Joe Offer - I think I understand what you're trying to say about harmony not following the same logic as melody. I have an alto voice so I've been singing harmony all my life, and whether it's a natural talent or years of practice, I can usually pick out a harmony to almost anything.

I've found that there are two kinds of harmony, harmony that's dependent on the melody, and harmony that could stand on its own (what I call counter melody). The first kind of harmony is most common and you're right, it can be hard to predict what note to sing based on the one you just sang, because it all depends on what the melody is doing AND what kind of "feel" the harmony is creating (e.g., simple thirds, more "open-sounding" fifths, or the rhythmic percussion harmony that's typical of bass parts).

Anyway, I can't explain it because I have no music theory knowledge, but I think you're on the right track if you try to recognize different kinds of harmony "moods" and take it from there. Good luck. As soon as my cash flow improves I'll be checking out the Fink/Marxer tapes, I'm sure I could learn a lot from them.