Folk Song Harmony Vocal Duets - PDF Sheet Music
This pack of 10 duet arrangements of traditional folk songs provides two different harmony options for each song. One harmony line is above the melody line, and one harmony is below the melody line. The scores are transposed into every possible key, and they have chord symbols for an accompanist.
The different transpositions, along with the two different harmony options, should allow various combinations of voices to use these. For reference, the audio demo recordings were recorded with all the parts being sung by me (vocal range F3–F5). (Scroll down the page for more info...)
Audio Demos
For the recordings, I chose the keys based on being able to fit all the parts into my range, and I would not necessarily have chosen the keys I did if I only had to sing one of the parts, and there was someone else with a different range singing the harmony. I can't guarantee that absolutely every pair of voices will find a version of every song which matches their ranges, but hopefully the recordings will give you an idea of what might work, and the transpositions will mean most people can find something that works for them.
The octaves are set so as to avoid too many ledger lines, so you may find that the octave you are used to is not the one shown, but hopefully most people are able to adjust to this! If you want scores in different octaves, just send me an email and I'll send it over.
There are also lyrics included, although I encourage you to study the work and recordings of traditional singers for deciding on these, as these songs have many different versions to choose from.
As this is traditional folk music, normally passed on by oral tradition, I only provide scores of one verse for each song, and there are no ornaments or dynamics marked -- it is up to the performers to decide on their preferred expression and to work out how to fit the words of subsequent verses to the tune.
How to pick a key (if you’re not sure how…)
All the arrangements have the pitch range for each part indicated at the start of the score.
In order to choose the key you will sing these arrangements in, the person singing the melody should work out their own most comfortable vocal range, and look through the scores for a song to identify one or several that they think would work best.
Then, the person singing the harmony part should look at these scores, and see which harmony part in which key fits their own range the best. It may be that the “ideal” key for both people doesn’t work and you have to shift a little from the key you would prefer if you were singing solo.
It sometimes may be that the “high” harmony might work better even for someone whose voice is lower – but transposed into a different octave.
If you are working with a guitarist and the chosen key is one the guitarist doesn’t enjoy, and they want to use a capo, give them the score for the nearest key (downwards) that they are happy to play in. (Example: if you are singing in B, you might give the guitarist the score in A so they can put a capo on the 2nd fret.)
If you have voices that are very close in range, you may even be able to find a key where you can take turns in singing the melody and the low or high harmony parts.
This sheet music starter pack encourages you to experiment and develop your own decision-making skills in musical arrangement and performance.