Learn how to blend and harmonise like a pro by following the advice of top backing vocalist Katie Holmes Smith.

Adele, Kylie, Robbie – Katie Holmes Smith has worked with them all during her stellar career as a backing vocalist.

So who better to ask for tips on developing the BV skills needed to succeed in the music industry?

Here are Katie’s top three ways to develop your skills as a backing vocalist.

Understand your own voice

Katie advises all singers to get to know their voices through playful trial and error.

She says years of singing lessons, choir performances and driving around town belting out tunes helped her develop a clear understanding of her voice.

“It’s really served me well to understand my voice and its capabilities,” she says. “I know where my voice thrives and where maybe it doesn’t.

“My skillset, for example, is tone. My tone is quite malleable – it sits quite nicely alongside lots of other voices. It doesn’t necessarily stick out too much, but it doesn’t fade into the background either.”

Discover your strengths and weaknesses by exploring different genres and taking performance opportunities when they come your way.

“The more you do, the more you’re learning,” she says.

Listen

Next time you listen to your favourite artist, focus on what’s going on in the background. What other voices can you hear? What impact do they have?

“Think about the choices that people make,” Katie says. “For example, to sing a harmony, the most natural note to pick would be the third note above or below [the root note]. Sometimes that’s all it needs, then maybe then you want to add the fifth and then finish the chord and have the octave.

“There are some typical choices that get made time and time again which, when you hear them, you go: ‘That works, that’s a chord, that sounds nice’.”

Once you’ve analysed a song, try to harmonise with the lead vocals.

“Your ear will take you to the note that you’re going to want to sing. If you’re used to always going towards the top – and generally for women, that tends to be our default – our ears will naturally pick up anything above.

“But also investigate what’s happening underneath the note. Ask: ‘Is there anything else I could do?’.”

Work with a small group of vocalists

The best way to learn how to blend and harmonise is to do it.

“The good thing about singing in groups is that you get to train your ear to hold down one part while something else is happening. That’s important because you have to hold down your part – you can’t be drifting into someone else’s lane.”

While singing with a choir provides an opportunity to do that, Katie suggests taking things one step further and working in a small group of three or four singers.

“If you want to work on your voice and blending more specifically, work in a small group because at least you’ve got a nice position for a chord. You’ve got the root note, the octave and whatever’s in between.

“Just keep trying things out. If you get it wrong and it sounds terrible, keep going.

“The more you sing together, the more your voices are going to naturally start understanding each other, and it’s going to start locking – which is really exciting.”

Want to know more?

What’s it like singing with Adele on the main stage at Glastonbury?

Who gave Katie her first big break?

And how do you land backing vocal gigs?

Listen to this episode of the Singing Teachers Talk podcast with Katie Holmes Smith to find out.