Thinking about finding harmony lines, and group singing, I thought of a good way to explain how voices blend. When we work out harmonies, I tend to think of thirds between notes, so that we get a full sound. If there is too big a gap between notes, I hear the hole and it doesn't sound right. It is as if you broke a string on your guitar, and played a chord with the same fingering as if you had all six strings. None of the notes that you play would be discordant. There'd just be a "third" missing and you'd hear it. To me, it's the same in singing.

When we're working out harmonies, and I hear a note that sounds discordant to me, I always come back to the chord. I'll play the chord, a string at a time and say, "Pick a note... any note." If someone is singing a discordant note, I'll play that note in the chording on my guitar, and noses crinkle. It's not necessary to be musically sophsiticated, or know how to read music. Let your ear do the walking. Hmmm... I think I mixed a metaphor there...

Jerry