Music theory question on "singing along"

[Alphathree33]

I can't sing. At all. But if I could, I'd be curious:

To "sing along" with something and not have it sound horrible (dissonant/out of tune), could I sing in a key other than the one in which the song is played? (e.g. perhaps a key starting a perfect fifth up from the tonic?)

Do many/most singers have the ability (ear) to do this?

 

[coaster831]

You wouldn't really sing in a different key, you would "harmonize" within the same key. If you sing all the notes a 5th up, you would still be in the same key.

 

[Alphathree33]

Originally posted by: coaster831
You wouldn't really sing in a different key, you would "harmonize" within the same key. If you sing all the notes a 5th up, you would still be in the same key.

I would be in the same key?!??!?! *boggles*

Okay, I just went over to my piano and mapped C major a 5th up and got C major back. You're a genius, clearly. =)

How would I harmonize then?

 

[coaster831]

Say your root melody was C-F-A. You could harmonize up a 5th and sing G-C-E over top of those notes- note they are all still in the key of C. You could also harmonize up a third interval and sing B-A-C (note that the interval between the last notes here, A and C, is a MINOR third).

*Edit- had an error in my harmonies.

 

[Alphathree33]

So if I harmonized up a 3rd rather than a 5th, I might get a bit of a "minor" sound overall?

 

[KLin]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_theory

 

[Alphathree33]

Er wait, so you're saying take the first two notes up a major third and the last one up a minor third so that all of your harmonizing is still in C major.

 

[coaster831]

Sort of, but not quite. If you're in the key of C, the 3 part harmony chords are: C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim. So, in my last example of harmonizing thirds, if your root note is A, to harmonize you want to build an A minor chord (the notes of which are A-C-E). So you naturally end up with a minor chord given certain chord roots in the key of C.

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: Alphathree33
I can't sing. At all. But if I could, I'd be curious:

To "sing along" with something and not have it sound horrible (dissonant/out of tune), could I sing in a key other than the one in which the song is played? (e.g. perhaps a key starting a perfect fifth up from the tonic?)

Do many/most singers have the ability (ear) to do this?

Sing along in a key a perfect 5th higher? Sure I guess if you're doing the Gregorian Chant version of the song.

 

[coaster831]

Originally posted by: Alphathree33
Er wait, so you're saying take the first two notes up a major third and the last one up a minor third so that all of your harmonizing is still in C major.

Yes, that's a way to put it.

 

[Alphathree33]

Originally posted by: ahurtt

Originally posted by: Alphathree33
I can't sing. At all. But if I could, I'd be curious:

To "sing along" with something and not have it sound horrible (dissonant/out of tune), could I sing in a key other than the one in which the song is played? (e.g. perhaps a key starting a perfect fifth up from the tonic?)

Do many/most singers have the ability (ear) to do this?

Sing along in a key a perfect 5th higher? Sure I guess if you're doing the Gregorian Chant version of the song.

Hey man, my knowledge of theory is fairly rudimentary... don't be mean. =)

 

[rikadik]

Originally posted by: Alphathree33
I can't sing. At all. But if I could, I'd be curious:

To "sing along" with something and not have it sound horrible (dissonant/out of tune), could I sing in a key other than the one in which the song is played? (e.g. perhaps a key starting a perfect fifth up from the tonic?)

Do many/most singers have the ability (ear) to do this?

If you sang in a different key, it would indeed sound pretty poor because you'd get clashes with original melody. For example, if you sang in a key a perfect fifth up from the tonic (e.g. C Major ---> G Major) you'd get notes in the new key that weren't in the original one (e.g. G Major has an F Sharp in it, C Major does not) and if not direct clashes you'd get some very strange harmonies.

As coaster831 has said, you could sing along a Fifth up, but by this he means five notes up the key's scale, but not a Perfect Fifth (7 semi-tones) because again you'd get some strange dissonant harmonies. But then again, if you were harmonising in this sense, you wouldn't be singing the melody at all.

However, if you sang in the Relative Minor/Major of the original key (e.g. C Major --> A Minor) it would sound okay since they have the same notes more or less (although a minor scale can have extra sharps or flats for harmonic purposes).

 

[TheNinja]

Many people change the key of a song if their voice doesn't fit the original key. You wouldn't be able to "sing along" with your favorite song, but if you are going to perform a song and it isn't in your range you can change the key up or down a few steps