Starting on the piano’s middle “C” and giving it the number “1” is my preferred method for doing this. Play each following white key to move up the scale until you return to “C,” which is an octave higher. Each white key on the scale will be given a number between 1 and 8. After that, practice singing the numbers up and down this major scale. To sing on numbers, you can even create your own songs and vocal exercises. To discover some of my favorite methods for practicing singing on numbers, take a look at this Harmony Challenge, which is free. By doing this, you will train your ear to perceive each note on the scale as a distinct scale degree. It is crucial to fully understand the melody of a song before you can harmonize to it. Additionally, I strongly advise learning to sing the melody to numbers. As harmony singers, we may want to get right to the point of finding out the harmony. And you can do that, and occasionally you might even be successful. However, if you spend a little more time singing the melody and learning it before diving into the harmony, you will still not be as effective. After all, the harmony must “harmonize” with the melody. And if you don’t initially examine the melody’s exact progression, you can wind up singing an unpleasant harmony part.
