ClassicalCode

Inspired on my previous experimentation with parallel fifth harmonies, and my new ukulele (more on that soon), my dad and I recorded this version of Mary Had a Little Lamb where I sang and played the same song a fifth above. He was playing his guitar and singing in the key of C, and I was playing my ukulele and and singing in the key of G.

I have recently observed, on Youtube, a very interesting method of turning any barbershop tag into a jazzy eight part tag: simply double each part a perfect fifth higher. Or, said another way, have a second quartet simultaneously sing the same tag a fifth above.

Despite everything I was taught in college, I have been curious to try this myself. However, due to sound bleed-through from my upstairs neighbors, I can’t really record in my apartment these days. So I multitracked this one tonight in my car on my Zoom H4. Although I am sure I looked quite suspicious, I think it was worth it.

You can hear the original four part arrangement here.

I present to you “In Dixie Land Where I Was Born” from David Wright’s collection: Classic Tags for Men’s Voices in parallel fifths:

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Update: I have typeset the complete octet in the key of “C” as a pdf file and also generated a midi file.