How do you do 2 part or 3 part harmony?

Question:I think it's really beautiful and i want to be able to learn how! i've been in a few musicals and i'm in one right now. some of my cast buddies can harmonize so well my mouth drops! is it possible to get a teacher or something? 2 part and 3 part harmony sounds Xtremely good. if you CAN teach me, could you explain it a bit simpler than you would to a professional musician? mkay. can't wait for the answers.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I think it's really beautiful and i want to be able to learn how! i've been in a few musicals and i'm in one right now. some of my cast buddies can harmonize so well my mouth drops! is it possible to get a teacher or something? 2 part and 3 part harmony sounds Xtremely good. if you CAN teach me, could you explain it a bit simpler than you would to a professional musician? mkay. can't wait for the answers.

a three part harmony is simple a chord of voices, if you can play a chord on a piano you can do a three part. each member simply fluctuates their voice to a higher or lower octave

Two- and three-part harmony composition is not difficult, but there are a set of rules that must be learned. It is all wrapped up in the study of musical theory and composition. You can get a teacher specifically for composition, but usually only at the college level.

In essence, there are two ways to write something with harmony.

The first way is chordally. This means taking a pre-existing melody and harmonizing it. This can be a melody that someone already wrote or one that you compose yourself. Then you harmonize that melody with chords that make sense according to music fundamentals. If you are familiar with music, however, you can trust your ear for the most part.

The second way is linearly. This means writing separate melodies that compliment your original melody line, but could still exist on their own. This way is quicker, but for the uninitiated can take a bit more trial and error, especially when you get into three- and four-part harmony.

You would do best to get your hands on a good, basic music theory textbook and a teacher, preferably a piano teacher, to help you with learning the fundamentals. Then just let your creativity take over.

To really master writing and performing 2 and 3-part harmony, you need practice and training. You'll need to learn the basics of music theory and composition (especially harmony, voice leading, and counterpoint) and to perform it, you'll need to be secure enough singing your part that you can do so without relying on anyone else to help you with it.

If you're just looking for the basics, your best bet would be to keep it simple- create harmony in thirds (for example, have someone sing the melody, and you sing that same melodic line a third higher while keeping to the same key.)

As an example of this, listen to Alicia Keys song "Falling"- the chorus is all built around singing in thirds.

Another type of "harmony" part is called descant singing- one person sings the melody, and the second person sings a different melody that works if you sing it at the same time. This is trickier to pull off (but sounds very impressive if you can do it); as an example, listen the the Simon and Garfunkle song "Canticle (Scarborough Fair)."

So in general, if you want to learn how to sing harmony lines, you should listen to recordings of duos or trios that do it (like Evan and Jaron, Boyz II Men, or the Indigo Girls) and try to master the various parts- then apply what they do to songs of your own choosing.