close harmony

American  

[klohs] / kloʊs /

noun

Music.

1. harmony in which the voices, excluding the bass, occur within an octave or, sometimes, within the interval of a tenth.

---

close harmony British  

/ kləʊs /

noun

1. a type of singing in which all the parts except the bass lie close together and are confined to the compass of a tenth

---

Etymology

Origin of close harmony

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

The mix of working in close harmony, but entirely individually, chimed with McMurtry.

From BBC • Mar. 17, 2024

The sisters, who began singing in church in Ohio during the 1930s, had an uncanny sense of timing and close harmony matched by a perky, ever-smiling stage manner.

From Washington Post • Jan. 2, 2021

Their backing band drops into the Lou Rawls standard “Fine Brown Frame” and they start singing in airtight close harmony.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2017

The close harmony between the three in both trios is nonpareil.

From New York Times • Oct. 14, 2015

As we left the Temperant tent, the quartet was singing, in close harmony: .

From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck