In a group

Singing with other people is mostly listening. You match their vowel, their pitch, and their volume. Learn a second part on A second part first. These drills assume the drone is do and you already know a third and a fifth.

Ensemble singing is half technique and half sociology: you must hear the room while you stay on your job.

Harmony pages teach what the notes are; this page teaches holding them when someone else is louder.

Unison comes first. If you cannot match one pitch and vowel, a second part will wander.

Use headphones when you practice against Play so the model does not confuse the mic.

Unison

Everyone on the same pitch. Match the person next to you, not your memory of the pitch.

Unison means one pitch, one vowel color, one rhythm. The audience should hear one voice, not a cloud.

Match the person you can hear, not the pitch in memory. Memory drifts sharp when you are tired.

If you are alone, Play is the other singer. Your turn should make the check agree with every lit syllable.

Record two passes and compare vowels, not only pitch — bright ee next to dark ah sounds out of tune even on the same note.

1. Play once. Listen to the vowel color on every syllable.
2. Your turn. Same vowel shape on every syllable — “mee” stays “mee,” not “doh.”
3. If the check disagrees with the lit syllable, you are drifting from the group pitch, not just the vowel.
4. With a friend: one person Play, both sing Your turn together. The check should still name the same syllable for both of you.

Harmony parts

Drone stays on do. Soprano sings the melody you know. These lines are common choir parts in movable do.

SATB labels are jobs, not moral ranks. Alto is not “worse soprano”; it is a line that lives under the melody.

These drills use movable do so you can transpose with the practice bar when the choir sings in another key.

Learn your syllables without the melody first. Adding the tune too early hides wrong notes.

Bass roots anchor the chord — if bass drifts, everyone’s third and fifth feel wrong.

Alto line

Alto often sits on do and mi under the soprano — comfortable for singers who live in the middle of the chest voice.

Low ti under do at the end is the usual trip wire. The dot marks ti below the drone, not the high ti near dȯ.

Hold each syllable until the check names it before you worry about sounding “pretty.”

In a real choir, altos hear the sopranos and adjust — practice that by leaving Play running softly in one ear.

Alto often sits on do and mi under the soprano — comfortable for singers who live in the middle of the chest voice.

1. Play once: do · mi · do · tị — the last syllable is low ti under do.
2. Your turn. If the check says do on the last note, you sang the root, not tị.
3. Stay on one vowel color; alto lines sit under the melody, not on top of it.

Tenor / harmony third

Tenor parts often float a third above the bass or double the melody an octave down in other arrangements — here it is the third above do.

The line mi–sol–mi–do is the same shape as the harmony taste on the hub, extended.

Tenors sometimes sing quietly to “stay out of the way.” Quiet still must be in tune.

If mi reads as re, you are a step low — reset on the drone, then leap again.

Tenor parts often float a third above the bass or double the melody an octave down in other arrangements — here it is the third above do.

1. Play once: mi · sol · mi · do — a third above the bass line’s do.
2. Your turn. If the check says re on the first note, you started too low.
3. Match pitch before you match volume; tenor parts often feel “quiet” but must still lock the syllable.

Fifth above

The fifth is the “open” interval — Twinkle’s first leap. Sol should feel like home, not like a stretch.

Opening on sol tests whether you can skip mi mentally. Walk do–mi–sol once if the leap keeps missing.

This line mirrors many baritone parts that emphasize fifths and roots.

Match vowel with the section — a spread ah on sol next to ee sopranos will never blend.

The fifth is the “open” interval — Twinkle’s first leap. Sol should feel like home, not like a stretch.

1. Play once: sol · mi · sol · do. The opening leap is the fifth above do.
2. Your turn. If the check says mi on the first note, you sang the third instead of the fifth.
3. When stuck, review intervals · fifth on the hub.

Your part against the melody

The small syllable is the soprano: mi · fa · sol · mi. You sing the large one, a third below: do · re · mi · do. Play sounds both. Your turn leaves only the soprano. You fill in the alto.

Singing against a melody means keeping your job while the other line tries to pull your ear.

Play shows both parts; Your turn removes the alto so you supply it. That is harder than singing with the model.

The first note is the usual mistake: sopranos start on mi; altos start on do under that mi.

Patience beats volume. If you leap to the melody, the ensemble becomes two sopranos.

1. Play once. Hear the soprano (small) and alto (large) together.
2. Your turn. If the check says mi on the first note, you sang the soprano. Come down to do.
3. The last note is do under mi. Two different pitches. Yours is the lower one.
4. Headphones help so the model stays in your ear and out of the mic.

Blend

Blend means one color of vowel and one pitch center in the room. Round “doh” and spread “mee” on the same chord sound like two different choirs. When two singers are a few cents apart, you hear beats — a slow wah-wah that is not vibrato.

Blend is vowel, pitch, and volume meeting in the middle — not everyone singing mezzo-forte alone.

Beats between two singers mean you are a few cents apart. Slide gently toward the group, usually up from flat.

Chords in Play are the reference pitch center. Your single note must agree with the stack, not fight it.

Record the room if you can. Phones lie about bass; ears in the circle tell the truth.

Root on the major triad

The speaker plays do · mi · sol for six beats. You sing do on “doh” and match the root, not the whole stack in your throat.

Holding do on a full triad teaches you to stay root when the third and fifth tempt your ear upward.

The check should say do for six beats — if mi appears, you sang the chord’s middle note by habit.

Feel the buzz in the chest, not a squeeze in the neck. The chord is loud; you do not have to be.

This is the same skill as baritone section holding down a stack in rehearsal.

1. Your turn. The check should say do the whole time.
2. If you hear beats, slide slightly toward the chord — usually you are flat to the room.

Third on the same chord

Same triad. You hold mi — the third. If the check says do, you sang the root by habit.

Mi on the triad is the color note — major vs minor lives here.

Sopranos sing mi all day; altos and tenors must learn mi as a home note too for this drill.

If you drift to do, you lost the third. Reset on mi alone, then add the chord again.

Matching vowel matters: a dark mi next to a bright mi still beats two different mi pitches.

Vowel lock in unison

Run Unison again, but everyone uses the same mouth: all “mee” on mi, or all “doh” on do. Switch vowels on purpose once — notice how the room sounds wider even when the check still names the right syllable.

Also watch: Eric Whitacre — virtual choir tips on blend.

Press Play once and listen before you sing. Your turn is for testing, not for guessing.

The check names the pitch you actually sang — adjust until it matches the lit syllable in tune.

If anything pinches, stop and reset on SOVT or a lower do in the practice bar.

Short daily reps here beat one long session on the weekend.