My first impression when I came into contact with harmony was that when I sang in the chorus, it was in the bass part. The teacher wouldn't let us sing the main melody, but let us sing something out of tune and without melody. I was really depressed when I practiced the chorus, because it was too ugly. But when the four voices sang together for the first time, I was shocked by the wonderful and indescribable feeling of the four harmonies.
At that time, I thought the harmony was so good that several people sang different sounds, and the sounds together were so hierarchical and expressive, so I especially wanted to know how this thing was compiled and how to sing harmony better.
After a period of thinking and practice, I can compose music and sing a little harmony by myself now, so I write down my own experience here, hoping to help everyone.
Arrangement:
One of the simplest ways to compose harmony is to find out the sounds opposite to melody sounds from the chords according to the chords of songs, and then string these sounds into one part to sing. This is harmony.
For example, the song about winter,
Its first sentence is "Gently, I will leave you"
The corresponding score is11112355.
The corresponding chord is G Bm.
The chord series is Ⅰ Ⅲ.
The composition of the chord is 1 3 5 3 5 7.
The sound corresponding to the third degree above the melody is 3 3 3 3 4 5 7 7.
At this time, I sang the notes corresponding to the three degrees above the melody into a score, which is the harmony of the first sentence. This is the easiest way to create harmony. In general guitar lessons, the score of the song and the corresponding chord progression will be given. According to the above method, you can write the harmony of the whole song. Also, the above example is to pick the first three notes, or you can pick the first five notes, or the root of the chord, and so on. You can easily make up a voice.
One thing to note here is that when analyzing and memorizing chords, it is best to memorize them with series. In this way, the progression, composition and nature of chords can be clearer, which is much better than memorizing a lot of C and Am. What is the series of chords? It is unclear in one or two sentences, but it is explained in general music books or guitar tutorials. I recommend you to read the Folk Guitar Teaching Book by Wang Ying and Ma Hong. The discussion about chords in it is easy to understand, which is very suitable for guitar lovers.
Although this arrangement is easy to use, it is too dead, but the counterpoint filling is too much like mathematics, not like music. Therefore, for the notes filled "vertically", some adjustments should be made when strung "horizontally" into a melody. For example, some places can use overtones, some places can add melodies, some places can write polyphonic feelings, some places use "ah" and "woo" instead of lyrics as the background, some places have only one voice, and some places may need four or five voices. In short, the specific situation is handled.
One thing to note here is that the writing and revision of harmony should have a certain purpose, at least you should know which part of a song you want to highlight, set off that part, where to brew emotions, where to reach the climax and so on. , lest you be blind. In addition, the use of harmony should also be appropriate. "What you give is what you get" is a wise saying, and the harmonious effect is not necessarily good everywhere.
Sing harmony:
The principle of singing harmony is three words: "Sing close to it." Just stick to the main theme and follow the voice of the lead singer. When you begin to practice singing harmony, you will inevitably follow the Lord and feel a little self-righteous. This is a normal phenomenon. At this time, you must first learn your own voice repeatedly, so that it is not easy to run. Then, when singing harmony, try to force yourself to listen to the feeling of "several different voices colliding together", which is the feeling of harmony. Remember these feelings, and then practice again and again, trying to make yourself sing harmony accurately.
Next, we should pay attention to "singing close to you", especially the harmony should not pretend to be the host. You should try to use "high-pitched softly", even if you sing the harmony of the bass part (for example, singing the main melody of the bass octave), you can't use the real voice, so as to better control the personality of your voice and "make a sound that is easy to blend with other sounds". As for the singing method and practice of "treble softly", there is usually a chorus forum, which you can refer to.
Improvised harmony:
Improvisation tests your harmony, but if you edit and sing well, improvisation will come naturally. When you start improvising, you may want to consider the progress of melody, chord and what sound to sing at the same time. If you sing too much, there is only one feeling left, so you don't have to think when you sing. When you listen to the main spin, there is harmony. I practice improvisation by myself, that is, when listening to music, I directly harmonize with any song and force myself to sing different parts of the song to train my improvisation feeling. You can also try it when you have time, especially when watching videos and singing harmony, which gives people the feeling of performing with stars on the same stage, hehe.