Modernaires vocal style
Robert Bellairs
I love the singing of the Modernaires, and am fascinated by their
harmonies. In comparison with barbershop harmony, the Mods always seemed
to be singing notes that were much closer together. Other than obtaining
original vocal charts of their songs (I wonder if they even used
charts), I would be interested to know if anyone has ever done a study
of their vocal style, could tell me what type of chording they used, or
anything else that might be helpful. I suppose I could try to find if
Fran Scott or Alan Copeland are still around, but I hate to bother
people.
I currently play drums in the Up North Big Band, in Charlevoix, MI, and
my two 8th grade daughters play trumpet and flute/bari-sax for the
Northwest Academy Jazz All-Stars, at the Northwest Academy in
Charlevoix. Both groups would like to explore and expand their vocal
repertoires, and to be able to do some Modernaires type charts would be
great. Any help anyone could give us would be great.
Bob Bellairs
rb...@unnet.com
f...@otr.8m.com
wrote:
>OK, here's a question for all of you music majors out there.
>
>I love the singing of the Modernaires, and am fascinated by their
>harmonies. In comparison with barbershop harmony, the Mods always seemed
>to be singing notes that were much closer together. Other than obtaining
>original vocal charts of their songs (I wonder if they even used
>charts), I would be interested to know if anyone has ever done a study
>of their vocal style, could tell me what type of chording they used, or
>anything else that might be helpful. I suppose I could try to find if
>Fran Scott or Alan Copeland are still around, but I hate to bother
>people.
Now my information is limited. HOwever, if we're dealing with the
original Modernaires as played with Whiteman and Miller, the original
folks worked out the harmonies themselves w Hal Dickenson doing the
harmonization. If my memory serves me correctly, they did not read
music either.
dsg5
>harmonies. In comparison with barbershop harmony, the Mods always seemed
>to be singing notes that were much closer together. Other than obtaining
>original vocal charts of their songs (I wonder if they even used
>charts), I would be interested to know if anyone has ever done a study
>of their vocal style, could tell me what type of chording they used, or
>anything else that might be helpful.
Sounds to me like they used lots of 6th chords. Try taking some simple 4
part harmonies, add a 5th part to make a 6th chord, bounce the rhythm, and
voila! You'll be well on your way to what ya wanna do . . .
Best,
--dsg
Carolyn H. LeFever
>
> OK, here's a question for all of you music majors out there.
>
> harmonies. In comparison with barbershop harmony, the Mods always seemed
> to be singing notes that were much closer together. Other than obtaining
> original vocal charts of their songs (I wonder if they even used
> charts), I would be interested to know if anyone has ever done a study
> of their vocal style, could tell me what type of chording they used, or
> Fran Scott or Alan Copeland are still around, but I hate to bother
> people.
>
> my two 8th grade daughters play trumpet and flute/bari-sax for the
> Northwest Academy Jazz All-Stars, at the Northwest Academy in
> Charlevoix. Both groups would like to explore and expand their vocal
> repertoires, and to be able to do some Modernaires type charts would be
> great. Any help anyone could give us would be great.
>
> Bob Bellairs
> rb...@unnet.com
The Modernaires started with Charlie Barnet and sang "Make Believe
Ballroom" with him. Then they went with Glenn Miller and made a
recording of the same song with Miller.
Leo Walker"s "The Big Band Almanac", George T. Simon's "The Big Bands"
and Gunther Schuller's "the Swing Era" and my favorite discography
books. I have a few more, but these are the best and are still
available.
Good Luck.
Carolyn LeFever
Ted Keener
Robert Bellairs wrote:
>
> OK, here's a question for all of you music majors out there.
>
> I love the singing of the Modernaires, and am fascinated by their
> harmonies. In comparison with barbershop harmony, the Mods always seemed
> to be singing notes that were much closer together. Other than obtaining
> original vocal charts of their songs (I wonder if they even used
> charts), I would be interested to know if anyone has ever done a study
> of their vocal style, could tell me what type of chording they used, or
> anything else that might be helpful. I suppose I could try to find if
> Fran Scott or Alan Copeland are still around, but I hate to bother
> people.
I dug into this pretty deeply a few months ago, even corresponded with
a published expert on harmonies who's done some books for a California
company. In all his study, he said he'd never uncovered anything of
the big band vocal groups published... if their original hand-written
charts even still exist, those may be the only source.
I came a lot closer with The Chordettes... one of their books is on
its way to me as I write, but last year I missed out on their one
published book (they had 3 or 4) that dealt with a kinda "how we do
it" approach. I've never seen it show up on eBay again; the guy I gave
it up to (because he knew them personally and this was a real treasure
of a momento for him.. yada, yada, yada...) never came thru with the
copies like he was supposed to - and never answered any more emails...
Not the usual eBay type I've gotten to know!
Anyhow Chordettes stuff shows up fairly often, Andrews Sisters less
so, but then their stuff I've seen just has the standard song sheets
not their harmonies....
Sorry there isn't more help available!
Ted