Over the last year or so, a couple of friends and I have formed a trio and have played some gigs. We're all amateur songwriters and we back up each other's songs in addition to doing some trad blues, folk/country and swing covers. We also sing in two-part and three-part harmony occasionally and we'd like to do that more often.

Of the three of us, I'm the one with the most experience singing harmony -- I grew up singing alto in church choirs, playing in school bands and orchestras, and taking piano lessons, so hearing the harmony-notes within a chord and singing those notes is second nature to me.

Not so with my bandmates. The bass singer has the advantage of also having a friend who is a voice teacher and retired opera singer, and that guy has helped my friend learn to harmonize and to sing the root of a chord. It's not a comfortable habit for him yet, but he's making great strides and is getting there.

The other guy sings in the tenor/high baritone range and can carry a melody very well while the rest of us are harmonizing with him, but when it's someone else's turn to sing lead and his turn to harmonize... well, let's just say it's a challenge for him. He sometimes sings something that sounds good but then his voice wanders off in dissonant directions. He often ends up singing along with the melody or with the other harmony-part without even realizing that he's doing it. However, when I try to give him the note that he is supposed to sing (by singing or playing it for him), he has difficulty mimicking that note. I play an E, he sings a C# and asks, "Is that right?" Arrgh.

On the plus side, when a harmony is written out for him note by note on staff paper, he can learn it (as if he were learning a new melody), and I've heard him continue to sing it to himself pitch-perfect when rehearsal's over and we're carrying instruments to our cars. So there's hope!

But how do I go about teaching him to sing his part when he's singing with the rest of us? He has no training or experience with choral groups, shape-note sings, or any of that (and his business keeps him too busy to attend sings with any regularity -- besides, we need him to learn to sing our songs first so we can perform them at gigs!). I could write out his part for him, for every song in our group's growing repertoire, but how do I teach him to find his part by ear? He brings a little electronic recorder to our rehearsals and records the other two of us so that he can sing along while he's working or driving, but so far it hasn't helped; I suspect it's because we aren't there to tell him that he's latched on to one of our parts again.

Any suggestions or references to helpful websites, teaching materials, etc would be appreciated! Are there any exercises that he could do alone or that we could do with him? Any tips for me (the most temperamental of the three of us) about maintaining my cool and being patient while he learns?!? Help!

Frustratedly,
Sharon