Every week I go to an open mic night with friends, and we sing. Usually I’ll get up and do harmony along with whoever is singing.
Last night I was chatting with a girl who performs once a week with the guy who runs open mic, with whom I had just sung harmony. She said to me “so you’re the harmony girl, eh?” and I said yup, and that I’ve been doing it since I was probably 10 or 11. It reminded me that the week before, a friend who is a singer said that she has no knack for harmonizing unless she’s already learned a composed part.
So it got me wondering, how does one develop the ability to just sing harmony to music? I’m not saying that whenever I do it, it sound amazing; I know that sometimes my effort fails and the notes I sing sound wrong. But I do it all the time, it just comes naturally.
But does it have to do with having an “ear” for it? (I think there was a thread in GQ or here about the idea of having an “ear”). Is it learned or innate perhaps?
There is a former friend of mine (we’ve lost touch in the last few years) who has sung from an early age, and had joined school choral groups, etc.
Her ability to harmonize was almost instinctual. I recall “I Will Never Marry” written and performed by Dolly Parton coming on the radio one day when we were together. I’ve not been a country music fan, and not really one of Dolly Parton, but when she joined in and harmonized, it sounded like the most beautiful music I’d ever heard. Her voice was also nice, but not a standout. I think it was her ability to use her skill that made her singing with others so good.
A classic example of the inability to harmonize was shown hilariously in This Is Spinal Tap as they stood over Elvis’ grave, and that’s now the first thing I think of when I hear the word “harmonize.”
My family harmonizes well. No matter who is singing the lead, Mom, cousins, siblings, uncles…, the others can harmonize. A family trait? Also, most of us have had some training and professional experience.
I was in a band where two brothers (not my siblings, their own siblings) could harmonize to me, but not me to them. The girl singer, though, I could harmonize to her.
I think the talent may be instinctual, but it can be developed to greater effectiveness.
I am one of those “automatic harmonizers.” Sometimes I even surprise myself by harmonizing to a song I’ve never heard before (anticipating predictable patterns, I guess). I must be good at it because I get lots of unsolicited compliments, including from professional musicians. Two friends and I once tried to start a three-part a capella group, and we had several amazing rehearsals, but one of them dropped out and we disbanded.
A friend who studied music once told me that vocal harmonizing is an innate skill that even people who study music often cannot learn; they have to have music in front of them and rehearse first. This really surprised me, because I’m very natural at it with no vocal training or even heavy music theory. I did take piano lessons and band, and I understand chord structure, but I don’t analyze the notes when I create harmonies; I just “feel” the right notes. In fact, sometimes I find it very hard to sing lead because I keep wanting to drift into harmony instead.
Some musician friends have tried to draw an analogy with playing an instrument by ear, but I don’t find that helpful; to me, finding a note on a piano (an external object) and knowing what sound it will produce is different from producing a note with my own body. Play a song on the radio and I’ll sing along, but to play along I’d have to find out what key, laboriously pick out the notes, etc.
I guess I would also agree that it’s something you either can or cannot do; if you lack the innate ability you can learn it to some extent, but not as well as if you have the ability.
It’s certainly something you can practice, although as with all things some people are better at it than others.
I used to sing in a doo-wop group which could improvise harmonies for familiar tunes. If you know the tune, what part of the harmony you’re singing (i.e. bass or an internal part) and the chord structure (either analytically or innately), it’s not hard at all.
Scarlett67, I feel very much the same way, especially:
I LOVE when I do that with a song I’ve never heard before. Makes me feel extra music geeky. ;j
and
It’s weird sometimes when you do harmony to other people singing karaoke (as in, they’re on stage and you’re at your seat), and the people around you aren’t really singers so they think what you’re doing is strange.
Personally, I’ve studied music in the sense of learning theory, lots of ear training and reading music really pressed by my high school choral instructor. But I know that before I really had any training, so to speak, I could do harmonies.
My mom used to yell at me for singing the harmony line during hymns in church. She said I was singing “the wrong notes” and I might “mess other people up.” :rolleyes: Good thing I ignored her.
I can harmonize easily. I’m not a professional musician, but I can also sight-read decently and I have perfect pitch. I can play simple things on the piano either by reading music or just listening.
As to the amount of talent you need, it may be less than you think. I taught myself to play simple things on the recorder in one or two weeks. I can’t play it as well by ear. In my case, this is a result of the way I learned - I read the music in a beginner’s book. More play-by-ear practice would increase my ability. So practicing harmonizing would help anyone’s ability.
Barbershop quartet organizations help absolute beginners with recordings of songs in two versions - one with the desired part louder than normal, the other much softer.
Playing an instrument is like singing because in both cases you’re controlling your muscles - hands for the instrument, throat for singing. Of course, in singing you don’t have the same visual or tactile feedback, and even the auditory feedback is more complex because your voice is conducted to your ears through the bone and tissue of your skull as well as through the air.
My step sister used to laugh at me when we were teenagers because I would automatically pick up the lines of the harmony instead of the main voice. I think it is instinctual, as like Scarlett, I sometimes sing the harmony even when I meant to sing the lead.
I grew up singing all the time with my Mom, harmony and melody and trading back and forth. Figuring out thirds on the fly was always a fun game too.
I’ve also sung in many choruses and choirs, though I have little to no music theory skills to speak of. I’ve always just had an ear for music and a good memory, be it for the melody, the harmonics, the base line, the percussion, the lyrics.
The juke-box in my head also has a nasty habit of playing songs that include lyrics that people say around me conversationally. I often consider it an affliction, as I have no concious control over it, though it can be quite interesting to notice how often it happens, and it makes for a very ecclectic mix of tunes in my head.
My dad couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket.
My mother’s side of the family are all avidly musical and artistic, though they all tend to do other things as their profession.
I’m not sure if it is a genetic family trait at work, or a learned family behavior/tradition.
The Indigo Girls are a special personal treat. I like to switch between Amy and Emily on different verses, or come up with third parts. Enya and Mary Chapin Carpenter are also fun.
I think my harmonizing ability stems from singing alto for most of my life. I’m not too great at harmonizing though. I usually stick to singing thirds, then branch out to fifths or some funky syncopation/ornamentation and if my experiment fails I head back to my “safety”, thirds. My brother can’t read a note of music but can sing great harmony. Harmonizing might be genetic.
I was sung to/with a lot as a child. A lot. A lot a lot a lot.
I can’t read sheet music to save my life, but I can do two things well that make up for it:
I can harmonize with almost anything;
and to the point where I can do it with pieces I’ve never heard before.
I’ve sung everything but true bass for years (though not recently), … something about the music theory behind it just registers with me in a natural way.
My brother and I can both instinctually harmonize. The interesting thing is that we’ll both chime in on a harmony in certain songs at the exact same time even if we weren’t singing to it at all previously. Like the song “needed” the harmony in that moment.