Estimated reading time 3 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Have you ever marveled at how some people can easily sing with a beautiful tone? Do you need help learning how to harmonize in tune? Good news! Vocal harmonizing can be learned, and the sing-along soundtracks will help. Read more to find out how it works.
You have three main skills you need to develop to harmonize well:
- Focused listening
- Vowel production
- Supported tone
This article uses musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
Focused Listening Skills and Learning How to Harmonize
- If you want to learn how to harmonize, you need to develop the ability to do focused listening. If you don’t know what to listen for, you can’t get a good tone or sing in tune.
- Therefore, you need to listen to the overall sound of the harmonies as you sing in an ensemble. The three things you should listen for when singing:
- If you click on the above links, they’ll explain how to listen for buzz, beating, and tone color. Similarly, if you can’t hear the other vocalists in an ensemble, you won’t be able to sing in tune:
- If you want to master harmonizing, you need to put in your time practicing. You can practice by singing with recordings, by joining a vocal ensemble, or through focused listening exercises.
- I’ve developed The Intonation Flight Simulator to help you learn focused listening skills. The Intonation Flight Simulator contains links to all the Singing in Tune posts that contain sing-along soundtracks.
- Each soundtrack acts like a “flight simulator” in that the track distills the most important singing elements you need to work on to improve:
Vocal Tone and Learning How to Harmonize
- Producing solid vowels remains a critical skill to master, because it allows you to match the tone quality of the other vocalists. For example, a vowel like “ah” has many subtle vowel shadings.
- Therefore, you need to learn how to exactly match the vowels in a song. If you don’t, you won’t be able to create a seamless blend with other vocalists.
- That explains why vowels are so important in singing, because your tone comes from your vowels. Likewise, without a good tone, it’ll be impossible to tune up the harmonies properly. The following three posts show you how to adjust your vowels so that you can achieve a good tone:
- Also, the above three posts all have sing-along soundtracks, giving you practical singing exercises. In addition, the Singing Schwa Vowels post shows you how to sing into the mask, which helps with both vocal tone and blend.
The Power in Singing and Learning How to Harmonize
- When learning how to harmonize, you must sing with diaphragm support. In other words, the power in singing comes from the gut.
- Singing with support is the foundation on which all the other vocal skills rest. Without a good, solid air stream, you won’t be able to get a resonant tone.
- Also, it’ll be hard to maintain your pitch, making it impossible to stay in tune. In other words, if you don’t have enough breath, your pitch will sink, especially at phrase endings. For information on singing with a supported tone:
Concluding Thoughts to “Do You Need Help Learning How to Harmonize?”
You too can learn how to harmonize. By practicing focused listening, good vowel production, and singing with a supported tone, in no time you’ll be harmonizing like your favorite vocal groups. Have fun singing!
© 2023 Geoffrey Keith
Join me for in-person or online lessons today!
Glossary
Please Explain Vowel Modification to Me Like I’m a 5 Year Old
“Please explain vowel modification to me like I'm a 5 year old.” Vowel modification helps you get a good vocal tone, so you can raise your singing to the next level. It’s an essential technique to master if you want to reach your full potential, because singing is all about vowels. Read more to learn how it works. Estimated reading time 2 minutes.
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12 Simile Examples That Aren’t Cliches (How to Write Them)
Are you unsure about how similes work? Do all the similes you write seem trite? If you want your writing to move people, you need to make sure that you use original imagery that has power and presence. Read “12 Simile Examples That Aren’t Cliches (How to Write Them)” to find out how it works. Estimated reading time 3 minutes.
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Is Just Intonation Impractical?
Are you thinking about composing in just intonation? Do you worry that just intonation is impractical? As with any tuning system, just intonation has its strengths and weaknesses. We’ll look at the pros and cons, and when you’ve gone through the post, you can make up your own mind. Read more to help you answer the question, “Is just intonation impractical?” Estimated reading time 4 minutes.
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Singing Rhythm
Do you have a hard time singing rhythm? Would you like to be able to keep time? Music has many aspects, but none so fundamental as notes and rhythms. Without them, the music doesn’t go. However, many vocalists struggle with singing in time. In “Singing Rhythm” we’ll look at different ways to help train you to perform accurately. Estimated reading time 2 minutes.
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