Harmony Handbook: Enhanced CD

Katie O'Connor-Ballantyne's rehearsal guides transform this collection from songbook into a complete roadmap for building harmonic literacy. Each guide targets specific developmental benchmarks and supplies concrete exercises that directly address the musical challenges in that piece, so you're not inventing solutions on the fly. The sequential structure (unison through echo, round, and partner singing) respects how children actually develop as musicians, making it possible to teach genuine skills rather than just asking students to "sing their part."

Singing in unison feels like finding your voice in a group; adding echo and round elements creates satisfying moments of musical independence that still fit perfectly together. As partner songs emerge, students experience the tangible thrill of harmony: the realization that different melodies sung simultaneously create something whole and intentional, not accidental.

General music teachers and classroom music instructors working with elementary and early middle school students who are beginning to explore harmony. This resource is also valuable for choir directors seeking a structured approach to building foundational harmonic skills before tackling traditional four-part repertoire.

• Treat the rehearsal guides as your lesson plan, not supplementary material. Work through the suggested exercises in order before touching the song itself; they lay the aural and conceptual foundation that makes the piece learnable.
• Use the enhanced CD to hear the songs modeled in performance and to establish tempos and balances, but record your own class singing early and often so students hear their own voices solving the harmonic problem.
• Schedule unison songs across multiple weeks before attempting partner work. Rushing harmony instruction creates permanent uncertainty in inexperienced singers.
• Have students sing the echo and round examples from the rehearsal guides in isolation until they can execute them independently; these structures teach harmonic listening without the complexity of full multi-part textures.

Integrate this collection into your general music curriculum as a standalone unit on harmonic development, or weave individual songs into your year-long general music sequence as skills benchmarks between other repertoire. The enhanced CD makes it accessible for classroom teachers who may not read music fluently, while the pedagogical depth supports music specialists building a comprehensive literacy program.

• Listening for independent melodic lines while maintaining harmonic awareness
• Singing echo patterns with rhythmic and pitch accuracy
• Sustaining a melodic line while other singers perform a different part
• Recognizing harmonic relationships between two simultaneous melodies
• Transitioning from unison to partner singing through structured developmental steps
• Following directional hand signals to manage entries and independent vocal lines