Singing Harmony Might Be Easier Than You Think

If a novice can do it, so can you!

Harmonizing with one of my students in her Showcase performance set

Recently, one of my voice students brought in a cool song to work on by the Norwegian artist Aurora. Aurora is an artist who tends to collaborate with other artists fairly regularly, and this track is no exception, featuring additional vocals by the French artist Pomme.For my student, we started working on the song by focusing on the lead vocal - which, for 90% of the song, is Aurora. The melodic line features a really interesting twisting ascending line in a minor/modal scale, and we spent a fair amount of time focusing on precision and tuning in those passages. Towards the end of the song, Pomme takes the spotlight, singing in a lower register as well as singing in French. As my student does not speak French, we spent a good deal of time on this section as well, both in perfecting the pronunciation as well as building more ease in the lower register. However, as we approached a close to “finished” status on these aspects of the song, it felt somewhat incomplete, as the song is, after all, kind of a duet. So, I suggested to my student, “What if we worked on harmonizing?” A Simple Approach For some singers, harmonizing comes quite naturally. Many singers grow up singing in choirs, where harmony parts are taught and expected to be well executed. Other musically-inclined individuals naturally gravitate towards improvising or picking out harmonies when they listen to their favorite songs on the radio, CD (am I dating myself too much here?), or their streaming service of choice.This particular student, however, had none of these prior experiences. They had come into voice lessons as an adult, with no prior singing experience - but a long list of solo music that they loved and wanted to learn how to execute with ease and power. This student has been incredibly dedicated to their lessons over the last few years, and has developed a broad range of songs and styles they can sing with nuance and precision. However, harmonizing was a totally new frontier for them. So, I got to work learning the Pomme part to this track, reviewing the available recordings (there’s more than one version out there), and picking it out by ear. I had no familiarity with the song prior to my student bringing it in. This kind of music is not on my typical listen list - but this is one of the many reasons why I love working with self-directed adult clients: I am exposed to a far broader range of music than I ever could or would possibly consume on my own.

At this point, the stage was set. I learned the part (ish), my student had spent dedicated weeks on their part solo, and so, in the next lesson, we tried it together.I honestly had no idea how it was going to go - and, much to my delight, the student totally nailed it. In fact, they did better than me. What’s up with that?

Harmonizing with my colleague Carla of North Shore Voices at the Vibrato Bar

The Secret Sauce Why did this work so well? How did a student with zero harmonizing experience nail their first ever attempt at it?

I think the result boils down to Kim’s Principles of Harmonizing*, which are as follows:

1. Know Thy Part

2. Don’t Listen

3. Listen
   

Is that a contradictory list? Yup. But, IMO, that really is how this kind of singing works. Principle #1: Know Thy Part The first and most fundamental aspect of singing a harmony line is that you need to know your part. And I mean, know it cold. Especially in this kind of scenario, where the music has been learned by ear and you don’t have any sheet music as a reference point. My student had spent weeks working on this piece and was rock solid on their melodic line. When I added in the extra vocal line, their comfort and familiarity with their own part allowed them to hold down the fort and not be pulled off track by what I was doing. Which leads me too… Principle #2: Don’t Listen This might seem like a weird one - but the fastest way to get off track when harmonizing is to listen to the other part(s) around you. Humans are natural mimics, and as soon as we start listening, it’s so easy to be pulled off course and migrate to what you’re hearing around you. I, being eminently less familiar with this song then my student, was pretty easily pulled off track as soon as I tried to listen in to what they were doing in real time. So instead, I recorded our practicing so I could focus on my own part in the moment. Then, we listened back together to evaluate. Principle #3: Listen Yes yes, I realize this is exactly the opposite of the above point. But hear me out. Listening is the final frontier of harmonizing - and the most advanced form of this kind of singing. To make music at a high level, this is essential. And this is what my student and I both will be working on next - but steps 1 and 2 need to be met first for this to happen. Listening allows you to hone in on tuning, blend, and really makes the magic happen. If you fall off track during this step, you can always retreat back to Not Listening and Focusing On Your Own Part. The Moral of the Story My student’s first foray into harmonizing totally exceeded my (and hopefully their) expectations - but it did solidify a loose set of principles I have always carried as a singer. So, what about you? Have you ever tried harmonizing? Is it still a tricky skill you’re working on? If you’re old hat at it, what are your tips and tricks to make this way of singing successful? Drop me a comment below, I’d love to hear from you! And, if you’re looking for one-on-one support in your singing, I’m currently accepting adult voice clients of all levels, and my door is open. Drop me a line, and let’s chat!

*Yes, this is totally a very official and not at all made up list.