I remember a specific time at my church when I was singing in the congregation and just worshiping from the heart. I had found a new enjoyment in singing worship on Sunday morning. It came as a new feeling to me. I felt as if my musical language had increased, and I was able to express what was in my heart on a different level through my voice. This gave me a new freedom to express musically what was going on inside my heart. This happened when I learned how to harmonize.
For me, learning how to hear the harmony parts in songs allowed me to express myself through singing in a more heartfelt way. Let me give an example. Sometimes when the song climaxes in a loud chorus and the melody just doesn’t sit high enough in my voice for me to sing with the energy I would like to sing with at that point… so I’ll sing the tenor part. Or sometimes when the bridge repeats several times, I will choose to sing a lower harmony first and then sing the melody or a higher harmony even. This way I can personally engage with the words in a different way as we repeat them. For me, the ability to sing harmonies has given me a sense of freedom and greater personal expression when worshiping together through song.
Ok, so there’s my story about singing harmonies. Obviously, if you’re reading this, I don’t have to convince you that harmonies are awesome! Also, you very likely haven’t mastered the skill of harmonizing just yet, so let me share with you a few pointers I like to give people in this regard. As a voice instructor, I have helped many people develop their ear for harmonizing. And here is what I usually tell people to do.
1. Know the melody perfectly
Before you can really harmonize with the melody, you need to know the melody inside out. Harmonies essentially follow the melody in such a way as to create a chord (or a “harmony”) when sung together. For contemporary worship music, the harmony usually follows the structure of the melody in an interval of either a third or a fourth. So, understandably, before venturing on to finding the harmony, you’ll need to be super solid on the melody.
I always tell my students that they need to be able to have the melody down so well that even if they hear someone else sing another part right next to them, they still don’t sway from their melody. And believe me, this is harder than you think.
A good way to practice this is to, first, sing the melody with a recording. Second, try to sing it completely a cappella (with no track or recording… just you on your own). Then, third, try to sing it with a karaoke track for that same song (usually if you just type in *song name* karaoke track or performance track or instrumental track you’ll find it). You could also try to find a YouTube video of someone singing harmonies to the song. Then while hearing the harmonies, still stick to the melody on your own. If you can do all of this, then you’re well on your way to harmonizing.
We have several harmony tutorial videos that you can use right here. Before trying to sing along with the harmony parts, though, try to sing the melody part while hearing the louder harmony part—and don’t get swayed from your melody! Try it!
2. Sing along with the harmony parts in songs
This is the next step, and it’s much harder than you may think… but it’s great practice in training your ear. I actually remember doing this when I was trying to figure out how to sing harmonies myself. I would listen to some of my favorite songs and try to sing along with the quiet background vocal line. The challenge is obviously to “ignore” the melody while trying to pick out the the quieter voice that’s singing behind it. I remember at first only being able to sing along with a few of the harmony notes. Then slowly my ear got better, and I could sing along for longer without defaulting to the melody. So, just try it with some of your favorite songs and see if you can sing with the background vocalists.
Another way you can do this is find a song that is more of a duet with two voices. Lots of Disney songs are just popping into my head right now—which are actually pretty good for this. Let’s say, “A Whole New World” or the end of “I See the Light” would be perfect for this. If you don’t feel like singing a bunch of Disney duets all day long, you can often find covers of your favorite worship songs done as duets as well. Your goal in this would be to sing with either the guy or the girl the whole time (or if two guys or two girls are singing the duet, pick one to sing with… you get the idea). When they harmonize with each other, you’ll often want to default to the melody. But, you need to stay focused on only singing with either the guy or the girl through the whole song.
A tip I have for working on harmonies in this way is to find a small portion of a song that has discernible harmonies. Then keep rewinding and working on that part until you get it down. At first, try singing very softly with the recording while listening more than you sing. Then slowly start singing a bit louder to solidify the harmony part. This just takes lots of practice and lots of intense listening.
3. Learn the harmony part like it’s own melody
This is another great way to work on harmonizing, and I use this method a lot with my students. You’ll need to learn the harmony part as if it were just another melody line. To do this, sing the harmony part over and over until it gets in your voice (perhaps try to find a video with the harmony part, or ask a singer friend to record the harmony part so you can sing with it). Also, many of our harmony tutorial videos have downloadable individual parts in a link in the description.
Eventually, you should be able to comfortably sing the new harmony part by yourself. Then, try to sing your new “melody” (which is actually the harmony) along with the song track and try to stick to your new notes. At first, you’ll almost need to ignore the person singing the actual melody—just don’t ignore the key of the song so you don’t sing out of pitch. And then slowly, as you get more confident, you can start opening your ears to hear your part in relation to the melody.
Again this takes time and practice. And this method requires some skills in “selective ignoring” while sticking to your own part no matter what. We’ve actually put together some harmony tutorial videos which can be extremely helpful for doing this!
4. Do ear training exercises
After all, harmonizing is all about training your ear to hear the harmony parts. You need to confidently sing your part on pitch and with the correct notes, and STILL be aware of the other parts around you AND the harmonic structure of the music (ie. which chord is being played in relation to the note you’re singing). So, doing ear training exercises will totally help with being able to harmonize.
There are many ways to go about training your ear, but essentially you need to be able to become aware of which scale degree you are singing within the given key. There are two common methods to doing this. One is by using solfegge (aka. do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do). The other is using the number system in which you assign a number to each degree of the scale (1-8).
Since explaining exactly how to do ear training is nearly impossible (and not very beneficial at that), if you go to the bottom of this post (or just click here), I’ll show you my favorite ways to train your ear using the number system. Just stick in your email so I know where to send the link for the video.
5. Join your worship team
I have learned so much from being a part of a worship team. And if you’re wanting to get better at harmonizing, singing with a group of other singers is a great way to stretch your capabilities. I know this isn’t possible for everyone, but I would encourage you to go ask the person who leads worship if you could join the team. At least let the worship leader hear you sing and recommend what would be the next best steps in improving your voice for worship!
6. Join a choir
Singing in a choir is one of the best ways to get more comfortable harmonizing. Usually you will need to have some singing proficiency in order to join a choir, but I would encourage you to find a choir and join it!
When you sing in a choir, you are usually surrounded by people singing the same part as yourself. This makes it easier to sing your part. But, at the same time you can hear how your part fits in with the other choral parts (essentially composed harmonies) to create a whole beautiful sound.
Singing in a choir also challenges you to listen more than you sing. It’s important to not only sing in tune, but also match the same vowel shapes, the same tone, the same dynamics, and same rhythmic accuracy (just to name a few things) as those you are singing with.
7. Keep trying! It takes lots of time
Becoming comfortable harmonizing does not happen over night—or even over a few nights. It takes lots of practice to develop your ear and voice to be able to harmonize freely. But, I believe it’s a skill that is well worth it. I have found so much enjoyment in being able to harmonize to songs, and I know this is something I’ll get to enjoy for the rest of my life. I totally wish the same for you. There’s something extremely special in being a part of a group of people praising God in harmony.
Finally, here’s the video I promised with some extremely practical ways to work on training your ear for hearing harmonies.
Also, head on over to our YouTube Chanel for some harmony tutorial videos!
If you’d like to read our post on practical ways to develop your voice for singing then head on over here.
I don’t need lessons. I have been sing harmony, as you say, for decades. It is great fun. Over the years I have stretched my range from base to 2nd tenor. It is not only fun to harmonize but also to sing in other ranges, melody sometimes. Or just mix it up and enjoy worship in your own style. Good notes here on training!
That’s neat to hear that you love to sing harmonies as well. It is enjoyable, right?! I will often jump octaves as well depending on the situation. Well, thank you, Murry! I’m hoping that these tips might give someone an idea of where to start when trying to develop their ear for hearing harmonies. How did you learn how to harmonize?