Xref: utzoo comp.music:481 rec.music.makers:5924
Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!comcon!roy
From: roy@comcon.UUCP (Roy M. Silvernail)
Newsgroups: comp.music,rec.music.makers
Subject: Re: vocal harmony question
Summary: Depends....?
Message-ID: <166@comcon.UUCP>
Date: 15 Dec 89 01:13:02 GMT
References: <18807@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> <365@bbxsda.UUCP> <19114@watdragon.waterloo.edu>
Followup-To: poster
Organization: Computer Connection - Anchorage, Alaska
Lines: 41

In article <19114@watdragon.waterloo.edu>, dmnhieu@trillium.waterloo.edu (Duy-Minh NHIEU MAPLE tutor) writes:
> 
> Some music (songs) are written in two parts for a duet (usually they are a 
> major third
> apart), my question is why for some group of two people that perform the duet,
> it sounds harmonized and for other, it does not sound harmonize although they 
> sing in tune with respect to each others, does it have anything to do with the
> voice?  I mean the different timbre of the voice?  (Say a guy with a guy, a
> girl with a girl and a guy with a girl, which combination sounds the most
> harmonized?)  Is  there any technique to harmonize?  ie the relative volume
> etc...

The difference seems (to me) to be the relative timbre of the two
voices, although a number of factors relate to harmonizing.

The typical duet line is a third apart, but whether it's a major or
minor third depends on where in the chord the melody note is placed. A
trio line would add a fifth (above or below), and that fifth is a
constant interval from the melody note.

One thing I've noticed (in performance, where we usually don't work from
manuscript) is that some people will grab a fourth instead of a third.
The harmony line will sound similar to a conventional third, but
different enough to be noticable. It also makes for much excitement when
another person decides to add that fifth ;-} (seems to me Stevie Nicks,
with Fleetwod Mac, does a lot of fourth-based harmonies)

The techniques I use are to listen carefully to the interaction of the
notes I sing and the notes the other person sings. Volume is important,
and usually the harmony line should be ever so slightly softer than the
melody line. The harmonizer might soften hard consonants, as well. I've
been in jam situations where I have been able to place harmony lines on
songs I didn't even know, by softening the enunciation and selecting the
right notes. (I used to work with a guitar player who could also do this
real well... we could stack parts on almost anything..:-)


-- 
_R_o_y _M_. _S_i_l_v_e_r_n_a_i_l  | UUCP: uunet!comcon!roy  |  "No, I don't live in an igloo!"
[ah, but it's my account... of course I opine!]           -Sourdough's riposte
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