Singers, Vocal Team, Voice
Eight Things Your Vocal Team Can’t Ignore (Show #32)
#Sing2TheLord (Video Below) Common struggles for vocalists are mumbled words, mike technique issues, memorization problems as well as pitch and melody confusion. Sound familiar enough? Some of the main challenges are boiled down to eight things your vocal team can’t ignore.
1 Warm-Ups: Just like you can’t wake yourself up at 3am for a early morning run or sprint around the block, you can’t begin singing or sprinting through the music without vocal warm-ups.
Your voice is a network of muscles. They need to be stretched and worked out before singing 45 or so minutes in a rehearsal. There are breath control exercises to work on breathing capacity, facial and neck muscle exercises to relieve tension and musical scales and vocalises to practice scales, pitches and arpeggios.
2 Breath Control: It’s not just used for warm-ups. Good breath control is the means to help the longevity of your voice and ability to sing notes clearly. How you stand and how your body is postured also makes a difference in how you intake and exhale air. Too little air, you will run out of energy and will have difficulty in carrying pitch. Too much air and you will go sharp and cause the outer muscles to tense and later cause damage.
3 Pitch Matching: Your singers may have great voices, but the number two issue is that they can’t stay on pitch. Why? This is due to two things: not knowing the right pitch to sing and not listening to the reference point (music). Use the band or instrument to help stay in tune, but this will force you to listen back.
The most common issues singers struggle is finding the right notes. This can easily be resolved by knowing the music and mirroring the notes on a piano. It’s not rocket science, it’s just hearing science. “Kenaniah, the head Levite, was chosen as the choir leader because of his skill.” – 1 Chron. 15.22
4 Timing & Phrasing: is just as important as pitch, yet it’s often overlooked. When the worship team or leader sings with poor clarity, mumbled words and out of sync rhythms, it will create huge barriers for the band and for the church to follow. Learn to sing in time and with the groove of the band. Practice with a metronome, learn to count your part and develop your inner pulse. Sing the whole line or section in one breath.
Don’t break the lyrical phrase to breathe, unless there is a good rest in the middle. Let’s you are singing “Amazing Grace.” Lyrics: A-ma-zing grace, how sweet, the sound. If you broke up the line: A. Ma. Zing. (breathe) grace. It will sound jerky and amaturish. Connect the full word: Amazing + how sweet the sound.
Then take a breath for the next lyrical line. Always sing with enough breath to carry the line, smooth from the beginning to the ending note. This may occur over one, two or four words. Regardless, keep every word connected in the section.
5 Memorization: This should not be a shocker. Use your confidence monitors and music stands in rehearsal. In the real-deal, lean on your brain. If you must, use the screen or chart as a guide – not as a god.
The better you can clear every stand out of the way – the better. No barriers for you and the congregation. You are more free to sing the song and not inhibited by lack of preparation or nervousness. Plus, you are more free to worship without distractions. Make it more about God and less about you.
6 Practice: no it will not make you perfect, but who says you can’t perfect your practice. Just 10-15 minutes a day will help make all the action happen. You have to work at your craft. Singer/Songwriter Harry Connick Jr. once said that he writes some kind of music for his first ten minutes of the day – because a lot of bad stuff has to come out, then the good stuff is real.
7 Harmony: Many singers know how to sing harmony, but don’t know how and when to sing it well. Good harmony is used as an effect. Good blending is used as a tool. Like a cake, it’s not just made completely out of icing. Also, the cake is prepared in layers with care and with the right utensils.
Harmony is better felt than heard. Meaning, not every note from the melody needs harmony. Each note from the leader should stand-out by itself. Harmony does not necessarily make the vocal lead sound better. Too much and it can confuse or hide it. The job of harmony is to highlight not floodlight the melody. Blending is another ingredient to harmony; this is employed by good listening skills as noted above. Listen more than what you sing. Make adjustments, support the main vocal and get out of the way.
8 Confidence: This is the number one killer of all singers. Your confidence comes from the Lord, not from the mike and not from the number of people who sing with you. Ephesians 3.12 reminds us: “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” Confidence gives you a huge advantage in singing. In fact, the better your confidence, the better you can implement all of the eight points above. Sing to the Lord as you worship to please Him – not man.
Think of your church as one big living room, in which you happen to be a voice to help lead them in prayer. Overall, enjoy the ministry God gave you to sing and to lead. Grow in your gifts and be skilled in what He’s called you to sing. Not for your glory, but for His.
@BranonDempsey @worshiptt
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