I added a YouTube video about one song - "The Presence of the Lord Is Here"

I'm sharing with the world my suggestion for the best way to clap on this song (the beat changes a lot, so you need to alternate between two different clapping rhythms.

Here it is -- How to clap on "The Presence of the Lord Is Here" by Byron Cage.

Links for warm-up exercises

A customer asked for ideas for vocal warm-ups.  Here are a few video sources with warm-up exercises.  Explore and experiment to find the exercises that work for you.  And feel free to share any other sources that you know.

Ron Cross, the Music Ministry Coach.  Ron specializes in information about the ministry of gospel music for praise teams, soloists, musicians, and also choirs.  He has lots of stuff to check out, but here is his warm-up video --

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNw5oDeJ3oo

The other instructors here are not gospel-oriented, but they also have some warm-up exercise suggestions.

Scott Inglis-Kidger --

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oMvpDCjMAs
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlRF1u2Xz9Y

Eric Arceneaux --

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5hS7eukUbQ
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5_-kvfsiGE
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMFH6Ob801I
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lyl_yt0RN0s

Howcastartsrec --

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlP3TfdUOog
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyujF6XGCT8
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0nXWKp74-A
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyFdwHrMV6o
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QREIsiCVWWI

Whatever happened to four-part singing?

This is a re-post from 2010 from my old blog that disappeared when the web host suddenly went away.  So glad I found it through the WayBack Machine!

===============================================

I get on this soap box a lot. Why do most of our gospel choirs only have three vocal parts — sopranos, altos, and tenors? My father tells me that back when he was young there were always four parts in the choir at church — soprano, alto, tenor, and bass.

Somewhere along the way, we replaced the bass singers with a bass guitar and started expecting all of the men to sing tenor. Webster’s Dictionary defines tenor as “the highest natural adult male singing voice”.  How can we ask every guy in the choir to sing in the highest possible range?

A lot of us have had the same experience in our own choirs as they describe in Wikipedia:

One nearly ubiquitous facet of choral singing is the shortage of tenor voices.  Most men tend to have baritone voices and for this reason the majority of men tend to prefer singing in the bass section of a choir.

Only in a lot of our choirs there is no bass section.  So after a while, men get tired of being told, “That’s not the right note.  It’s higher.  Go higher.”  And they stop singing in the choir.

At my own church, I’m trying to recruit some of these guys back into the choir.  It’s not easy though.  The contemporary gospel songs we sing are usually written in three parts, so if I want to add a bass part I have to create it myself.  If I take the time to do that and then no basses come to the rehearsal, it can feel like a waste.  And if a bass singer shows up on a night when I didn’t prepare a bass part, then I have to make up a part on the fly, which is no fun at all.

But I’m going to keep trying.  Our next church concert is going to be at Pentecost, and I’m going to prepare bass parts for all the concert songs and see if I can get at least two basses to sing with us.  We’ll see if it works.

Right now at ChoirParts.com, I have a client who has requested a song that’s in four parts.  I just finished it for them.  I hope their choir has a good time performing it.

And I found this on YouTube — the original version of a gospel choir standard, “No Greater Love” by the Gospel Music Workshop of America.  I had forgotten that it includes a bass part.  You can hear them singing by themselves at the 4:50 mark.  Don’t they sound nice?

Easy choir songs: How to choose them and when to use them

 As a choir director, you want to have lots of different types of songs in your teaching repertoire. The more songs you know, the more you will be able to choose just the right one for a particular choir or a particular event.


One category of songs that you need to have at the ready are easy pieces, because there will definitely be times when you need to be able to present an easy song in a rehearsal.


There are two types of easy songs that are good for different situations.

• Some songs are easy in the sense that they are good for singers who have limited skills. If you are working with a choir of young people or inexperienced singers, you want songs with the following characteristics:
  
  • Lots of unison. It takes time for people to develop their skills in harmony singing, so look for songs that are mostly in unison. And sometimes songs that are usually done in parts will still sound good in unison if they have a good melody and strong lyrics.
    
  • An easy melody that doesn't have a lot of jumps or high notes.
    
  • Simple rhythms. Nothing super fast and nothing with tricky syncopation.

Now, for this type of easy song it's OK if the song has a lot of words. If you start teaching the song far enough in advance, your choir will be able to get plenty of practice and learn the words. In fact, having a lot of interesting and inspiring lyrics is a good way that a choir can bring a powerful presentation even if they are not ready for a lot of fancy harmonies.

Teaching the right kind of easy music to a beginning choir can help build their confidence and provide them with positive singing experiences that will encourage them to continue on in choir ministry.

Also, if you're working with a choir that is new to you and you're not sure what their skill level is, you can start of with an easy song or two and then you can see if they are ready for more complex material.

This web article includes examples of gospel choir songs that are good for inexperienced singers: Working with a choir of beginners.

• Other songs are easy in the sense that they can be memorized quickly. You may be working with an experienced and talented choir, but you have limited rehearsal time (this often happens with mass choirs at conferences and workshops). Or if you're selecting new music for a concert and you have chosen some songs that will be very challenging for your choir, you will also want to choose some easy songs to bring balance and not overwhelm the choir. The kind of songs that will be quick to learn are songs like these:
  
  • A “catchy” melody. You know how some popular music gets stuck in your head after you hear it just a little bit of it? That's the kind of tune to teach to a choir if you want them to learn a song in just one rehearsal. Usually, a catchy tune will have short musical phrases that get repeated a lot. Those are the easiest kind of tunes to remember.
    
  • Call-and-response songs. These are songs where the lead singer sings a line and then the choir either repeats the same line or sings something that answers back to whatever the leader said. With call-and-response songs, as long as the leader remembers what to do next, everybody else can just follow along.
    
  • Songs with few words. There are some beautiful choir songs where the choir only has to sing five or six words. The rest of the message of the song is covered by the lead verses.
    
  • Songs with words that are familiar to everyone. If the lyrics to the song are taken from an old hymn or a well-known passage of scripture, the choir members will already have the words memorized.

Another way that these “quick to memorize” songs can be useful is when you want to encourage the congregation/audience to participate. After a hearing a couple of repetitions, everyone in the room will be able to sing along.

For examples of songs that are quick to learn, check out this web page: Best one-rehearsal songs for gospel choir.
 
Music doesn't always have to be complicated to be good.  Simple but beautiful music can be an important part of your choir's repertoire.

Thoughts about themes and subjects for Christmas music

The story of Advent and Christmas is rich with meaning. As music ministers, we can find many themes and subjects to inspire choices for Christmas music to use in ministry. Even some songs that were not written with Christmas in mind can be beautiful expressions of the spirit of the season.

Here is a list of topics that are related to Christmas. For each one, I have a few suggestions of songs that fit, and I hope these inspire you to think of other songs as well that relate to the same topic that would be great for your choir or group.

These are major subject themes that relate to the Christmas season:
(And for each category, I added an Amazon player so you can hear excerpts from all the songs.)
Baby songs. “And they came with haste , and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.” – Luke 2:16.

Everybody loves babies, and songs about Jesus as an infant inspire feelings of love and tenderness that are a beautiful part of “the Christmas spirit”.

• Christmas carols like What Child Is This and Away in a Manger.
  
• Mary Did You Know? (Lowry & Greene)
  
• Sweet Little Jesus Boy (Mahalia Jackson and lots of other artists)
  
• Jesus, Oh What a Wonderful Child (Traditional)

Songs about beholding and adoring Jesus. “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down , and worshipped him:” – Matthew 2:11.

These are different from the “baby” songs because instead of focusing on Jesus himself, they focus on our own feelings and acts of worship toward him. This worship is what all of the visitors did when they were in the presence of Jesus, and these songs encourage us to do the same. There are lots of songs that are not actually Christmas songs that would be great in a Christmas service because they fit in with this same theme of reverent adoration and intimate worship.

• O Come All Ye Faithful / O Come Let Us Adore Him (Christmas carol)
  
• Emmanuel (Norman Hutchins)
  
• Now Behold the Lamb (Kirk Franklin)
  
• Here I Am to Worship (Tim Hughes) – “Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down, here I am to say that You're my God.”
  
• Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus (Hymn) – “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.”

Other events from the Christmas story.

Along with the birth scene, there were other events that were a part of the arrival of Jesus – the prophecies to Mary and Joseph, the journey to Bethlehem, the shepherds on the hillside, the treachery of Herod. Songs that recreate these happenings are an important part of keeping the Christmas story alive.

• Carols: The First Noel, While Shepherds Watched their Flocks, We Three Kings, the Coventry Carol
  
• Rise Up Shepherd and Follow (Traditional)
  
• Go Tell It On the Mountain (Traditional)
  
• When Christ Was Born (Joan Hall). This one is an original song of mine. You can hear the whole song here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsMLgu6LZiw
  

Songs about the Advent of the Savior. “ . . . and he shall send them a saviour , and a great one, and he shall deliver them.” – Isaiah 19:20.

This is the reason WHY we needed Christmas. There was no one who was able to save mankind before Jesus came. Songs that deal with the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus or songs about our need for a Savior remind us of the hope that Christmas brings to our lives today.

• Carols: O Come O Come Emmanuel
  
• Still the Lamb (Mary, Mary)
  
• Hero (Kirk Franklin). While there are some lyrics in this that are Easter-related, the main message, especially in the opening verses, is that we needed someone to come on the scene to be our deliverer. That's Christmas.
  
• Choruses from Handel's Messiah: And He Shall Purify, For Unto Us a Child Is Born
  

Songs about “the light of the world.” “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined . . . For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given . . .” – Isaiah 9:2,6. “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” – John 1:4-5.

Songs about the light of Christ are a part of the Christmas story and also fit in with the “look” that we associate with Christmas (the lights on the tree, the lights on the houses, all that pretty stuff).

• Carols: Silent Night. Pay attention to the lyrics of “Silent Night”. There's a lot about light shining in darkness – “All is bright round yon virgin”, “Glories stream from heaven afar”, “love's pure light radiant beams from thy holy face.” I think this song is more about light than it is about babies.
  
• Walk in the Light. Either the regular version or the Christmas version – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxgTb5EOwX0
  
• Jesus Is the Light (either the hymn or the Hezekiah Walker song)

Following the example of the angels – corporate praise. “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” – Luke 2:13-14.

This is different from the intimate personal worship that the wise men experienced. This is worshipers coming together to make a joyful noise of praise. This includes songs about the angels, songs that use the same words the angels sang (in Latin, it's “Gloria in excelsis deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.”), or any other proclamations of praise.

• Carols: Angels We Have Heard on High, Angels from the Realms of Glory, Joy to the World, etc.
  
• Rockin' Jerusalem (Traditional spiritual)
  
• Glory (Joan Hall). This is another original one – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0X-MnJSmPE
  
• Oh Bless the Name (New Jersey Mass Choir)
  
• Worthy Is the Lamb (Daryl Coley)
  
• Choruses from the Messiah: Glory to God or the Hallelujah Chorus

“Keep Christ in Christmas” songs. “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.” – Matthew 22:21

In the ungodly, materialistic world that we live in, these songs remind us where we as Christians need to keep our focus during Christmas. Yes, it's true that the winter solstice celebrations are older than Christianity, and I'm OK with secular people doing the holidays whatever other way they want to do them, but we who believe in Jesus can be at peace with the secular world and still have a holy holiday of our own. These songs are not trying to tell other people what to do, they're reminding US of what WE want to do. It's especially important for our children to hear messages like this so that they will remember that even if the rest of the world sees Christmas as a time of “gimme, gimme, gimme”, we are focused on the Lord.

• Jesus Is the Reason (Kirk Franklin)
  
• The Real Meaning of Christmas (The Winans)
  
• No Christmas without You (John P. Kee, Kirk Franklin)
  

My hope is that these suggestions will give you ideas to broaden and enrich the Christmas repertoire of your choir or singing group. May you and yours have a beautiful and blessed holiday season, always with a song in your heart.

For gospel choirs -- Taking the next musical step

Church gospel choirs are known for singing one type of music, and we do it very well. But how do you expand from there? Does your choir want to do other styles? Jazz? Spirituals? Classical? What do you need to learn if you're trying to branch out into any of those areas?

I made a video that starts to talk about ONE aspect of this – the music theory part of it. There's a particular format that most gospel choir music uses to put together the melodies and harmonies, but other types of choir music are not put together the same way. This video starts the conversation about how typical gospel choir music is structured and the ways you would need to grow from there in order to do a greater variety of music with your choir. There's a lot to say about this subject, so this video is just the beginning; I'll be getting more into it in future videos.

Don't worry if you've never studied music theory before. We're going to approach it very gently.

Here's the video: 

How should I position my choir in the choir stand?

A reader asked me for my thoughts about how to physically arrange a choir when they're going to sing.  I think the best positioning will vary from choir to choir.

Back when I was a kid, church choirs usually positioned themselves in rows, something like this (where S stands for Soprano, A for Alto, and T for Tenor):

TTTTTTTTTTT
AAAAAAAAA
SSSSSSSSSSS

But as time went on, more and more choirs started using a block formation, like so:

SSSS  TTT  AAAA
SSSS  TTT  AAAA
SSSS  TTT  AAAA

Sometimes the sopranos will be on the left, sometimes on the right.  Usually the tenors and/or basses are in the center.

I use the block formation and I like it for a few reasons:

1. It makes it easy for the director to signal to different sections of the choir.  If I signal to my right, it's clear that I'm talking to the altos.
2. When all the singers in one section are close to each other, it can be helpful to those who sometimes forget their part.  They can hear the others around them all singing the same note and they're less likely to drift onto a different part.
3. I'm not an expert on sound tech stuff, but it appears to be easier for the sound people to adjust the microphone levels to balance out the different sections.

But the block formation can have some downsides as well:

1. I've heard some choir members say that they don't get the full experience of the music because they can only hear their own part, the other singers are too far away.
2. On songs where the different sections are singing different lines and rhythms, it can be a challenge to stay on time together if sopranos can't hear the altos.

For those reasons, some choirs might do better with a formation where the different parts have more proximity to each other.

So a director will want to know their choir and choose the best positions based on their own choir's strengths and weaknesses.  A really sophisticated approach would be to try different positionings for different songs, but I have not done very much of that myself (there was one song, though, where the basses worked out a new positioning for themselves because they found that it helped them support each other for their difficult part).

Another thing to consider is where to put individual singers within their sections.  The singer with the loudest voice might need to be in the back, off to the side, away from the microphone.  And the one who forgets their notes sometimes can benefit from being beside the person who's always solid on the part.

When you have a really strong choir, you can do some beautiful things with positioning.  Like the choir I saw in Long Beach, the Master's College Chorale.  I wrote about it here -- http://the-church-choir.blogspot.com/2013/05/i-love-singing-with-you-but-can-i-still.html

What positionings has your choir used?  Leave a comment and tell me your experiences.