In this video
This Monday stream before Christmas focused on harmony and ear training using stems to break down classic songs. I started with a quote from Adrian Valier's book "Music Theory Made Simple" - harmony is what happens when more than one musical pitch occurs at the same time, and it paints the landscape over a melody's path.
"Falling Slowly" from the film Once was the main example for demonstrating Broadway-style harmony. I used GarageBand to show how the female vocal harmonises a third above the male vocal throughout, creating those emotional layers. The key takeaway is that you need to vocalise pitch to develop your ear - singing along (even in the car where nobody can hear you) is crucial for connecting what you hear to what you play.
"Love Me Do" by the Beatles got broken down next, showing how Lennon and McCartney's harmonies reference the Everly Brothers style. "Bye Bye Love" demonstrated perfect third harmonies (dyads) moving together - this is the foundation of so much pop harmony. The verse often has no harmony while the chorus adds it for emotional impact.
"Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel showed more complex harmony where one vocal often stays on the same note while the other moves, creating that haunting effect. I demonstrated how you can hear the shake in their voices making it sound almost nervous but beautiful.
The Beach Boys' "I Get Around" is peak vocal harmony - I showed a clip from Peter Hollins breaking down how each harmony line often stays on one note per chord change, but when layered together creates that incredible Beach Boys sound.
I finished with "Driving Home for Christmas" by Chris Rea, demonstrating how adding the 9th and major 7th to basic chords (like Cadd9 or Amaj7) creates that nostalgic, jazzy feeling. Played it on piano to show how these intervals work.