vocal-parts · smith1965-introduction-bluegrass

The combination of voices in two, three, and four parts is a salient aspect of bluegrass music and relatively rare in country-western (though duets are now becoming fairly common in the latter). The parts are called "lead," or melody; "tenor," almost invariably sung above the lead; "third," which may be sung above the lead or tenor ("high tenor") but is usually sung below both ("baritone"); and the lowest part, "bass." Voices are added to the lead in the order named, so that two-part harmony is always a combination of lead and tenor and three-part harmony is always lead, tenor, and third. These parts are conventionalized to the extent that a good singer can usually join in with songs he has not previously heard. The tenor has some flexibility in duet singing, but in three and four parts, the voices are expected to fill in all the notes of each triad in ways that predetermine their eventual pitches; at most cadential returns to the tonic chord, the lead comes to rest on the tonic pitch with the tenor a major third above him, the baritone on the fifth below, and the bass singing the tonic pitch, lowest of all. These relative levels of pitch are generally maintained with little crossing of parts.