby and you need to sing a particular interval, there is a neat trick that can help you. Various people have compiled lists of well-known songs that feature specific intervals. All you have to do is to sing that bit of the song, and you’ve found your interval!

For example, a fourth (the interval between note 1 and note 4) is the beginning of Auld Lang Syne: “Should old ...”. As mentioned above, you might come across intervals in melodies going from up to down, rather than the other way round. These lists of intervals give you examples of both directions.

You can find examples of interval lists here:

• interval recognition

• a handy musical intervals table

• musical intervals learning guide

singing with a friend

You’ve practised intervals on your own by singing the first note of the scale, followed by another note in the scale. Now it’s time to enlist the services of a friend to play the same game.

Choose an interval (e.g. that between 1 and 5). Take turns at singing a note, any note. This is note 1. The other singer then sings note 5.  Check that the interval is correct.

To move onto harmony singing, you then sing your notes at the same time. This should then begin to feel like the exercises you did when one of you sang a drone note. The main difference is that you have chosen a particular interval, and you have sung it without reference to an instrument. Again, try sliding in and out.

beyond two-part harmony

So far, you have just been singing two part harmony. That is, one part has one note and the second part has a different note, which then creates an interval.

Most harmony singing is in more than two parts. Three part harmony is very common. This is when three different notes are sung at the same time. These three notes then create what is known as a chord. A very common chord in pop songs is a major chord which consists of notes 1, 3 and 5 in the scale.

Of course, you’ll need another friend to sing three part harmony! One of you picks and sings a note (that will be note 1 in the scale). Another sings note 3, and the the remaining singer sings note 5. Take turns to sing the different notes to see if it feels different at all.

getting it right feels like getting it wrong!

Sometimes you are singing in harmony with one or more other voices when it feels so absolutely perfectly right. You’ve totally nailed the intervals and are spot on pitch and it sounds wonderful! But because it’s so perfect, it’s as if the notes are singing themselves. In fact, you’re no longer sure which part you’re singing. You listen hard, but each note fits in so perfectly with the others that you can’t remember which is yours. Maybe you’re singing the same note as one of the others and have forgotten your own part?

This is very common. Often when singing harmony in a small group I suddenly panic and think that I’m singing in unison with another voice instead of my own part. But usually I’ve got it right and it’s just working really well.

If you have a doubt (and it’s in rehearsal), then stop and double check. Most of the time you will have been singing the right note and just need confirmation.

carry on singing!

Now that you can match pitch accurately, find intervals with ease, and sing perfectly in harmony, then check out the other skills needed to sing in a choir or with a small group (Singing in harmony – how do they do that?), and keep on singing!

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

Learn how to sing in tune – matching pitch 2

Last week in Learn how to sing in tune – matching pitch 1 I looked at the first steps you can take to help you to sing in tune.

You need to:

• figure out what you want to achieve
• learn to really listen
• find some thing or some person to pitch against
• get feedback on whether you’re pitching right or not

That’s all very well, but what if you find that you’re not matching pitch well enough? What can you do to improve your pitching ability?

make friends with your voice

Your friend tells you you’re not getting it right. What adjustments can you make so you can match her pitch correctly?

Before you can begin to make changes you need to become familiar with your own voice and its capabilities. Start by being playful with your voice:

• experiment in the shower (nobody’s listening!);
• try to sing as high/ low as you can (wow, that’s high!);
• follow your friend’s hand as it rises and falls and try to slide your pitch up and down accordingly (fun, fun, fun!);
• impersonate different singers (yes, even that one!);
• have fun, and don’t take it too seriously!
   

learn to listen better

The pitch matching exercises I outlined last week might be too subtle for you if you’re a real beginner. Trying to match another pitch involves hearing the other pitch accurately, and then making tiny adjustments to your own vocal production. This may just be too advanced for you at this stage.

Another way in is to get the instrument or singer to try and match your pitch rather than you trying to match them.

reversing the process

Matching pitch is all about learning to listen in a new way. You may have got into a habit when trying to match an external sound (voice, instrument) of always singing above or below the pitch without realising it (see last week’s story about the guy who always sang lower than the pitch he was hearing).

By reversing the process, it puts you in control and emphasises listening rather than production of the note:

you sing a note and your friend either sings it back to you (or plays it on an instrument) at the same pitch.

At first you may be surprised and it may not sound like the ‘same’ note. But gradually, you will begin to recognise that the note your friend is giving you is the same note as the one you’re producing.

After you have perfected this listening training, you can then go back to trying to match the pitch as outlined last week, i.e. your friend produces a note and you try to match it.

finding the right singing buddy

You may be able to match pitch perfectly, just not with the friend you’re singing with!

Everybody’s voice is unique. Each voice has its own colour, texture, clarity, etc. Some people sing very straight, ‘pure’ notes, whilst others have a lot of vibrato. One person singing a note might appear to be singing a lot lower than another person singing exactly the same note. Some people always seem to be singing louder than everyone around them. One person might always sing slap bang in the centre of a note, whilst someone else may sing a little on the edge of the pitch.

This means that our perception of whether we’re singing the same pitch as someone else depends a lot on their individual vocal production (see How do I know if I’m singing in tune?: Singing the same note, sounding different). If you’re not getting it right with one singing buddy, it might be an idea to try another singer to see if it makes any difference.

maybe you’re asking for the impossible!

If you’re trying to match a pitch, there’s always the danger that the particular note being played or sung is outside the range of notes that you can comfortably produce. You’re aiming for something that simply isn’t possible!

This can very quickly put off a beginner, so very early on you need to establish that you’re inside your comfortable range. How can you do this?

When you first start singing, the range of notes that you can produce (i.e. how high or how low you can sing) will be quite small. Get a friend that you feel comfortable singing in front of and sing a note (gently!) on an ‘ah’ sound. It might take a few goes, but find a note that is comfortable and effortless to sing.

Once you’ve found this note, let’s assume that this is slap bang in the middle of your comfortable range. Then try gently sliding from this note up and up until you feel that it’s too screechy, or too much of a strain, or just uncomfortable. Go back a little way below this and let’s call this your highest note. Reverse the process for you lowest note. During this, your friend can write down what these highest and lowest notes are and then make sure that any pitch matching is done within this range.

If you’re working on your own, you can use an electronic tuner and simply read off the note names when you get to your highest and lowest notes.

not being yourself

There is a slight danger when trying to find the ‘natural’ range of your voice, especially when you don’t have much singing experience. Many of us when we start out get into bad habits by trying to impersonate singers we admire. This can result in us not using our own voices in the most ‘natural’, easy way, but can put strain on our vocal production. However, because we’ve been doing it for so long, it can feel very natural, even though it’s not really our own voice. Again, you can get a trustworthy friend to give you some feedback on this.

Also, have a look at earlier posts such as: But I can’t sing that high!, Everybody has a place in the choir, Why people think they can't sing.

breathe easy

You may find that you’re starting to be able to match pitch better and better, but not consistently. Sometimes you get it spot on, other times you miss entirely. Sometimes you hit it bang on at the start, but then you begin to waver and go off quite badly. This latter is probably caused by not having enough breath support.

I don’t have enough space to go into breath support in detail, but you can experiment on your own to see the results.

Imagine that you have a balloon living in your tummy. Now breathe in as deeply as you can (without lifting your shoulders) and imagine that the balloon is inflating inside you as big as it can be. Now sing a matching pitch (you might need to make a small adjustment at the start until you’re spot on) and keep on singing until all your breath has gone. Did you notice that towards the end your voice began to waver a little and you maybe went off pitch?

Now take a small, quick breath. Breathe out until most of the breath has gone then repeat the exercise above. Could you match the pitch easily at the start? Could you sustain it for very long? Did you feel that you were in control

Basically, the more breath you have deep down inside you and available to you in reserve, the easier and more controlled your sung note will be. So if you’re finding it hard to match pitch, maybe try different ways of breathing to see if that can help.

Play, play, play with your voice and breathing and have fun – that’s the secret!

too much going on at once!

If you’re singing with a buddy and there’s nobody else there to give you feedback, you might be asking to much of him.

Your singing buddy is having to sing a note themselves, which involves vocal production and listening to see if they’ve produced the note accurately. But they’re also being asked to listen to your note at the same time to see if it’s pitched correctly. This is very hard and might not produce the correct results. If your buddy is struggling, then this is the time to involve a third singer to listen to you both.

mind your vowels

As well as another person’s voice having different characteristics to yours, there are other elements at play in vocal production that can make a big difference. The most important one of these is how you sing your vowels.

You might hear a choral conductor talking about blend in a choir. This is the aim for a large number of voices to sound so similar to each other that it’s as if a single voice is singing. Because of the different colour, texture, etc. of particular voices, singers are often moved around within a choir so that they stand next to other voices with a similar quality.

But one variation that a whole choir can improve upon is vowel production. You can try this yourself at home: choose a vowel, say ‘A’ for example, and sing it in as many different accents as you can on the same pitch. Imagine that you are a very posh Londoner, an Italian diva, an oil man from Texas. You will find that each accent produces a very different sound, even though the note you are singing is the same each time.

This is what can help with blend. Now that you’ve begun to match pitch accurately, try changing the vowel sound whilst singing the same note as your singing buddy until you feel that you have matched the sound perfectly. It should feel like there is just one person singing.

Eventually, after lots of practice, it will become easier to match pitch, but often what is objectively ‘right’ (i.e. you are pitching correctly) might feel wrong.

matching your experience with result

It might seem very obvious, but when you eventually get it right and match the pitch you need someone to tell you!

When you begin to learn a new sport like golf, for example, you are taught about stance, swing, focus, etc. Sometimes you manage to hit the ball effortlessly and accurately, but don’t really know why. Gradually you need to get a feeling for when you’ve got the preparation right so that the shot will be perfect. For this, you need someone to point it out: “Great shot!”. Then you can begin to connect the experience with the result.

When you pitch the note accurately and correctly, you need a buddy to tell you: “Spot on!”, then you need to note how you feel and what you did so gradually it will become second nature.

next week

Once you’ve mastered the ability to match a given pitch accurately, you may want to move onto singing in harmony with other voices. Next week I’ll look at how to develop the singing skills needed to harmonise in tune.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

Learn how to sing in tune – matching pitch 1

Last week I looked at how you know if you’re singing in tune. It turns out that it’s quite complicated and depends on many different factors.

But what can you do to fix it if you are singing out of tune?

This week I’m going to suggest some things you can try so that you can improve your tuning abilities. Of course, I’m sure I’ve missed out loads of ideas, so please let me know if you have any other methods which have helped you stay in tune.

what do you want to achieve?

Do you need to be in tune with other singers, or with instruments? Will you be singing in unison or in harmony? A cappella or with backing? Practising for a karaoke night or a big performance with your choir?

I’m going to focus this week on the process of discovering how you can match pitch so that you can sing in unison with others. Next week I’ll look in more detail at things you can do to improve your pitch matching skills.

The week after that I’ll look at what can help you sing harmonies accurately, which means learning about the intervals between notes, how to recognise them, and how to hold on to them.

two sides of the process: listening and producing

In order to sing the correct pitch you need to be able to transmit a sound and also, at the same time, be able to listen to that sound and how it fits in with other sounds.

Most people jump right in at the transmission stage without considering the perception/ listening stage! There are so many elements involved in producing a sound with the human voice, and many, many different muscles are involved in vocal production. We have to learn to have some control over this in order to be able to consistently produce the sound that we want.

However, it’s not something that happens overnight. Think of how long it took you to learn to catch a ball when you were young, all that muscle control and hand-to-eye co-ordination. Now we need to learn some ear-to-voice co-ordination.

First off you have to learn to listen, and I mean listen.

• listen to others singing,
• listen to choral recordings,
• go to live concerts,
• spend some time in the country and listen to nature,
• learn how noisy a ‘silent’ room can be.

This has to be the first step in being able to produce the right note at will: learning to really hear what is going on, to be able to listen attentively.

This is vital even for experienced singers. As well as warming up the voice, we also need to warm up our ears before we begin to sing.

get some feedback

Now we move on to the stage of producing a vocal sound.

Somehow you will need to get some feedback as to whether you are hitting the right note or not. When you kick a football at a goal, you can see whether it hits the back of the net or not. As you begin train your ear, you will need some kind of feedback to tell you whether you’ve hit the right note or not. In the early stages of learning, your own ear is probably not the best judge!

If you’re on your own, you could practice singing with an electronic tuner that shows visually when you are flat, sharp or on pitch.

If you have a friend, singing buddy or teacher, then they can tell you when you’ve got the pitch right or not. Of course, the other person needs to have a good sense of tuning themselves!

working on your own

Play a note on an instrument like a piano, and try to match that pitch. Make sure the note is not too high or too low for you (see next week)! A good place to start is middle C in the centre of the piano keyboard. Then try to sing that note and look what the electronic tuner says.

If you’re sharp, then you’re singing too high (above the pitch) and will need to bring your pitch down a bit. If you’re singing flat, then you’re singing too low (below the pitch) and will need to raise your pitch a bit.

You will never get it exactly spot on – we are human after all! – so just aim to get pretty close.

A tuner is good place to begin, and will give you a rough idea of whether you’re near the note in question or not. You may get quite good at this, but matching pitch with an electronic tuner is not the same as singing with other people or with a band!

working with a friend

Perhaps a more realistic method is to have another person with you to tell you when you’ve got the pitch right or not. This could be a mate or a singing tutor.

There are several ways to use this other person. You can try matching pitch as follows:

• against an instrument like a piano
• in unison with another voice (not your friend’s)
• in unison with your friend’s voice

Basically, you try to match the pitch accordingly and your friend/ tutor will tell you if you’ve got it right or not. They will indicate if you need to go a little bit higher or a little bit lower (whether you’re flat or sharp).

matching against an instrument

Play a note on the instrument. Try to match it with your voice. Possible problem: the note you’ve chosen is not within your singing range (see next week).

in unison with another voice

Try to match the other person’s pitch. Possible problem: finding the right singing buddy (see next week).

in unison with your friend

Try to match their pitch. Possible problem: if you’re both singing at the same time, it might be hard for your friend to hear accurately that you’re both singing the same note (see next week).

There is another way that you can tell if two people are singing exactly the same note. You will find that if you are spot on, it’s as if the air itself begins to vibrate. You have found a kind of ‘sweet spot’ which resonates in the room. The sound will appear richer and more textured and you might be able to hear other, sympathetic notes ringing in your ears. That means you’ve nailed it!

I’m getting it wrong – what do I do now?

Next week I’ll look at how you can learn to make the right adjustments in order to sing in tune with a given pitch.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

How do I know if I’m singing in tune?

When singing with others, it’s important to sing in tune. But what does that mean exactly and how can you learn to do it?

This week I’m going to look at what ‘singing in tune’ might mean. Next week I’ll consider some ways of learning how to sing in tune, and how you can improve your listening abilities.

why can’t you hear how bad you are??!!!

As the current run of X Factor clearly demonstrates, there are many deluded souls out there who believe that they are singing perfectly in tune, but in fact are way, way out! Surely they must realise? After all, it’s pretty clear to the audience when things are off. Why can’t they hear how bad they are?

Often, even when singers are completely out of tune, their friends and family think they are wonderful. Are they hearing something different from us?

If these awful singers can’t hear how bad they are, maybe that means we’re always off too!

One big fear that many singers in choirs have is that they are singing dreadfully out of tune, but the others around them are just too kind to point it out! Most of the time you have nothing to worry about, but let’s have a look at what’s going on.

what does ‘being in tune’ mean any way?

Before you can decide whether you sing out of tune or not, we have to look at exactly what we mean by ‘singing in tune’.

‘To be in tune’ implies that there is something to be in tune with. If you’re singing with others, then you need to be in tune with them somehow. If you’re singing with instrumental backing, then you need to be in tune with the instruments.

There are two ways of being in tune with other singers or with instruments:

• singing the same note, i.e. matching the pitch
• singing the right harmony, i.e. finding the right pitch relative to another

The ‘pitch’ of a note is the frequency of the sound being produced, i.e. the speed of vibrations of the sound waves arriving at your ear. We perceive this as a note sounding higher or lower than another. The faster the sound waves vibrate, the higher the note appears to be.

It’s made more complicated because no note from a human voice or instrument is ever pure. There are many other notes going on at the same time known as harmonics which we don’t consciously notice.

singing the same, sounding different

Two singers can be singing the same note, but sound completely different. Each person’s voice has a unique sound depending on gender, physical make-up, culture, singing experience, time of day, singing style, health, etc. etc. It is like a fingerprint.

When a particular person produces a clear, simple note (no affectations, no vibrato) well supported by breath, there are many sympathetic vibrations created in their bodies. This gives rise to a series of harmonics (extra notes that resonate at the same time, but which we can’t usually hear directly) which gives the voice a particular texture, ‘colour’ or quality.

It’s these harmonics which make different musical instruments sound different from each other. It is related to the size of the instrument and the materials it’s constructed from. In the same way, no two human bodies will be able to make exactly the same sounds. The unique sound of each human voice is what keeps impressionists in show business!

So, when two singers sing the same pitch (e.g. the middle C on a piano), they will not sound the same. Usually they are similar enough for us to be able to tell if they are singing the same pitch or not. But sometimes, their vocal qualities are so different that it may appear that one singer is singing much lower than the other for example.

This is why some singers seem to ‘blend’ in well with each other when singing (that’s why your musical director sometimes moves people around in your section) and others don’t. It’s also why you might find it hard to pitch a note from one singer, but much easier from another.

pitching

Perhaps, then, it’s not a good idea to try to pitch off your neighbour. Their colour, vibrato, vowel formation, etc. might make you perceive their voice as being too low or too high, or you might not even be able to ‘hear’ the note they’re singing clearly enough.

In this case, try to find someone who you can pitch successfully from. In extreme cases it’s almost like you need someone to translate the note for you. The choir leader sings a note to the choir, your friend then has to sing it to you for you to be able to pitch properly.

Some people find it hard to pitch from other singers and need to hear the note from an instrument, e.g. a piano.

And finally, trying to pitch across genders can be disastrous! I’ve tried to explain before the difficult issue of singing in different octaves (i.e. male vs. female voices) (see Singing the same note - differently!). Not an easy thing to understand or deal with, so try to avoid it when starting out.

harmony can be so perfect

Some harmonies sound blissfully wonderful. We are so used to certain harmonies (e.g. 3rds, 5ths) because we hear them so often in Western pop and classical music. We might not understand the theory behind them, but they seem so familiar that sometimes we don’t even notice them. Sometimes we don’t even realise that a group is singing harmony because the notes just seem to fit in so well with each other.

Which means that sometimes we may be singing harmony against someone else but think we are out of tune. This can be because:

• the harmony is an unfamiliar one (e.g. 4th, 6th) so sounds ‘wrong’ to our ears
• we are singing perfectly in tune, in harmony but because it seems to easy and natural we freak out and think that we’re singing the same as everyone else.
   

there’s nothing to see when we get it right

Suppose we think we’re singing out of tune. How do we know? Unless the person next to us wrinkles their nose and gives us a funny look, we have no way of knowing. But even if they do, maybe they’re wrong too!

If you’re practising for basket ball, for example, you have clear visual feedback – the ball either goes in the hoop or it doesn’t. You then make tiny physical adjustments until the ball does what you want. But when you’re singing, there is no such visual feedback. You might not realise you’re getting it wrong, but even if you do, you don’t know how much to adjust your tuning until you get it right.

be patient

Like exercising any other kind of muscle, it takes time for individuals to learn to be in tune. You might even be an expert instrumentalist, but using your voice is a whole different instrumental challenge.

First off you will begin to notice large scale differences: you are singing the wrong note entirely whilst you are learning a new melody. You will soon hone in on the correct note as you become more familiar with the new song.

Next you will start to become sensitive to when you are slightly ‘sharp’ (a tiny bit above the correct pitch) or ‘flat’ (slightly below the correct pitch). The first step is to notice this, then you can begin to experiment with tiny adjustments until you feel that you are closer to the correct pitch.

Finally, in the advanced stage of learning, you begin to realise that you can express yourself (and each particular song) more clearly by varying pitch ever so slightly, bending notes, arriving at notes from slightly above for example. You will now have full control of pitch matching and can make fine adjustments at will.

This will all take some time, so please be patient!

maybe you need to sing out of tune

I had a friend once who had the most beautiful voice and could sing solo wonderfully. Her tuning was impeccable and she could hold a tune with no problem.

But as soon as she started to sing with others, even in unison, she went badly out of tune. She would sing the same melody as the rest, but ever so slightly out. It turns out that she was a bit of a control freak, and when she sang perfectly in tune she felt that she disappeared into the mix and couldn’t hear herself any longer. So in a sense she ceased to exist and began to freak out. The only way she could hang onto her sense of identity was to sing slightly out of tune with everyone else so she could still hear her own voice!

Singing together is a wonderful experience, and sometimes the music takes over and seems to have a life of its own. Individual singers disappear and the resulting sound seems to create itself. Learn to enjoy these moments and let your ‘self’ go. Give yourself up the selflessness of the music.

most of the time it doesn’t matter

We’re not machines. Nobody can sing perfectly in tune. It’s the slight variations between all the different voices in a choir which gives it such a rich, human texture.

Many singers, especially beginners, worry too much about being in tune. In my experience, most people are roughly in tune most of the time – or at least in the right neighbourhood. The beauty of a choir is that it averages out all the voices. So don’t worry if you think that you are out of tune in your section. Unless the whole section is consistently out, it probably won’t notice. It’s easy to lose sight of the whole if you’re just one person in a large choir (see The bigger picture).

it’s not just you!

Everybody has their off days. Not everyone can sing in tune every time. Some days the whole choir can be out. This can be to do with tiredness (too much rehearsal!), the weather, the key that a song is in, the difficulty of a song, etc. The whole choir might be flat or consistently be getting an interval wrong. But the next week, all will be fine, so don’t give yourself a hard time!

I may be wrong – it’s not an exact science

Sometimes when I hear a group or individual performing, I slightly wince because it seems to me that they are out of tune. Maybe consistently sharp, or just getting the tune wrong. But nobody else seems to notice!

Many times on the X Factor the judges mention that an act was out of tune, but I don’t agree. At other times I think a whole performance is badly flat, but the judges say nothing.

Tuning is in the ear of the beholder – both ourselves and our audience. Both parties don’t always agree! There is enough elasticity in the human voice that tuning can never be an exact science.

learning how to sing in tune

Next week I’ll introduce some simple techniques which will help you find out if you sing out of tune, and help you learn to pitch correctly: Learn how to sing in tune - matching pitch 1.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

How to tell if your choir leader is rubbish

A while back I attended a singing workshop and hated the way it was run. Was it just me, or was the workshop leader no good?

We all have different learning styles, so perhaps the leader’s teaching style just didn’t suit me. Or maybe there was some kind of personality clash – I simply didn’t like him as a person. How can you tell if it’s you or them? How can you know if your choir or singing workshop leader is any good at their job?

does the end justify the means?

One way of evaluating a teacher or choral director is if they get results. If we end up learning a song or performing an amazing concert, then we might say that a good job has been done. But does the end always justify the means? If you’ve had a really bad time and have been shouted at and belittled, then you might not think the job has been done well. If the group of singers you’re with is quite accomplished, you might end up with a good result despite the person who’s been leading you. So maybe judging the end result is not enough.

a good time was had by all!

Another way to assess a leader is if the whole experience has been pleasurable and rewarding. Surely if you’ve had a great time at a workshop or got a fantastic buzz from a concert, then you must have been lead well? But what if the music you’ve made is not really up to scratch? You might have had a good time, but the audience thought it was a lousy concert (see How was it for you?). You might have had a really fun day at the workshop, but have only learnt one song, and not a very difficult one at that. Was that money well spent? The danger of this approach to assessment, is that one person’s good time is another’s nightmare. This is where personality, taste, sensitivity, venue, personal life story, etc. come into play. “Having a good time” is too subjective an idea to use on its own.

growing and learning

Yet another means of appraising a choir or workshop leader is to reflect on whether you feel that you’ve learnt anything, or have grown in some way through the experience. This needs a certain amount of self-awareness. Some people lack this and simply won’t notice that they’re becoming better singers as time goes by! Others, who have a finely developed awareness, will almost certainly learn something from every experience, even bad ones. These people will learn despite the quality of the teaching. So assessing the learning outcome is not enough either.

there are no absolutes

The conclusion I have come to is that it is impossible to evaluate objectively whether a singing workshop leader or choral director is any good. Teaching styles, personality, choice of repertoire, gender, context, goals, are some of the many variables to take into account. Which implies that out there somewhere is a leader who will suit you perfectly, but not necessarily your friend.

good and bad

Good choir leading and song teaching – as with beauty – is in the eye of the beholder. A good choir leader for one singer might be a nightmare experience for another. A life-changing singing workshop for one singer might be a lame, simplistic waste of time for another more experienced singer. A teacher/ leader has to suit the singers they’re working with. Which is why people choose different choirs and different workshops.

Really bad leading and bad teaching will usually be found out. If someone is that bad at what they do, then nobody will get anything out of it. People will stop going to their workshops and stop joining their choirs.

getting away with it

For me, the worst things are mediocre or abusive leaders. Singers get used to a lacklustre or an angry approach. They start to believe that that is the only way of doing things. They get used to the leader’s style and find it hard to adapt to other approaches.

Some people actually enjoy being shouted at and believe that this somehow represents “hard work” and a “serious, disciplined approach”. Others like the safety and comfort of a lame leader – they don’t like to be stretched, challenged or threatened.

do no harm

As long as a choir or singing workshop leader is doing no obvious damage (to throats, to confidence, to music, to enthusiasm), then let them carry on. Just be sure to choose one that suits you, but don’t get complacent: use a certain amount of self-reflection (am I getting the most out of singing that I can?), and try out different experiences regularly (new workshops, choirs with different repertoire, challenging master classes). There is the right leader out there for you. If you’re not getting what you need or want from your current leader, then go and find a new one!

qualities of a good choir leader

If you’ve had experience of bad choir leadership, you may be interested in what I consider to be the six qualities that any good choral director needs.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

Is your audience just friends and family?

Does your choir actually have a public following, or are you just kidding yourself?

When a choir first starts performing in public, most of the audience will be made up of friends and family. We hope that they will then tell their friends how wonderful we are and they will come to our next show. Word of mouth will spread like wild fire until we have a huge following.

But is that how it is for most performing choirs?

Looking at a breakdown of our summer concert audience this year and last, it turns out that many familiar names pop up. In fact, a large proportion of last year’s audience came again this year!

Does that mean we have a core audience who follow us around? Or maybe some people only come to our summer concerts rather than, say, our Christmas ones. Or are we kidding ourselves, and this ‘core’ audience is our only audience? Is it, in fact, the same group of friends and family (and maybe a few other ‘fans’ thrown in for good measure) who have been following us from the start?

Although we are a largish choir (80+ voices on the books), we don’t really play large venues. Our audiences usually only number between 100 and 130. We have become used to this, and possibly this is normal for a typical choir performance.

Not only does the word ‘choir’ conjure up a particular image and perhaps put off some punters, but we also don’t sing the usual choral repertoire. So even if there are choral enthusiasts out there, they probably aren’t the sort to appreciate our repertoire (“We want more songs in English!”).

Now that you’ve read this far, you might be expecting some answers. I’m afraid I don’t have any though!

My hunch is that, yes, much of our audience is made up of friends and family. And yes, we do have a small, core bunch of fans who follow us around. Trouble is, what do you do when you’ve exhausted these people? After all there are only so many times your mum and dad want to come to the same concert!

I remember reading in Simon Callow’s book Being an actor about the time when he was in his first long run of a play. He talks about friends and family coming to his dressing room after the performance. Gradually, over the months, these visits begin to drop away as all his friends and family have seen the show. Eventually nobody visits his dressing room and he feels rather alone.

It is at times like this when we see who our audience really is. After the long run of a play, or a long concert tour, or many years of choir performances, friends and family may fade away and we are left with true fans of our work (if we’re lucky!).

So I guess my next question is: how can we widen our audience beyond just friends and family? Assuming that there is an audience out there for our work, how can we reach them?

Have we become lazy in promoting our work and presenting concerts because we imagine that there is an audience? But in reality it’s just the same core group of people following us. Time perhaps to rejuvenate our approach, brush up our repertoire, put some pizazz into the show, push our publicity. It’s never the wrong time to re-examine how you might reach a new audience. Complacency is the enemy of good work!

I’d love to hear of your experiences with your choir. Do you just have a following of friends and family? Have you found ways of widening your audience?

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

Don’t blog when you’re feeling low

Not feeling well, so no blog post this week. Sorry. Like many teachers, I seem to always get sick in the holidays!

Points to remember:

• always keep a blog post in hand for situations like this
• don’t blog when you’re feeling low – you might regret what you say!
• you’re not invincible – look after yourself (Taking care of ourselves as choir and workshop leaders)
  
• writing a good blog post takes time and energy
• you’re not indispensable
• this too shall pass

 

See you next week.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

Writing what you want to read

It’s often hard for bloggers to come up with ideas for the next blog post, especially if you’ve been doing it for some time. When you first start, you write about what you know and hope that somebody out there will be interested. At least, that’s what I’ve been doing!

But how do you know that what you write is interesting your readers? How can you find out what makes for an interesting blog post?

As time goes by

• you get more and more readers (I hope!);
• people begin to leave comments (but never enough!);
• you might have a star rating for each post (if people can be bothered!);
• your analytics package tells you which are your most popular posts (but only if it’s a clever package!) and
• some of your readers even begin to suggest ideas for posts (hint, hint!).

Now it becomes a little trickier to decide on blog topics. Is it enough to continue to write about what you know, essentially pleasing yourself, or should you begin to take into account what your readers want? And if you do that, how best to go about it? How do you find out what your readers want if they don’t tell you directly?

Some of my posts get a 5-star rating. That makes me very happy! But often the rating comes from just two or three people. Not a very good reflection of my overall readership!

Some people leave comments on my posts. Not as often as I’d like, but often enough for me to believe (rashly?) that someone is actually reading the thing! But I notice that it’s often the same four or five people who comment. Again, not a very good reflection of my overall readership.

Then very, very occasionally (even though I ask people often), someone might offer a suggestion for a post. But is that just something that will interest them, a single reader, or will it be of wider interest?

What if I just go ploughing on and writing what I want to write? After all, that’s what I started out doing and it seems to have attracted some readers. Never enough, of course, but there are some people out there who seem to like what I’m writing.

But I’m not the same person as I was when I started and maybe I’m writing differently or on different topics. Perhaps I’ve lost loads of readers because I’m not delivering what they want. Even though I look at my stats and RSS subscriber figures, my readership is too small to notice any significant trends. Maybe I should take more notice of the readers and adapt my style and content?

Hang on a minute!! Now I remember why I first started writing. Not only did I want to share my thoughts, but the discipline of writing every week helps me to formulate what I really think about a subject. More importantly I wanted to start a dialogue and debate with other people. What do you think about these subjects? Have you come across the same issues? Do you have different or better solutions and ideas?

So I’m going to stick to my first principles. I will gladly take note of my most popular posts and possibly write something along similar lines in the future. I will take on board any suggestions or comments that my readers make. But the bottom line is, that I need to be true to myself and the intentions of my blog. If I don’t write what I am interested in and passionate about, then there’s not much point in writing, and the posts won’t be much good any way.

So I won’t ignore you lovely readers out there, but I will try to stay true to myself.

I’d be really interested to hear from all you imaginary friends out there, especially those of you who read regularly but never comment. Come on – it’s easy and not at all frightening! I’d be happy to if you just drop by and say “hello”. It doesn’t have to be anything profound. I’d also be extremely happy if you could let me know what you like and dislike about my blog, what subjects you’d like me to tackle in the future, what topics you’d like me to revisit.

I really, really want to make this blog more of a dialogue. I learn an enormous amount from you singers and choir leaders out there. I’d love to hear some personal stories about how you stumbled into singing or choir leading, what your high (and low) points have been, if you have any tricks or tips you’d like to share, and, of course, if you fancy using this opportunity to write a guest post of your own!

Just to let you know, here are some topics I’ve got planned for the next few weeks when the ‘holiday’s are over:

• Where does our audience come from – is it just friends and family?
• It’s festival season but they all seem to want loud, danceable music – where do we fit in?
• How can you tell if a singing workshop leader is good or bad – is it just personal taste?
• How do you know if you’re singing in tune?

I hope those of you in the northern hemisphere continue to have a good summer! I’m off down to the south coast for a week of fun and frolics. See you next week.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

Singing in cyberspace

Just thought I’d tell you about an initiative I’ve started on Facebook, and to let you know how you can connect with my singing activities in cyberspace.

A while back I had a crazy idea of trying to collect one traditional song from every country in the world! To that end I’ve set up a group on Facebook called A World in Song. According to Wikipedia, there are 203 internationally recognized sovereign states as of 7th April 2009 so I need all the help I can get! Do drop by and join the group if you can - I’ve only posted 3 songs so far.

Whilst on Facebook, you might like to become a fan of my page Chris Rowbury and keep up to date with my singing work. And if you're really hip to the cyber moment, you can even follow me on Twitter!

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

The job of being a choir leader

A version of this appeared as an article in the Natural Voice Practitioners’ Network’s newsletter in 2006.

As a singing workshop and choir leader I have an incredibly easy life. I can get up when I want to and have no work commitments for four days of the week. I’m my own boss and can choose when I work and how much I do. I have holidays when the schools do, which means a long summer break each year.

I’ve just been away for a week to Suffolk, and have come back even more tired than when I went! How come? It was a restful week and we didn’t do anything strenuous.

So I got to thinking: how much do I actually do when I’m working? Perhaps it’s more than I thought. Maybe it’s like teachers and other high-energy, stressful occupations – when you eventually stop, you crash. Most teachers seem to get ill in the holidays when they let go. Perhaps it’s adrenaline that keeps us going during term time, and as soon as we have time off our bodies let go.

Until recently, when people asked me what I do, I felt slightly embarrassed to say that I just taught songs for two evenings a week, two hours at a time, and ran singing workshops three Saturdays each month. It seemed a pathetic amount of work for a grown man!

Then I realised that, of course, the “work” is not just during the contact hours, that in fact I am not just a teacher of songs, but a PR guy, a publicity designer, copywriter, PA, project planner, administrator, song arranger, office manager, website designer, recording engineer, marketing officer, song researcher, committee member, musical director, music transcriber, accountant, performance & rehearsal scheduler, community musician, filing clerk, stationery purchaser, fund-raiser … amongst other things.

In fact, I have a very FULL TIME job! I work evenings, weekends, bank holidays, and half-terms. Yet it doesn’t feel like “work” at all. When I’m arranging a song or designing publicity or writing this on a Sunday afternoon, it’s because I want to. It has to be done at some point, but I enjoy doing it, it’s creative, and I can choose when to do it.

I thought it might be interesting for those starting out (or for those who’ve been doing this for a while who didn’t realise how much work they actually do!) to give an idea of what a typical week might be like for a freelance teacher of songs/ musical director/ community musician. This is (some of) what I did during a fairly typical week shortly before I went on holiday:

• transferred a concert recording to my PC and edited it into separate tracks
• dealt with several requests to buy some of my song arrangements
• researched and contacted a range of venues in Lincolnshire and Coventry for autumn gigs
• updated my website with workshop information
• started to look for a suitable local venue for a workshop I’m running in October
• answered a backlog of emails asking general questions about singing
• planned and ran a workshop in Shropshire
• finished writing and arranging a new song about the summer
• liaised with a Stamford venue regarding an early September gig
• archived last term’s work with my choir and updated song lyrics and information for choir members
• ran choir on Thursday evening
• rehearsed with scratch choir for Warwick Folk Festival on Monday evening
• started funding application to be part of Coventry’s Peace Festival in the autumn
• agreed dates for more workshops next year
• confirmed rehearsal space for two projects for the autumn: Vox Mondiale and Foot and Mouth
• put in several invoices for recent work
• publicised my Beach Boys workshop in September
• sent out orders for choir CDs
• maintained mailing list (via website requests)
• designed flyers and posters for Vox Mondiale autumn gig
• updated my Facebook page and Twitter account
• started to collect songs for Woven Chords’ autumn term
• kept Woven Chords’ website up to date
• wrote blurb for Farncombe Estate open day
• made a recording of separate parts for a song arrangement that I sell

When I look back at that list it just makes me feel tired! Most of us get through huge amounts of work like this every week, but it’s only when we write it down that we realise how much we actually do to maintain our modest lifestyles, and that being a “community musician” or “choir leader” is not just about the music.

The job of choir leader

If you’ve enjoyed this post, you may be interested in several other posts I've written about choir leadership.

I’ve looked at the basic job definition, the roles and responsibilities and the notion of the ‘benign dictator’ (What the job of choir leader involves).

I’ve considered how you might assess a choir leader and whether the ends justify the means (How to tell if your choir leader is rubbish).

I've listed what I consider to be the six qualities needed by any good choir leader.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

Help! What am I going to do with no singing over the summer break?

For those of us who work to school terms, it is now the summer holidays. Unlike us poor folk here in the UK, the summer break is months long in the US ! Whilst we only have six weeks or so, the summer there lasts from early June until late August – almost three months.

When I started my first choir WorldSong back in 1997, when the summer break came along people began to panic. What would they do on Wednesday evenings for the next couple of months? Where would they get their singing fix? How could they last without seeing their singing friends each week?

As a beginning choir leader I was worried if we had a long break, people might not come back. Perhaps they would get out of the habit of coming each week, or find something better to do on a Wednesday evening.

That first year we broke up in early July and started back in late September – a break of 11 weeks (I needed a break at the time!). It was with considerable trepidation that I waited that first autumn Wednesday to see how many – if any – people would come back to choir after such a long break. Fortunately for me, quite a few singers came back, but it was a nerve-wracking time.

Next time summer came around, so many people were complaining about not being able to sing over the summer, that I decided to run a short ‘summer school’ consisting of four Wednesday evenings in the middle of the summer break. I managed to attract a considerable amount of interest, not only regular choir members, but others who weren’t able to make a regular commitment during term time. We had lots of fun, and some of the participants joined the choir in the following autumn.

One year, when I was running three separate community choirs, I ended up leading three summer schools in three different towns. It was becoming too much! I found that I didn’t get a chance to refresh myself and have a decent break, neither did I have enough time to source new songs for the coming term.

So I stopped running the summer schools. And people came back after the break after all. Sure, they might have missed singing for a while, but they had been on holiday and worked in the garden and had lots of other things on their minds. When the autumn term started everyone came back renewed, refreshed and eager to start singing again.

I learnt several lessons from this:

• a choir offers something valuable to many people – not just singing, but a sense of community and a regular hobby
• if you are offering something that people like and want, then they won’t desert you just because you have a long break
• don’t be afraid to say ‘no’ – trust that people want what you have to offer
  
• we all need a break to refresh and renew ourselves, not least the choir director who needs to replenish their energy before a new term
• there are plenty of other singing opportunities over the summer, and it’s good for people to try out a variety of styles and workshop leaders
• don’t believe everything people say: I have had people saying that they couldn’t possibly survive a whole summer without singing, but they do.

I have known choir leaders who have taken whole terms (or even a whole year) off from their choir, leaving it in the hands of a caretaker, or reducing the sessions to once every few months. In each case, the choir has survived and thrived.

I had known of individuals who have said things like: “This choir is my life, I don’t know what I’d do without it” and “I have to join your choir! Please, please, please let me join in the autumn”. And in each of theses cases the people have disappeared and never come to choir. Try to figure that out!

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

Singing in harmony 2 – small group skills

Last week I wrote about some of the skills needed to be able to sing in harmony. Most of them were focused on singing in a large choir. This week I want to consider those skills that are needed to sing harmony in a much smaller group, perhaps a group with only one singer on each part.

Photo by Cindy Funk

I’d love to hear from those of you who sing regularly in small groups to see whether I’ve missed any important points out or if you have any useful tricks that you can share. Do drop by and leave a comment.

harmony singing in a small ensemble

Although I’m focusing here on small group singing, most of the points equally apply to larger choirs. The main difference will be in where you place your focus of attention. In a small group, the focus can be on all the other singers and the overall sound, whereas in a larger choir the focus may be more on the singers around you and the harmony between your part and the section of the choir standing either side of you.

I ended last week’s post with what I believe to be the three most important skills needed for harmony singing: the ability to listen, listen, and listen.

listen – to yourself

Singing begins with yourself. You make a sound which you have total control over. Using feedback you get from listening to others, you can adjust your own vocal output. By listening to yourself you can:

• check that you are always in tune with the other singers;
• make sure your volume is appropriate so your harmony part doesn’t drown out the others or fade into the background;
• see if your vowels and vocal quality are appropriate to the song and blend in with the other singers.

listen – to others

By listening into the other singers in your group – both individually and as a whole – you will get the necessary feedback to sing your own part well. Singers are human beings rather than beat boxes or synthesisers, so tuning, timing, vocal quality, etc. will shift constantly during any song. You need to be alert to all these minute changes and follow them accurately.

• Are the other parts louder/ softer than you?
• Have they slightly changed pitch?
• Is their timing getting faster?
• Where are they putting that syncopated beat?
• Where are they taking their breaths?

listen – to the harmonies

This is more about the overall effect of your group of singers. In some sense, it’s not about listening to the sounds that are there, but the gaps between the sounds. For me, that is the joy of harmony singing. Rather than feel that another harmony part is “putting you off” somehow, if you focus on the gap/ interval between what you are singing and what the other parts are singing, then it stops being about the individual notes and more about the effect that harmony has on us.

Harmony singing is all about team playing. By listening to the overall effect that the harmonies are having, you can make tiny adjustments to your own singing that will serve the whole. When harmony is working properly in a small group, it stops being about the individuals. It is almost as if the song is singing itself and you are simply enjoying and inhabiting the spaces between the notes.

self-awareness

To be able to use the feedback from what you are hearing, you need a certain amount of self-awareness. It’s no good noticing what the others are doing if you can’t feel or hear what you’re doing yourself. If you can’t detect that your body is in tension, or that you’re breathing incorrectly or that you’re singing too loud, then you won’t be able to make the necessary adjustments to serve the group. If you’re a control freak, then maybe harmony singing is not for you! You need to surrender your ‘self’ to the group and the music.

Developing self-awareness is not that hard, but can take some practice if you’re not used to it. The enemies of self-awareness are any things that take you out of being in the moment:

• fear (of making a mistake, of not being a good singer, of not knowing the words);
• boredom;
• arrogance (“I know this song inside out”, “I don’t need to listen, I’ve learnt this song before”);
• daydreaming, trying to repeat the past (“Last time we did this it was great, this time it’s going to be even better!”);
• anticipating the future (“I really hope the gig is going to go well”);
• measuring yourself against others (“They’re all far better at this than I am”);
• bringing outside baggage along (“I can’t believe how rude that woman was in the shop this afternoon”).

And many others. In fact, there are probably far more reasons for not being in the moment, than being in the moment! But … it is vital if you want to sing harmony well.

watch my lips!

Even though you might not be able to hear the exact notes coming out of a singer’s mouth (because you’re focusing on the harmonies), or see their belly move when they’re breathing, you can get important information just by looking at other singers’ mouths. Watch the others in your group like a hawk and you will stay in tune, breathe at the same time, and keep in time. Simple but very, very effective!

breathe easy

You might not be able to hear the others breathe, but you certainly need to know when they are breathing. Breath can be a cue to start a song. It will ensure that you all start the phrase at the same moment. It can enable sustained drone parts by ensuring that you all breathe at different times. It can help with moments of suspension/ tension in a song (i.e. sustained pauses).

keep your friends close

It’s not very British to stand that close to each other. We like our personal space! But just look at small groups Corsican singers for example. They stand exceptionally close to each other. Their focus is entirely on each other and the sound they are making. They are usually physically touching and you can see them leaning in and putting their ears right in front of other singers’ mouths. You can never stand too close when singing harmony!

focus in, and focus out

I’m assuming that your harmony singing group will want to share songs with an audience. This means finding the tricky balance between focusing totally inwards on the other singers and the beautiful harmonies that you are making (very tempting!), and sending the music out to the audience. You need to have at least three focuses of attention: on yourself, on the rest of the group and on the audience. It’s impossible to maintain three focuses at the same time, so you have to keep jumping between them, not letting any one of them dominate. A tricky act, but one which is possible with practice.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

Singing in harmony 1 – how do they do that?

Last week I wrote about How to be a good choir member. This was prompted by an post on whether you need singing lessons or not in order to sing. I pointed out that there are several skills that can’t be learnt in a one-to-one singing lesson. One is being in a choir, another is singing with a group in three or more part harmony.

Photo by Piers Nye

I thought I’d use this post to consider what skills you need in order to sing harmony in a group. This week I’ll focus on those skills that are specific to singing in a choir. Next week I’ll look at small group singing. Of course, many of the skills needed overlap whether you sing in a choir or a small group, so the division is rather arbitrary.

big group, small group

I have led several community choirs, all of which sing unaccompanied in three and four (and sometimes more) part harmony. The experience of singing as part of a large choir is very different from that of singing in a small group, and some of the skills needed are different too.

Sometimes I have invited people from a choir to try out for a smaller ensemble that I was starting. I would tell them that the main skill needed (other than being able to sing in tune!) was to be able to hold a part on your own. If it is a three part harmony, then you need be able to sing your part in a group of just three singers.

I knew that not many people in the choir were able to do this (simply because they hadn’t had the experience), and yet loads of people came forward, convinced they could hold a part on their own.

At the try-out, I would point out when people were not holding their part accurately, and they would be surprised, thinking that they were doing fine. This shows us two things: that singing in a small group is different from singing in a large choir; and that self-awareness is an important skill for singing harmony.

harmony singing in a choir

Large groups of singers are far more forgiving of inaccurate singing than small groups. If there are 15 altos and a few singers are slightly out, then it doesn’t notice that much. But if there are only two altos in a small group, then it’s disastrous!

Often it’s hard to be aware of the harmonies going on in a big choir. Singers are frequently only conscious of the others around them who are singing the same part. More confident singers may be standing on the join between two parts, in which case they will appreciate the harmony between those two parts. For me, that is when harmony singing becomes a joy. I can’t understand those singers who find that the other parts are a distraction to what they’re singing! If you listen to how the harmony works, it will help you hold your own part.

divide and conquer

In order to experience harmony singing fully in a large choir, the director will often divide the choir into smaller groups, or get everyone to walk around the room singing.

Once we have learnt a song, I often divide the choir into groups of four singers – soprano, alto, tenor, bass – and spread the groups around the room to sing. There are enough other singers in your part somewhere in the room for you to feel supported, yet you are close to the other three parts so can experience the full harmony at work.

The skills you develop in exercises like this are pretty much the same as those needed in a small ensemble. When you go back and stand with the other singers in your part, you will find that the overall sound is more accurate.

move around

Another way of honing your harmony skills, keeping in tune and understanding how harmony works is to move to a different part.

You can go and stand near another part whilst singing your own part to feel and hear how the harmony works. Or you can go and learn another part in addition to your own part to get a broader sense of the harmonies in a song. You can then hear your original part being sung against your new part. By changing parts frequently, you can also experience different aspects of the harmonies in a song: main tune, parallel harmony a third above, drone, mirroring part an octave below the tune, etc.

practice makes perfect

You don’t need to have any particular music training or understanding of music theory to be able to ‘understand’ harmony. Understanding can happen at a visceral, subconscious, or intuitive level too. When listening to the radio or a CD or your MP3 player, see if you can pick out any harmonies in the voices, or even better, sing along and make up a harmony of your own. You’ll be surprised how easy it is in most cases!

listen, listen, listen

These are the three most important skills needed for harmony singing. I’ll be talking more about them next week when I look at the skills needed for small group harmony singing. Other skills I’ll be considering are breathing, standing close to each other and focus of attention.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com