"US" Keys to a good vocal blend

It’s an inside joke among worship vocal teams. But it’s one of those jokes that make you grimace more than it makes you laugh.

How many times have you heard this in a soundcheck before the service? One of the vocalists will ask “Excuse me, Mr. Soundman, but could I get more of me in the monitors?” More often than not, this is a telltale sign that the vocal team has handed over, by default, the whole concept of vocal blend to an often-frazzled, overworked soundperson who just feels lucky if the equipment doesn’t blow up that week.

I don’t believe that the vocal blend is primarily the job of the soundperson—he or she already has way too much to worry about. A pleasant vocal blend is primarily the job of the vocalists, and if a good blend is there from the start, the soundperson can add the polish to make it spectacular.

Begin At The Beginning

What should be the role of the worship vocal team? In my experience, the objective of the vocal team, whether they’re a mass choir or a small ensemble, is to add depth, texture and power to the lead worship vocalist.

In other words, the worship leader’s vocal forms the predominant sound, and the worship vocal team supports the lead vocal. But without a clear objective or strategy, vocal teams typically sound like a bunch of people singing more or less together (usually less).

True Blend

A true vocal blend is developed far away from microphones and soundchecks. It starts by establishing a clear objective and then with a mutual commitment from everyone to listen and contribute to a “unified sound.”

How does a team start to develop a “unified sound”? First, sit down together and honestly analyze the unique attributes that each vocalist brings to the mix. Who is the loudest singer? Who is the softest singer? Are there stylistic differences? Do some of your vocalists sing with a broad, classical vibrato? Do some sing with an alternative edge?

There are two things to keep in mind at this point: 1) subtle differences can create a pleasing dynamic to an overall blend; and 2) not-so-subtle differences can be huge obstacles to a good blend, so everyone must be willing to modify their originality for the sake of the unified sound.

Listen For The “Us”

It’s a simple, yet inescapable truth: if you want to blend with each other, you have to listen to each other. More specifically, you have to stop listening only for your individual sound; and start listening for the group’s unified sound. If you like acronyms, it’s a natural…listen for the “Us.”

Here’s how you start. At a vocal rehearsal, step away from the mics, monitors, and stage; and gather around the piano or guitar, or simply huddle in close and sing a capella. Choose a simple, familiar worship song and start to sing. Have everyone close their eyes if it helps the group focus…and really listen. Ask yourself, “Am I singing too loud so I’m sticking out?” Then pull back. Or, “Am I singing too soft?” Then sing louder. Also ask yourself, “How does my vocal style fit with the group as a whole?” If necessary, modify it to fit the group.

If your team is ready to commit to the “Us,” you’ll be amazed how quickly your signature blend will begin to emerge. It’s fun. It’s exhilarating. And that’s just the starting point.

Now Step Up To The Mics

Once your group has developed your blend away from the microphones, getting a good vocal mix through the sound system becomes much easier. Everyone already knows the adjustments they have to make to achieve the “Us,” so the soundman can start with everything level and then tweak as necessary.

There are many other vocal details to cover (ending consonants, timing, dynamics, harmony structure) but knowing how to develop your group’s signature blend is foundational.

It all starts by listening for the “Us.”

--Paul Herman

A Major Worship Obstacle

**This was written by a friend of mine, but it's so good, I really wanted to share it with you!!**

One of the biggest obstacles for many people in worship comes when it’s time to sing a song or a line they don’t fully mean or haven’t fully lived up to.

Lines that declare that we’re ready to sacrifice everything, when giving 10% of our income feels like a harder sacrifice to make than martyrdom. Songs about God’s glory being our greatest passion, when it’s usually our greatest afterthought.

Some choose not to sing these lines or songs at all. They wouldn’t dare sing something they don’t mean or live. Others sing them, but feel like they’re being hypocritical.

Both of these groups miss an essential truth of worship:
Worship isn’t an assessment of my performance but a statement of my intention.

If I had to completely mean and live every word every time I sang it, I would never sing. Nobody would. Even the men who wrote the Psalms.

By still singing, we’re not being hypocritical. We’re training our flesh to submit to our spirit. We’re stating our intentions. We’re saying, “Make this true, Lord. I want my life to catch up to the truth I’m singing.”

I want your glory to be my greatest passion.
I want to be willing to sacrifice everything for you.

It’d only be hypocritical if we had no intention of living up to these declarations.

And consider this: even if you had your act completely together, you’d still be just as unworthy to sing a single syllable. But God has commanded you to worship anyway. And that’s because your performance and feelings aren’t the admission price for true worship... Jesus’ blood is.

So continue to sing. Continue to worship. Let the discrepancy between the words you’re singing and the life you’re living be an engine for repentance. Not a cause for shame or silence.

--Corbett's note: if you liked this, check out stevenfurtick.com for more.

A look behind-the-scenes

(this article was originally posted on the Crossroads blog and e-newsletter on July 9th)

This morning I watched a video of a ridiculously cute 2 year old belting out the Lord’s Prayer. Amazing!! You can watch it here. Music means a lot in the life of most churches and Crossroads is no exception. Our Creative Arts team often gets comments and suggestions regarding Sunday music, so I thought I share a little behind-the-scenes look at how the music for Sunday gets chosen.

The Big Idea
First, it’s all about the sermon. The message that’s being preached from the pulpit is the linchpin of everything else we do. Pastor Glen supplies our team with his message topics as well as scripture references and themes in advance, so we start there. What is the “Big Idea” that we’re trying to get across. We look at what other service elements are planned for that day, for example drama sketches, videos, communion, baptisms, etc. Every single element – including the praise songs – needs to point people toward the Big Idea of that day.

Song Selection
There are currently about 70 songs on the Crossroads song rotation list. They can be categorized by Theme, Tempo & Key. We first look at the list, pulling out songs that seem to speak to the theme of the day. Now this is subjective, of course, so we depend on a lot of prayer for this step. We ask God to draw us to the songs that will help people worship Him and be open to His word. Next, we look at the Tempo of songs. You’ve probably noticed that we generally start things out upbeat. That’s on purpose. We want Sunday mornings to be a celebration of all that God is doing and has done. It’s hard to celebrate to a dirge. Depending on what other elements are involved, we often let the tempo slow down a bit as we approach the message. Our hope is that every Sunday, there can be times when people can forget about words on screens, forget about the band, and just feel alone in the room with God. Worship is very personal and everyone approaches it differently, but we strive to create an atmosphere where people can approach God with their defenses lowered and focus their attention and affection on Him. And finally the Key a song is played in factors in as well. Without going to deep into music theory, I can tell you that certain keys “lead in” to certain keys better than others. If you have a music background, you may be familiar with the “Circle of 5ths.” This is one tool we use.

What makes the cut
One thing that you may have noticed is we don’t worry about how old a song is. It really doesn’t factor in at all. We try to choose songs that are going to resonate the most with our crowd. Sometimes those songs are relatively new… sometimes they’re over 100 years old. We have at Crossroads adopted a “modern style” of music, because we believe it resonates best with the guests that we hope to draw in. We also will constantly be looking for new songs to use as we worship our unchanging God. But there’s no way we could ever ignore the wealth of incredible songs that have been penned through the ages… there’s too much value there. The challenge then is taking songs that were written for a different culture, and making them meaningful in our culture. Some make the transition relatively unchanged… some receive a higher degree of tweaking.

Well, there’s a lot more that could be written about this process and for some of you, this may have created more questions than it answered, but I would love to say “THANK YOU” to the incredible Creative Arts teams at Crossroads who invest so much into making Sunday mornings meaningful. If you have more questions, I’d love to talk about what we do. Call or email and we’ll get together… Starbucks is my personal favorite!!

In Christ,

Corbett

The Priority of a Worship Leader

As the leader of the Crossroads Creative Art Teams, I get to lead our congregation in corporate worship quite often. I'm sure there are lots of questions you may have about that job -- or maybe not -- but either way, I think I will take a few moments of your time to talk about what is important for a worship leader.

First off, even when I'm leading the band onstage, I'm not the only worship leader. Our lighting team leads worship, our sound team leads worship, our media team leads worship, the Crossroads Kids volunteers who provide such an excellent and fun learning environment for our kids are all helping to lead worship. So my thoughts on the priority of a worship leader are not just for myself and others who sing into a microphone... they are for any and all who give their time and talents to help guests and members alike, approach God in worship on Sunday mornings.

What's the most important part of being a worship leader? Here are my top 3 priorities:

1. To love and follow Christ completely
2. To love those around me (beginning with my family and my teams)
3. To lead others in worshiping

The moment I get those 3 out of order, my effectiveness goes into the tank. No matter how well I sing or play and no matter how well our band performs, if my corporate worship is not built upon the foundation of private worship, then I'm just a clanging gong, to steal a phrase from the Apostle Paul. (Don't get excited... I didn't say "cowbell")

But when I arrive on Sunday, full of the knowledge and the presence of the Holy Spirit... when I have invested in and reflected the love of Jesus in the lives of my wife, my kids and my team members, then I'm prepared to worship God jointly with my church family, knowing that many will look to me to lead.

You also are a leader. You have influence. What are the most important things for you to consider as you bring that influence to bear with your friends, your kids, your co-workers, etc?