VocalHarmony-20180627

Introduction
The goal of the class is to explore singing and harmonizing in the folk and old time traditions.

We'll work to build enough understanding of music theory and music vocabulary to communicate with each other, but mostly we will be singing -- singing new songs, singing old songs, singing by the numbers, building and hearing our harmonies, and polishing our performance techniques in front of each other.

Lee Leonard, the instructor, and all the students introduced themselves and their musical background.

Survey
We ran a quick survey of everyone to figure out how much music knowledge we had in common and to gauge the talents that we can exploit as a class. Everyone had some musical experience. whether singing is a chorus or choir, and/or playing an instrument.

Ranges
Here's everyone's ranges at the beginning of class (2018-06-27):

Nashville numbering
While most of our learning will be by ear, when we are looking at notes we won't be using standard music notation. We'll be using a modified Nashville notation similar to what Mick Kinney is using in his classes and notation that's used in the ToneWay books and website.

In Nashville notation we refer to notes numerically by their relative location to the scale. For instance, in the key C major, the scale would go C D E F G A B C. The same scale in Nashville notation would simply be: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. Well, big deal right?

So let's look at the key of E major: E F# G# A B C# D# E. In Nashville notations that'd be: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. How about B flat major: Bb C D Eb F G A Bb. Guess what the Nashville notation is? Yes, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1.

So with Nashville notation we are abstracting away the particular key of a melody. Why is this useful? Well, think of it this way: whether you are singing a song in C or A, it's still the same melody. Yes, all the keys you'd play on the piano will be different. All the fingerings on the violin would be different. Yes, the guitarists would cheat and use a capo -- but in your head, no matter what the key, it's the same melody.

Nashville notation captures that essence without all the complications of choosing a key.

So, we mentioned modified Nashville notation up top. By that we mean that in addition to showing the notes as numbers (the scale degrees) we also show the shape of the melody by displaying the numbers moving up and down on the page as the melody goes up and down. Like so:



This way, in a quick glance, you can see the shape of the melody.

Singing by the numbers
There are so many things that go into singing harmony. The original melody, the harmony line(s), sight reading the sheet music with its key signatures, notes and durations, and the many, many lyrics. It makes for quite a steep learning curve at the beginning. So in this method so far, we've thrown away the key signatures, notes and durations by using the Nashville notation. We've simplified the sight reading further by showing the shape of the melody. The final hurdle to learning a new song is the lyrics themselves. So, let's get rid of them too. We'll get back to them later.

To make sure that we know the melody well, we'll just sing Pig in a Pen by the numbers using this sample:

[[Media:PigInAPen.numbers.ogg|Pig in a Pen sung by the numbers]]

Once we have the melody down pat, then we can try it with lyrics:

[[Media:PigInAPen.ogg|Pig in a Pen sung with lyrics]]

Rehearse
Chopsticks (C)

Listen to a favorite traditional song from a recording and figure out its key and the degrees of the scale for a few measures
Some of you may have no trouble with this. Some may need some tips:

First, You'll need to figure out the key. This is a little tricky the first time round, but you'll get much quicker with practice.

It helps to have one or two things when you attempt this: an instrument that plays melody -- a piano or keyboard is particularly handy -- and/or an electronic tuner (or a tuning app on your smart phone).

Now it's time to do a lot of listening to your song. As you play it over and over you may notice that the chorus, the verses, and the song itself probably end on the same note. Most traditional songs will end on the tonic (or key note) -- that's probably your "1" note. [You did pick a happy song that's in a major scale right? If not, go find Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on YouTube and start again. :-]

OK, once you've got your 1, or key note, the fun begins. Play a scale starting on your 1. Do it up and down. Go down from your 1 and play the octave below. Give it a few goes to familiarize yourself with the neighborhood.

Now let's figure out which note your song starts on. Does your song start on a 1? If not try a 5 or maybe a 3? Often traditional songs start with a 1 chord, so there's a good change that the melody starts with a 1, 3 or 5. If you have trouble figuring which it is, try counting up from your 1 until if matches. Still having trouble? Try alternating 1 and the note your trying 1 2 1 2 1 2 1. Not 2, how about 3? 1 3 1 3 1 3 1. Five? 1 5 1 5 1 5 1. Six? 1 6 1 6 1 6 1 etc. Eventually you'll find it.

Then move to the next note. Then to the next. Then to the next until you're bored. Sing the numbers you've written down so far. How does it sound? One or two of the notes might need rejiggering.

Learn words for Climbing High Mountains
This one is a no brainer. Climbing High Mountains only has three lines, one for each verse, and then repeat the first one to finish it off:

I've been climbing high mountains. ... I've been wading deep waters. ... I've been moving through dark valleys. ...

You can go to the song page and sing along to a couple of versions on YouTube. Just for fun, try to figure out what key each of them is. Hint: it's a minor song.