When I was, oh, 11 or so, I went, for a little while, to an elementary school in North Bennington, VT, and that was my first experience with singing in harmony. We sang hymns -- in a public school! Never did me any harm; I was an atheist then & now. In the first meeting of the music class, when we first practiced the parts separately and then sang them together, it made an overwhelming impression on me. Then I went to a highschool where Bach was king, and was corrupted for life.