Oldhat had a few questions about harmonies and I thought this would be the place to have this discussion. the italics are quotes form Oldhat’s post on another thread. I’ll try to answer to the best of my ability but I certainly don’t know all there is to know about singing.
To ones “ear” in harmony can they really tell when two share the same notes when they are on an off beat?
I’m not sure what an off beat has to do with it but I can always tell when someone is on the same note as I am singing.
What is wrong with singing a straight 3rd or 5th above the lead and then following identical intervals when possible? Is this “doubling” or is this harmony?
I’m not sure what you mean by “following identical intervals” 1) doing a 3rd above the 3rd? 2) half steps and whole steps relatiIve to the distance from the lead or somewhere else?
“doubling” to me would be two people singing the exact same note(s).
When one sings harmony and has no place to go with the next note, can you simply hold that note you are on until you get a chance to get off it or something else becomes available?
You have to listen carefully when you sing. Many times I refer to the Tenor part as a 3rd above the lead. this is an absolutely straght tenor and can most always be sung that way. However, listen to duets like the Louvin Bros, or other old brother type acts and you will hear the tenor jumping to 5th above in spots. they can do this because there are only Two singers. The lead may also jump to the tenors part which drives the tenor to either cross over and sing the lead note below the lead singer or go up higher. Going higher is the most used move historically.
On holding a note: again it comes down to listening. If it sounds like the correct note it probably is. If it sounds off for some reason there must be another place to go.
As a rule, the more voices you have singing the more constricted each part is on being able to move around trying to add “feeling” for lack of a better term.
Probably the first move a baritone singer learns is the “minor” move (my term). you’ll here this in some JD Crowe or Doyle stuff best probably. to hear it your self use a guitar or banjo. play a G triad on the 2nd-3rd fret, 3rd-4th fret & 4th-5th fret . Only the Baritone (4th string) would move down a half step and you create a Bm chord. quite a few endings and middle movements in songs have been recorded this way.
Now if the Baritone (4th string) moves a whole step down form the original note you end up with a diminished chord.
so you can already make a major, minor, and diminished change just by moving the baritone while the other two voices stay on the same note. cool huh?
I was thinking that just adding in an octave below you with a bass would be the way to go but I think Larry hits a lot of those bass notes in his singing and they’d only stack on top of each other.
A base part shouldn’t hit the baritone. Baritone is only a third below the lead. Bass would be lower (but that would be quite low in the key of F).
Example: First sung note of chorus on* You’ll never forget me*
T = C
L = A
B = F
Bass = F octave below baritone
Bass can get really different - I’ve played bass a long time and still don’t completely understand all the cool things you can jdo with a Bass part when singing.
- how about taking the time to throw up a few individual tracks of you singing harmony parts so we can listen to them?*
I think it might work better to write them out for guitar so you could see and understand the triads and how the singing goes right along with the playing.
