Hello!
I've volunteered to take part in a three-part girl acapella group that will be doing a one-off show in six weeks.
We had our first rehearsal yesterday, and it is HARD!! (I knew it would be.)
I feel a little less qualified than the other two girls, as they have both sung either in choirs or bands, but they are familiar with my voice and keen for me to take part in the Alto role.
I find it very difficult to hold my own tune and not get pulled up into the Sop.2 notes :?
So... does anyone have any hints or advice for the best ways to practice harmonies between rehearsals?
(I have sheet music, and have been playing the three parts on the keyboard to get a feel for singing with other notes being heard at the same time. It's not quite the same, though.)
I really am excited about this project. It will be the first time I will sing in public in an event not organised and tightly controlled by my singing teacher :D
What I lack in talent and natural ability, I will have to make up with stubborness.
You're doing the right thing by playing all the notes at the same time while practicing, but if that's not helping fast enough I would just record the other 2 girls singing their parts together at your next practice and sing along with that at home, it's as close to the "real thing" as you can get.
Thanks for the reply :)
I'll record the rehearsal this week and use it to help me practice (last week I expected to be a bit of an "all over the place" experience as well got used to singing together).
I'm really looking forward to learning something so completely out of my experience -- and comfort zone!
What I lack in talent and natural ability, I will have to make up with stubborness.
I'm surprised your singing mates didn't help you with this since they've sang in choirs. When you practice on your own you need to play just the Alto part and sing just the alto part. the rest of the group should be doing the same with their parts. You shouldn't even attempt to sing together until all of you have your parts down. When the Choir I sing in does a new production, every member gets a cd with just their part on it. We spend weeks practicing on our own before we ever sing as a group. If we are just learning one new song the painist will play each part individually and we sing it individually before putting it together. You need to be able to hear your part apart from the rest of the song.
Tim Madsen
Nobody cares how much you know,
until they know how much you care.
"What you keep to yourself you lose, what you give away you keep forever." -Axel Munthe
I hadn't seen this post before and it's a bit late to jump in, but maybe this will help for next time.
I normally sing first soprano. But about a year ago I got into a quartet where I sing second soprano. Yes, it is a bit of a challenge singing harmony without wandering into someone else's part. The four of us are all longtime choir singers, so we run through a new song with all of the parts to get an idea of how it will sound. When we all get together on our own or with the pianist, we seldom need to have individual parts played, but it does happen. One of the singers refuses to do anything acapella, but the rest of us hope that she will change her mind eventually.
When practicing on my own I first play only my part on guitar. Then I sing my part while playing some of the piano accompaniment on guitar. (I'm not much of a keyboard player.) That way I get familiar with the cues that I will use from the piano. Once I'm fairly sure of it, I listen to a recording of just the first soprano part and try to sing my part with it. The quartet is part of our choir. The choir director is also a pianist and a singer and makes CDs for the choir and every ensemble with each part. That seems like a lot of work to me, but we do have choir members who don't read music, so it's very helpful for them.
I know you said that your trio is acapella, but do you have someone who can play keyboard well enough to help you at your rehearsals?
Renee
