Sweet harmony

The other day as I was driving, a song popped up in a playlist I hadn't listened to in awhile. I had to listen to it at least five -- possibly six -- times before I could move on:


I'm in love with listening to and learning the harmonies in songs like this. In this particular song, I can flip from the melody to the high part to the low and back to harmony pretty easily (at least, I could until Saturday when I realized the low part is a bit different than I thought, resulting in the three last repeats and a blown mind). I'm always a little amazed when people tell me they have a hard time picking out the harmony in songs. I have a hard time focusing on the melody because I WANT to sing harmony! It's one of the reasons I don't choose to sing soprano in plays whenever possible.

Karaoke on the 2010 Western Caribbean Cruise

Though I love to sing and do it a lot, I'm very aware that I'm not much of a musician. I read music ok, but if I'm learning something new, I rely quite a bit on the person next to me (hoping they CAN sight read).

As an exercise in practicing sight reading and figuring out intervals between notes, I make it a point to sing all of the parts -- Soprano, Alto, Tenor (an octave higher), and Bass (also an octave higher) -- of the hymns during church each week. I've grown up singing many of those songs, and my mom always sang Alto and my dad Tenor, so I have a good jumping off point. It's the best when there are four verses; if there are fewer I skip the Soprano. I always at least try to pick out the Tenor. I'm not saying I always do a good job, but I try! It's a little frustrating when the song doesn't have any written parts. I may not remember the names of the notes, but I can tell if I'm singing out of tune (and am often surprised at some of the choices the composers/arrangers made). I also try not to sing the same part as whoever is sitting next to me (or behind me, if they are loud). It's fun to hear the rich harmony in the song, as it was written to have.

There are quite a few songs I have a tough time just listening to once. Here are a few of my favorites:

• I've toyed with teaching this to my brothers and making them sing it for our Christmas Eve family talent show, but I'm not sure if I'm up to teaching:

• Start at 1:25 for this one. I love this one because both parts weave seamlessly from melody into harmony and back. It's so, so cool!

• Lest you think I only listen to musicals, I'm a little obsessed with this song right now, too; I'm disappointed when there isn't one more repeat of the chorus. Such a happy, uplifting song, and some of the things they do with harmony are so unexpected!

• And I can sing any part in this classic:

What do you like most to sing? And where? I'm pretty partial to blasting music in my car and singing along... that way I can pretend I sound just like the person in the recording ;)

Happy Tuesday!