Why Voice?
I speak from experience both as a vocalist and a tutor when i ask that question because it seems to me that singers want the big voice, the dynamics and high notes but are unprepared to commit to expert training to achieve it.
Worship leaders, Directors and Pastors want the well honed, natural singer in the choir but soon realise that those singers rarely exist with out some level of training, which they as the leader, very rarely can offer themselves.
The preservation and development of the voice is underrated because all to often it is not considered important enough to invest time and money into.
Purest
Praise and worship has developed, it seems, exponentially over the last 15-20 years in the UK. There are far more worship conferences taking place independent of local church governance as people pursue their ministry with vigour. For example we have Madeline Kerzner’s Kingdom Worship Movement, whose annual Renewal Conference brings together some of the UK’s finest worship leaders under one roof for training and impartation. And then there is Seth Pinnock, who, at time of writing, has no website yet his Midnight Oil worship concerts continue to steadily grow and are starting to impact on the worship community in the UK. And lets not forget Hillsongs
Include WorshipGod.org.uk , EngageWorship.org.uk, WorshipCentral.org, Soul Survivor, Mission Worship and you can begin to see a picture forming.
Praise and Worship is big and the existence of these emerging organisations is to raise the standard of the ministry to excellence.
Excellence in attitude, in approach, in presentation, in music and so on.
So what does that have to do with the voice?
As the praise and worship ministry grows and the demands for excellence increases, so the demand for vocal excellence is becoming ever more important.
Expectations are high.
Gone are the days when you could take to a mic and expect the keyboardist to find the key and follow you...even when you are singing out of key (remember those days?) Now you must sing in tune, find and sustain harmonies, adlib, blend, pick up a tune with 2 bars of the melody line, sing high notes (especially if you are taking the lead), Learn and practice 6-7 songs in 90mins, understand music so you can communicate with the musicians and generally have an expert touch. And that’s just as a backing singer or choir member!
Its fair to say that the praise and worship team is very rarely completed without the vocalists, yet a quick web search of the of the organisations and events mention earlier will reveal in all cases that less than 1% of the hours given to the training offered is around vocals*. A quick example of this can be found here and if you do your own search you will find this example is not an exception.
At this point, let me make this clear, this is not about criticising these organisations. Far from it. They provide a great resource for the kingdom.
But it seems to me that the 'voice' within ministry does not get the recognition that it deserves despite it being central to the full function of any praise team.
To shape this in your mind, picture this:
Imagine a praise team with no vocalists or leader encouraging the congregation along. All you see are the musicians and the overhead projector from which to read the words, if your church is so equipped. It is a pretty puzzling scenario to envision. Now add the worship leader and voxes in and suddenly there is a point of contact and it feels as if the picture is complete.
Vocalists are central to a rounded, full functioning praise team.
So, the question that comes to mind is : Why is the development and preservation of the voice so underrated within many churches?
Underrated
Expectations
I cannot tell you the amount of times a pastor has asked if i teach keyboard or guitar despite all my literature stating I am a vocal coach. If i am asked 10 times, about two will enquire about vocal coaching.
But the question in my mind has always been: "If training is considered priority enough for the development of musicians in order to be good and skilfull at playing an instrument, why is it not as important for the development and skilfullness of the singers? After all the voice is God's purest instrument of choice; by design it is non exclusive and we all can use it."
Struggling with confidence
The shortfall in expert christian vocal coaching, a favouritism towards having skilfully played music present during service and a misunderstanding that a 'natural' singing voice does not automatically equate to good vocal skills, means that there are a growing number of worship and choir singers struggling to find their voice and vocal confidence.
The demand to sing high and loud has not waned in the 20 odd years i have been a practicing Christian. In fact with the increase in worship conferences as mentioned earlier, i would say that demand has sky rocketed, leaving many singers feeling secretly inadequate for the worship team and at best good enough to sing in the altos, standing right next to the tenors...just incase.
Why Voice?
If any of the above feels familiar you are not alone. I can relate to you because I have experienced and witnessed it myself. I get feedback from my students all the time and people contact me online expressing the same concerns.
So, of all the instruments I choose to learn, understand and teach it is the purest form given to us; the voice. Because, many people are struggling and want to develop yet have nowhere to go, no one to really talk to, no one to share their frustrations with, and when all is said and done, even the whizz kid keyboard player wants a strong, confident vocalist to accompany his playing.
