Estimated reading time 5 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Do you find minor harmonies harder to tune than major? Frustrated that you don’t sound as good as other singers? How well you tune impacts how good you sound, including the strength of your vocal tone. Read more to learn about singing major and minor harmonies in tune.
So far, in our practical vocal harmonizing exercises we have only focused on singing with major chords. Today’s post will now include a chord progression with both major and minor harmonies.
This article uses technical musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
Singing Major and Minor Harmonies in Tune: Why Use a Synth Voice Instead of Real Voices
Your Pitch Template and Absolute Pitch
- In Singing Major and Minor Harmonies in Tune, you will sing to harmonic sound models in the form of sing-along song tracks. These tracks have been specially tuned to foster accurate harmonizing.
- By now, some of you may be asking why we use recorded synth voices on this website, instead of real voices, for the harmonic sound models. This has to do with how the brain processes and remembers pitch: absolute versus relative.
- Relative pitch skills rely on sensing the notes relative to each other. However, absolute pitch refers to the ability to recognize isolated pitches. It does this through really accurate pitch memory.
- Let’s talk about the pitch template that I’ve referenced over the last several posts. The more musical training you get, the more absolute pitch information the brain stores in your pitch template.
Partial Absolute Pitch
- How does this impact singing major and minor harmonies in tune?
- True absolute pitch remains pretty rare, by one estimate only one person in ten-thousand has it. Nevertheless, a broad range of people can perceive and reproduce at least some absolute pitch information.
- Daniel J. Levitin relates how he studied the way forty non-musicians reproduced pitch from memory. “This was convincing evidence that people were storing absolute pitch information in memory…
- “I created a tape that had the subjects’ productions on one channel of a stereo signal and the original recording on the other; it sounded as though the subjects were singing along with the record – but we hadn’t played the record to them… the subjects told us that they were ‘singing along with an image’ or ‘recording’ inside their heads” (Levitin 153-154).
- For those with musical training, partial absolute pitch happens more often and more strongly than in non-musicians, because pitch memory develops with musical training. “Many absolute-pitchers can recognize tones solely within a range of a few octaves. Often, they succeed only with certain instruments, usually the kind they play themselves” (Jourdain 113).
Early Training & Instruments Vs. Voices
- Robert Jourdain has stated that research indicates that instrumental sounds remain easier to identify than vocal sounds. This most likely happens because an instrument’s note, such as C on the piano, remains the same pitch every time you play it. However, the note C can and does change pitch every time you sing it.
- Also, he relates that the earlier a musician gets trained the better. “The key to absolute pitch is early training – very early training. One study found absolute pitch among 95 percent of those who started music study at the age of four or younger…
- “The importance of early training is demonstrated by the observation that those with only partial absolute pitch are more accurate for sounds of the instrument they played earliest, even if much more time was later invested in a different instrument” (Jourdain 114-115).
- Why do I go on and on about harmonic sound models? Because they help instill correct absolute pitch information in your brain. However, imagine if you grew up playing with an out-of-tune musical toy. What do you think would happen?
- It is possible that many people with “tin ears” are actually the unwitting victims of bad early musical training. My advice: parents should always vet their children’s musical toys. It could save a lot of suffering later in life.
- Therefore, it would seem that having a note be a consistent pitch, and be a consistently in tune pitch, remains an important aspect of the ear training necessary for singing major and minor harmonies in tune.
Recap
- I will say it again, early accurate musical training remains the easiest route to singing major and minor harmonies in tune. Nonetheless, older singers can learn it too. However, unlike musicians who have trained since youth, you will lose your pitch precision if you do not regularly practice.
- In addition, the synth “voice” sounds get used here because they reinforce musical memory better than recordings of voices would. Nevertheless, vocal recordings can work too.
A Review of the Basics of Vocal Performance and Singing Major and Minor Harmonies in Tune
In past posts, we talked about several aspects of basic singing.
To review the section about getting power in your singing:
For vowels:
To learn how to get a free and open tone while singing:
For breath phrasing:
Remember to sing:
- With a high soft palate
- With a vibrato free tone
- Don’t forget to take a breath between measures
- Sing from the gut
Begin the exercise singing on the vowel ah. When you have that down, try the other vowels. Sopranos and children need to sing up an octave when singing with the song tracks. When you have the first song track in your ear, try singing the example to the solo organ part.
The next section contains the exercise for singing major and minor harmonies in tune. Regular practice with the sing-along tracks helps train your pitch template.
Singing Major and Minor Harmonies in Tune: The Exercise
Mobile users: for best results reading the music, tilt your screen 90o to the right.
Melody & Organ – Singing Major and Minor Harmonies in Tune:
Solo Organ – Singing Major and Minor Harmonies in Tune:
Conclusion
Dedicate yourself and you will be singing major and minor harmonies in tune before you know it. Have fun and keep practicing!
© 2021 Geoffrey Keith
Join me for in-person or online lessons today!
Glossary
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