Beginning Harmony and Building Strength

In this class, we will explore the foundations of vocal harmony by learning polyphonic vocal music from a variety of traditions. Our repertoire will include songs from American folk traditions (including gospel, country and shapenote) as well as more contemporary English-language songs (the Beach Boys) and songs from other countries (including Georgia, Greece and Ukraine). While this class will be mostly singing, we will spend some time learning the history of these musical traditions and decoding their harmonic structures. There will be time for improvisation, in which we will explore inventing our own harmonies to the songs we've learned. In addition to learning songs, we will cover some basic vocal technique in order to build confidence and strength through healthy singing. While there will be some opportunities for individual singing, the bulk of this class will be singing with a group. This class is perfect for those who love to sing, but would like more experience singing harmony with a group and understanding the basic theory behind it all. All levels of experience are welcome, sight reading not required. The class will culminate in an informal performance for friends and family to hear what we've been working on.