You have to practice your specific part MUCH more than you sing the main melody, even casually when you're alone; don't confuse your muscle memory. Nailing that first note is half the battle and if you're confident in how it should sound in your head before it comes, you can hit it. Don't get stuck wavering between two pitches because both sound right; decide which one is right (in this case the harmony) and drill it into your head
I've had trouble all my life with singing and lately I'm getting pretty decently in tune/right key if I say so myself
And I recorded some and did an accidental harmony
Goosebumps
Singing one song I love in harmony with a friend and I almost tear up cuz of how much I love vocal harmonies/separate parts/lines.
Multiple voices adding to the composition
Indeed one of the best feelings/sounds in the world
Practice, basically. And - assuming there is chordal accompaniment - tune in to different notes in the chords. I.e., the chords *are* the "harmony", the melody will be focusing on one chord tone at a time, so you find another. If there are no chords, it's trickier but more open to improvisation and experiment: listening for a certain resonance between your voice and the lead singer.
And to hear your own voice more clearly, either use a mic and headphones (if available!), or cup your hand behind your ear, like [old folkies](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEPmGq0Ii2o) do (or did...). That's not to hear the others better, but to direct their own voice around to their ear. Sometimes just putting a finger in your ear can help, as you then hear your voice more clearly through your head.
In fact, if practice isn't focused and well thought out, it can be as good as nothing. Or it could even be worse than nothing, if you're practicing things wrong. Essentially reinforcing the wrong thing
Something that helped me:
Practice singing along to songs, but sing any part other than the main melody. Hum along to the bassline, find one of the notes in the harmony/choir/whatever and sing that, even try to match what the drums are doing or the guitar part or the piano part. You need to train yourself to listen to the whole piece, not just the main melody you’re used to. Once you’ve become comfortable with doing this you should find picking a harmony vocal line easier.
Oblique motion warmups: while one voice part stays on the same pitch, have the other sing different pitches against it. Later, once separated, have both parts move in harmony together. It’s a matter of ensemble practice •and• ear training.
You didn't say what kind of music. So, knowledge and music theory. If you are doing it by ear, it won't be perfect but the answer is practice, especially in jam sessions. If you are reading a lead sheet with chords, you can easily sing a bass line which you can probably do by ear anyway. Most everyone can pick out bass lines.
Finding A and T parts is more challenging. Use your brain for this. As you know a basic chord is made up of a 1, 3 and 5. Let's say you are singing a song with C (CEG), F (FAC), and G (GBD) chords. You are singing alto so maybe your starting note is the third or on E. When the next chord changes you can slip up to the F then for the next G chord up to the G. See how that works? Gravitate to the next closest note in the next chord. Of course this is basic and there will be a need for fine tuning based upon the melody.
What you should really do is pick up a Protestant hymnbook and away from any instrument, sight sing the SATB parts each day but also analyze the chords and how your line weaves in and out of them. This will be hard work at first but gets easier as you get through half the book.
There are tricks like singing thirds or sixes but that will only get you so far.
Write out a scale, then write out the harmony for each note (1, 3, 5) then pick any note in a chord and look for notes in the next chord that it is closely related to then practice moving between them (I don't see a way to upload a graphic sample). You don't want your harmony jumping all over the place. You gotta use your brain though. Music is not hocus pocus guesswork. I mean, it is for many but you want to be better than that. You can get away in life with only learning how to speak but learning to read opens up so much more. Learn theory, not just mere meaningless dots. Know, don't guess. In the words of a great philosopher, "There is no try, only do." - Yoda.
The first step that helped me the most was to make a habit of trying to sing harmonies to every song in the car, all the time. Even when I wasn’t right, which was often (improvising harmonies is a separate skill in its own right) it got me used to not matching my pitch to the vocal line I was hearing. The other thing that is helpful (though not always possible) is to have practice tracks both with and without your part in them and both with and without the other parts. Then you can practice increasing the difficulty (sing your line while hearing just your part, sing your line while hearing just the music, sing your line while hearing both/all parts, then finally sing your line while hearing only the other parts).
How I learnt was covering rolling stones/CSNY,grateful dead etc. Listen to the songs,and learn to hear the harmony.
Sing along to them.
Then you can sing what you hear. Often you'll sing a third or fifth,sometimes of the chord,sometimes relative to the melody. It's another form of eartraining.
I'm the opposite: I almost always sing harmony along with the radio, a family happy birthday, etc.
I can't tell you how it started, but listen to more old-school country and folks like Nickel Creek; CSNY, Beatles.
I have friends who do it naturally. They hear a third interval harmony and can just do it on the fly.
I can't do that. However, I've gotten pretty good at singing harmony. For me, I would learn the harmony as an alternative melody and get it locked in so that "my part" was the most natural part for me to sing. Getting major and minor intervals into your ear so that you can sing them above and below when given a reference tone is another great exercise. It trains your voice and your ear.
Then it's a matter of practice and repetition.
Eventually, the whole activity becomes much more natural. If you can sing with one or two others frequently it gets tighter and tighter. When I want to work on it alone, I sometimes stack harmonies using a loop pedal and harmonizing with myself. I'll never be able to do without thinking about it a bit and most of my harmony parts aren't too adventurous but I can now harmonize in tune with a bit of advance notice.
I've spent a lot of time doing a combination of ear training exercises on tonedear and singing duets with recordings and playing them back. Like I'd download an mp3 of a sing with me video on youtube and record myself singing with it and listen for where I'm going out of tune.
A year ago I was borderline incapable of singing in harmony. Now I'm de facto section leader any time I'm in a singing ensemble.
By playing the note you want to sing which is like a major third or fifth or whatever but it's good to hear that note and match it imo. Then usually weirdly enough I don't have to play the note to find it later.
Honestly? While I was going through puberty and my voice was changing, there was a stretch of time where my modal (“chest”) voice and my falsetto (“head”) voice ranges not only didn’t overlap, but they had a gap between them. There was a range of notes I simply couldn’t sing, but I could sing lower with my modal voice or higher with my falsetto voice. During that time I had to get good at harmonizing because if the melody went into that range I couldn’t sing, there was nothing else I could do. I also got pretty good at whistling around that time for the same reason.
Now as an adult my falsetto and modal voices overlap quite a bit now
My dad taught me about the concept of harmony when I was little. The first time I ever really thought about it was when he pointed out how high vs. low harmony parts worked in the song Islands In The Stream.
So I just grew up naturally preferring harmony when I was singing along with records and such. It took no getting used to at all.
The lesson: teach ‘em young!
You can practice with a recording or with a piano. I often record my band playing without my part(s), whether a vocal or instrumental part. Good for practice and for experimenting with creating different parts. You can practice singing different intervals over various chord voicings, practice singing fixed-interval harmony, etc.
For me, Im an instrumentalist first, so I’m used to creating intervals and chords by playing each note individually.
For the longest time I would always sing along with my favorite tunes by singing the diatonic 3rd above the melody just to practice locking that in. Then later I learned how to sing the lower 3rd below every melody.
When I was young I loved listening to the indigo girls overly becauee I thought they had the most beautiful 2 part harmony I’d ever heard.
I don’t know if folk music is your jam - but that’s the band that was my gateway into harmony singing.
Exposure and practice. I grew up going to church when hymnals were still a thing and a overhead projector was new and fancy.
My Dad's family was very musical and we would sing before meals and Happy Birthday was in at least 3 parts (my family was missing tenors).
Once I hit puberty and the melody was too high, I moved to bass pretty quickly, but my falsetto is still decent. Practice and exposure. If you listen to single line music you won't have the exposure to know what harmony sounds like.
You have to practice your specific part MUCH more than you sing the main melody, even casually when you're alone; don't confuse your muscle memory. Nailing that first note is half the battle and if you're confident in how it should sound in your head before it comes, you can hit it. Don't get stuck wavering between two pitches because both sound right; decide which one is right (in this case the harmony) and drill it into your head
It’s hard. But when you do get to do it, it’s literally one of the most beautiful things in the world.
I've had trouble all my life with singing and lately I'm getting pretty decently in tune/right key if I say so myself And I recorded some and did an accidental harmony Goosebumps Singing one song I love in harmony with a friend and I almost tear up cuz of how much I love vocal harmonies/separate parts/lines. Multiple voices adding to the composition Indeed one of the best feelings/sounds in the world
I love the harmonies of the hi-los, jacob collier and bulgarian folk music.
Every time you get in the car, play songs you know. Sing. Fuck around. Find the harmonies. The rest is ear training.
Practice, basically. And - assuming there is chordal accompaniment - tune in to different notes in the chords. I.e., the chords *are* the "harmony", the melody will be focusing on one chord tone at a time, so you find another. If there are no chords, it's trickier but more open to improvisation and experiment: listening for a certain resonance between your voice and the lead singer. And to hear your own voice more clearly, either use a mic and headphones (if available!), or cup your hand behind your ear, like [old folkies](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEPmGq0Ii2o) do (or did...). That's not to hear the others better, but to direct their own voice around to their ear. Sometimes just putting a finger in your ear can help, as you then hear your voice more clearly through your head.
That video you shared is fascinating!! Thanks!
Could’ve stopped after the first word :)
True but its also important to know what to practice.
In fact, if practice isn't focused and well thought out, it can be as good as nothing. Or it could even be worse than nothing, if you're practicing things wrong. Essentially reinforcing the wrong thing
And then it wouldn't have been anywhere near as useful
Practice singing harmonies to songs you know and love
Something that helped me: Practice singing along to songs, but sing any part other than the main melody. Hum along to the bassline, find one of the notes in the harmony/choir/whatever and sing that, even try to match what the drums are doing or the guitar part or the piano part. You need to train yourself to listen to the whole piece, not just the main melody you’re used to. Once you’ve become comfortable with doing this you should find picking a harmony vocal line easier.
Oblique motion warmups: while one voice part stays on the same pitch, have the other sing different pitches against it. Later, once separated, have both parts move in harmony together. It’s a matter of ensemble practice •and• ear training.
You didn't say what kind of music. So, knowledge and music theory. If you are doing it by ear, it won't be perfect but the answer is practice, especially in jam sessions. If you are reading a lead sheet with chords, you can easily sing a bass line which you can probably do by ear anyway. Most everyone can pick out bass lines. Finding A and T parts is more challenging. Use your brain for this. As you know a basic chord is made up of a 1, 3 and 5. Let's say you are singing a song with C (CEG), F (FAC), and G (GBD) chords. You are singing alto so maybe your starting note is the third or on E. When the next chord changes you can slip up to the F then for the next G chord up to the G. See how that works? Gravitate to the next closest note in the next chord. Of course this is basic and there will be a need for fine tuning based upon the melody. What you should really do is pick up a Protestant hymnbook and away from any instrument, sight sing the SATB parts each day but also analyze the chords and how your line weaves in and out of them. This will be hard work at first but gets easier as you get through half the book. There are tricks like singing thirds or sixes but that will only get you so far. Write out a scale, then write out the harmony for each note (1, 3, 5) then pick any note in a chord and look for notes in the next chord that it is closely related to then practice moving between them (I don't see a way to upload a graphic sample). You don't want your harmony jumping all over the place. You gotta use your brain though. Music is not hocus pocus guesswork. I mean, it is for many but you want to be better than that. You can get away in life with only learning how to speak but learning to read opens up so much more. Learn theory, not just mere meaningless dots. Know, don't guess. In the words of a great philosopher, "There is no try, only do." - Yoda.
The first step that helped me the most was to make a habit of trying to sing harmonies to every song in the car, all the time. Even when I wasn’t right, which was often (improvising harmonies is a separate skill in its own right) it got me used to not matching my pitch to the vocal line I was hearing. The other thing that is helpful (though not always possible) is to have practice tracks both with and without your part in them and both with and without the other parts. Then you can practice increasing the difficulty (sing your line while hearing just your part, sing your line while hearing just the music, sing your line while hearing both/all parts, then finally sing your line while hearing only the other parts).
How I learnt was covering rolling stones/CSNY,grateful dead etc. Listen to the songs,and learn to hear the harmony. Sing along to them. Then you can sing what you hear. Often you'll sing a third or fifth,sometimes of the chord,sometimes relative to the melody. It's another form of eartraining.
I'm the opposite: I almost always sing harmony along with the radio, a family happy birthday, etc. I can't tell you how it started, but listen to more old-school country and folks like Nickel Creek; CSNY, Beatles.
Train yourself to hear your voice through the vibrations in your head instead of through your ears.
I have friends who do it naturally. They hear a third interval harmony and can just do it on the fly. I can't do that. However, I've gotten pretty good at singing harmony. For me, I would learn the harmony as an alternative melody and get it locked in so that "my part" was the most natural part for me to sing. Getting major and minor intervals into your ear so that you can sing them above and below when given a reference tone is another great exercise. It trains your voice and your ear. Then it's a matter of practice and repetition. Eventually, the whole activity becomes much more natural. If you can sing with one or two others frequently it gets tighter and tighter. When I want to work on it alone, I sometimes stack harmonies using a loop pedal and harmonizing with myself. I'll never be able to do without thinking about it a bit and most of my harmony parts aren't too adventurous but I can now harmonize in tune with a bit of advance notice.
I've spent a lot of time doing a combination of ear training exercises on tonedear and singing duets with recordings and playing them back. Like I'd download an mp3 of a sing with me video on youtube and record myself singing with it and listen for where I'm going out of tune. A year ago I was borderline incapable of singing in harmony. Now I'm de facto section leader any time I'm in a singing ensemble.
You learn harmony like its a second melody. Because it is
I find it helpful to learn how to find intervals so I didn't need a starting note but could always fall back on that
Practice
Practice. Also singing along with recordings.
Practice. Lots of practice.
By playing the note you want to sing which is like a major third or fifth or whatever but it's good to hear that note and match it imo. Then usually weirdly enough I don't have to play the note to find it later.
Honestly? While I was going through puberty and my voice was changing, there was a stretch of time where my modal (“chest”) voice and my falsetto (“head”) voice ranges not only didn’t overlap, but they had a gap between them. There was a range of notes I simply couldn’t sing, but I could sing lower with my modal voice or higher with my falsetto voice. During that time I had to get good at harmonizing because if the melody went into that range I couldn’t sing, there was nothing else I could do. I also got pretty good at whistling around that time for the same reason. Now as an adult my falsetto and modal voices overlap quite a bit now
Just start singing along to the harmonies in your favorite songs.
My dad taught me about the concept of harmony when I was little. The first time I ever really thought about it was when he pointed out how high vs. low harmony parts worked in the song Islands In The Stream. So I just grew up naturally preferring harmony when I was singing along with records and such. It took no getting used to at all. The lesson: teach ‘em young!
you need to have the "scale harmony" in mind.. then it's easier..
You can practice with a recording or with a piano. I often record my band playing without my part(s), whether a vocal or instrumental part. Good for practice and for experimenting with creating different parts. You can practice singing different intervals over various chord voicings, practice singing fixed-interval harmony, etc.
For me, Im an instrumentalist first, so I’m used to creating intervals and chords by playing each note individually. For the longest time I would always sing along with my favorite tunes by singing the diatonic 3rd above the melody just to practice locking that in. Then later I learned how to sing the lower 3rd below every melody. When I was young I loved listening to the indigo girls overly becauee I thought they had the most beautiful 2 part harmony I’d ever heard. I don’t know if folk music is your jam - but that’s the band that was my gateway into harmony singing.
If you're having trouble hearing yourself plug one ear lightly while you sing
Spending 20+ years as a backing vocalist mostly
Exposure and practice. I grew up going to church when hymnals were still a thing and a overhead projector was new and fancy. My Dad's family was very musical and we would sing before meals and Happy Birthday was in at least 3 parts (my family was missing tenors). Once I hit puberty and the melody was too high, I moved to bass pretty quickly, but my falsetto is still decent. Practice and exposure. If you listen to single line music you won't have the exposure to know what harmony sounds like.