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September 2004 Table of Contents
Your Voice For God
Disruptions To Good Singing & Their Solotions Part I
By Chris Beatty
Disruption 1: A leader not willing to offend and lead.
One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Proverbs 27. There are two verses that always jump out as being powerfully applicable to singers and their leaders. And, these truths apply equally to choirs, worship teams as well as soloists. The first is verse 6: "Wounds from a friend are better than many kisses from an enemy." The second is verse 17: "As iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend." (New Living Translation)
In verse 6 we are dealing with honesty and integrity, and the fact that in many friendships, the willingness to speak the truth in love just isn't there for fear of offending or losing friendship. Some directors of worship teams and choirs have this attitude: "We'll just love them into a good sound." The problem with that approach is that the acoustical, mechanical aspects of singing, and love, are two different issues. Both need to be there for good sound and ministry to happen. Eliminating either will leave you short in the end.
Imagine a Christian surgeon whose attitude is, "I know the cancer is there, and after prayer, we all decided to operate and take it out, but I don't want to cause any scars (bad feelings in singers) so let's just see what happens."
After the patient dies (poor ministry results), the surgeon may have second thoughts and say, "I guess a little scar (a temporarily angry singer) is a small price to pay for life (renewed, life-changing ministry)."
Verse 17 reminds us that if we really care about our singers we will risk being a little assertive with them, even if they don't like it at the time. The fact is, both singer and leader will grow from loving confrontations. The result can be more powerfully sung songs. Any time you replace nice sounding songs with life-changing songs it has been worth the battle. Loving, accurate challenges can, in fact, lead us all to a higher level of performance. In music and in life.
Disruption 2: Singers that lack understanding of the lyrics or lyrics that really don't say much.
Learning music and good mechanics of singing are necessary. But also necessary is a deep understanding of the lyrical content of what is being sung. That, of course, starts with being sure that what you are singing has worthwhile content. Please forgive my bluntness, but some worship songs and choral pieces are completely arrangement-driven and, in fact, don't really say much. If there's no depth, don't expect lives to be changed. It will just be pretty music, and in worship that's not enough. Compromising a congregation by exposing them to light and fluffy lyrics, at the expense of meaningful worship, is a risk none of us can afford to take. Assuming your repertoire is valid, do everything in your power to make sure the singers are able to talk about the intended meaning of the lyric. If they can't describe the message they're not ready to sing it.
Disruption 3: Singing only with the voice.
If you have recently attended a live performance of excellent singing, you have experienced a combination of audio and visual excellence. Skilled solo artists have learned to sing not only with the voice, but also with the face, arms and hands etc. The expressions and gestures they have chosen, and rehearsed, add to the communications experience. To do that, of course, these expressions and gestures must be appropriate to the song and the situation.
In contrast to an excellent performance, most of us can probably recall a performance where the song was saying one thing and the expression and gestures another. And, while soloists often have much more freedom than choirs and worship teams, there will be few complaints when you LOOK like what you are singing no matter what size group you sing with.
A great exercise in making a song real to the singer, whether soloist or group singer is this: First, talk it through. What is the central meaning of the song? What are the musical and lyrical hooks? Tell someone else, in just a few sentences, the purpose of the song. Next, physically "walk it out." While singing the song, act it out. If it's worshipful, get on your knees. If it's jubilant, and victorious, stand, lift your hands and LOOK like the victory the words are describing. In other words GET REAL with the song.
Disruption 4: Lack of physical preparation.
Always, always take the time for some sort of vocal warm-up. Address the upright posture with hands lifted. After lowering the arms (while keeping the chest and ribs in position) begin some gentle 5-note scale humming. Then move into some brief exercises that will get breathing and articulators working.
Christopher Beatty–Training the Singers of Today and Tomorrow! Workshop or product information:
Vocal Coach, P.O. Box 2144, Brentwood, TN 37024.
615-331-1080 / www.vocalcoach.com
chris@vocalcoach.com
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