Before we begin to sing, we need to think about preparation and warm up.
Now singing is all about using the whole body, not just the voice.
Everything in you plays a part in the type of sound that you are going to create.
So to start with, let's do some pitch exercises. So Ben, can you play me a C?
And I'm going to sing a 3rd above that.
La.
Now we're going to do that same thing again, except this time I'm going to sing a 3rd above
and Deborah's going to sing a 5th above.
La.
Deborah. 1, 2, 3, 4.
And of course make sure that your jaw is making R-O-R, not the little mouth, and that you're
supporting it from the diaphragm.
Let's sing that one to R after 2. 1, 2.
So the diaphragm goes down, creating a vacuum, which then means air can be sucked into the
lungs. And as the diaphragm goes back up again, you breathe out.
If you're singing in groups in your setting, you're probably using harmonies when you sing.
Harmonies add colour and texture and depth to any song, but it also makes sense to know
how to use them and how not to clash with other singers, how to make the best of that
skill.
What a friend I found, closer than a brother, I have felt your touch more intimate than
ever before.
And then if you want, you can sing my comforter in a stronger voice again. That would be fine.
This avoids swapping very obviously between voices within the same line.
Then sing my soul, my Saviour God to Thee, how great Thou art, how great Thou art. Then
sing my soul, my Saviour God to Thee, how great Thou art, how great Thou art.
So what we're going to do now is take the rest of those lines that I missed out the
first time, wherever he may send you, protect you through the storm, at the wonders he has
shown you, and once again into our doors.
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, ever he may send you.
May he guide you through the wilderness, take you through the storm.
May he bring you home rejoicing, the wonders he has shown you.
May he bring you home rejoicing, once again into our doors.
I usually start the day off just by getting my voice going in the morning by humming.
I know that's a lot less stressful on the voice than actually singing.
So this morning I was up at about 7, getting ready for an early morning worship thing at
9am.
So as soon as I was out of bed I was just walking around the room just humming and getting my
vocal cords warmed up.
So about half the time I do vocal warm-ups with a CD that just basically has scales and
different vocal exercises.
And a quarter of the time I don't have the CD with me and it's a botched one or two minute
warm-up which basically just involves me yelling in some background where we happen to be.
And the other quarter of the time I just go on and just drive.
Which is a lot easier to do at night than it is in the morning.
Usually I'll just run my scales a great way to actually do things.
There's some things called the motor boat where you know you do your mouth and that
actually helps release vocal tension.
You know, even things if your voice is really tired, the good thing to do is to use like
our limits and honey and stuff.
You've got to spread your tongue out and open up your throat and what happens is you start
thinking about it and you close your throat up.
So just learning how to let the air come from down below and open up and relax your voice
instead of tighten your voice.
In my experience women generally sing about a minor third lower than men.
That's their vocal range is about a minor third lower than men.
If I have to choose that's about a tone and a half or on a guitar that's like four frets
down that you put the capo if you wanted to tailor it for ladies.
And generally I find it's easier for men to sing lower than it is for women to sing higher.
So I err on the side of ladies and I guess that's the approach I take.
Remember, you're not just a singer.
You're part of the band, singers are musicians too.
If you've got five instruments in your band and you're the vocalist as well,
think of it as a six piece band and then sing accordingly.
When it comes to harmonies I think that less is definitely more.
I think it's one of those things that is great to just enhance key moments in the song.
Here's another tip.
Sing off the mic on a rehearsal to find your harmony.
Your muscles have a memory.
The more you sing a song the better your muscle memory is.
In other words, the easier it will be for you to pitch that song and sing those notes.
Another important thing to realize is that water is,
it does its work inside of your throat and your voice and your vocal cords
long before the actual time when you're singing.
It's important to get up in the morning and drink a lot of water.
It's also important not to drink a lot of caffeine because caffeine dries out your voice
and it kind of sucks the moisture out of your vocal cords.
When I first started leading worship I used to keep my eyes closed the whole way through the set
and half of the reason for that was because I wanted to lose myself in worship
and the other half of the reason was because I was painfully shy and awkward
because I was young and afraid and I just wanted to make everybody disappear by closing my eyes.
But recently I had some advice from another worship leader who said
if you open your eyes and really make eye contact with the congregation
at the beginning of the set of the first few songs,
it just helps people feel like you're really leading them
and that you're actually present as a person.
One thing I thought years ago was a woman could sing higher and guys sang lower
but that's totally wrong. It's actually the guys that can sing higher
and the email was to struggle to sing some of those songs when you're comfortable with it.
So when you're thinking of songs, if you've got predominantly female congregation
then you may have to put some of those songs into a different key.
You've got a friend who leads worship and she always takes the songs down to maybe a good tone.
I try to teach new songs in the least obvious way I can.
So depending on the context, if I'm in a church environment
I seldom will I go, hey this is a new song.
Because at that point people tend to disengage from worship and put on their thinking heads.
Thank you.
