I CAN SING MY OWN LINE JUST FINE, BUT PUT ME NEXT TO OTHER SOLOISTS AND I GET CONFUSED.
HOW DO I LEARN TO SING IN AN ENSEMBLE?

 

Ensemble singing can be tough when you're starting out. So here is Auntie Cindy's prescription for learning to sing ensemble:

 

1. Make sure you know your own line COLD.

 

2. Once you know your own line backwards, forwards, upside down and in reverse, sing it very slowly while you play the soprano, bass, or tenor line along on the piano. Listen carefully to how the harmonies fit together. Note where you are above or below the other lines. Note where you are doubling another line. Note where your pitch sounds weird with someone else's. Go over each of these points until you're very, very comfortable singing your own line strongly against the piano.

 

3. Once you can sing your own line with confidence against another voice played on the piano, add a second voice; then a third if you can manage it. BTW, there is NO SUBSTITUTE for doing this yourself, without the help of a third party. First of all, having a third party for this process will make you nervous and frustrated, because it is somewhat painstaking and you're already embarrassed about having difficulty with it. Second, you need to do this at your own pace, as many times as it takes, and the whole point is for YOU to figure it out and teach your ear to hear your part in relationship to the other lines.

 

3. Once you can more or less sing your own part while you play the other lines on the piano, THEN take it to a coach and get them to help you by adding in all the voices at the right tempo in little chunks at a time. When you can do that, add the accompaniment.

 

4. Sit down next to the CD player with your score, a pencil, your keyboard, and a big glass of your favorite beverage. Play a short section of the score and play your own line along on the keyboard. Sing your line along with the recording while you play it on the keyboard. Listen to how you fit with the other vocal lines and the orchestra (this is going to sound very different than the piano, because there are so many different colors now; but you should be very secure with your own line by this time and even if you get off, you will probably be able to find your way back).

 

When you can pick out your line and sing it well against the recording with the help of the keyboard, try it without. Then just keep plugging away, noting points of particular difficulty. Take these to your coach and ask for help --- what especially can you listen for to help you get your pitch, etc. Continue to practice with the CD and the keyboard as necessary. Also, you might want to use more than one recording for this practice, since you don't want to get married to one singer's interpretation or one conductor's tempi.

 

Now, if none of this works for you ... I would respectfully suggest you look into an ear training course, because that's what the issue is (along with inexperience. And that's curable.)