Description:
The first crucial component of a good basic harmony is that it fits with the chord being played. Let’s practice listening to chords and finding pitches within them!
You may want to have a chromatic tuner handy and headphones for this. For proper identification of the different parts of a chord it’s helpful to call the first note in a typical root position triadic chord the root or 1. The middle note is called the 3rd, and the top note is called the 5th. This is for vertical construction of our chords, so don’t confuse this with the numbers we use for our scale degrees. These numbers will line up with the first chord in our scale or key signature, but not with the other ones, so this concept of identifying different parts of a chord with numbers as well can often confuse new students learning music theory!
Exercises for day 20:
You may want to have a chromatic tuner handy and headphones for this. For proper identification of the different parts of a chord it’s helpful to call the first note in a typical root position triadic chord the root or 1. The middle note is called the 3rd, and the top note is called the 5th. This is for vertical construction of our chords, so don’t confuse this with the numbers we use for our scale degrees. These numbers will line up with the first chord in our scale or key signature, but not with the other ones, so this concept of identifying different parts of a chord with numbers as well can often confuse new students learning music theory!
Exercises for day 20:
- Quiz Chords (major & minor, all at once, then point out different parts)
- "Red River Valley" song work. Play chords and sing notes in chord. Then melody+ chordal harmony. A, D, F#x4, E, F#, E, D
- Practice: stepwise motion with diatonic thirds. (1,2,3,2,1)
- "Red River Valley"-play melody with (B and A) on "Sunshine" and sing melodic harmony
For Homework practice all the exercises above and see if you can sing your own harmony to this melody. For extra credit, listen to some of your favorite songs that include harmonies and try to sing along with the backing vocalist, not the lead singer!
Lessons:
- Day 1: Welcome & What To Expect
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Day 2:
Resonance & Alignment
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Day 3:
Dynamic Support
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Day 4:
Vocal Tension Release
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Day 5:
Head Voice
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Day 6:
Mixing Registers
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Day 7:
Belting
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Day 8:
Rest day +New Song + Student Session Work 1
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Day 9:
Finding Your Vibrato
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Day 10:
Developing Your Vibrato
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Day 11:
Slides & Scoops
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Day 12:
Vocal Runs 3-note Riffs
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Day 13:
Falsetto Style
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Day 14:
Back Phrasing
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Day 15:
Rest Day+ Student Work Session 2
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Day 16:
Singing The Major Scale
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Day 17:
Singing The Minor Scale
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Day 18:
Major and Minor Pentatonic Advanced Runs
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Day 19:
Major & Minor Chords
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Day 20:
Harmonizing
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Day 21:
Building Your Own Harmony
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Day 22:
Rest day+ Song work+ Student Session Work 4
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Day 23:
Song Choice
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Day 24:
Workshopping Your Song
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Day 25:
Interpretation
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Day 26:
Memorization
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Day 27:
Rehearse & Record + Student Session Work 5
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Day 28:
Performance & Debrief + Student Session Work 6
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Day 29:
Artist Development
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Day 30:
Congratulations & What’s Next
Instructor: Abram Poliakoff
Abram Poliakoff is a singer, guitarist, pianist, teacher, conductor, and composer. He received a Bachelors of Music in Vocal Arts from USC’s Thornton School of Music and has been teaching music for 8 years. He is currently both the Associate Artistic Director and a tenor in the L.A. Choral Lab, which recently released its first studio album Sonic Visions in the fall of 2019. Abram teaches and performs a wide range of genres including Classical, Jazz, Folk and Popular music in the Los Angeles area. He has also sung with the San Francisco Opera and Pocket Opera in the Bay Area. His teaching mission is to help his students utilize vocal technique to find their authentic and healthy voice while maximizing genre flexibility and a naturalness of expression.