5 Vocal Pointers (for those who sing and play)
"...prioritize choosing a key that is congregation-friendly as it's more important that most of the church can sing comfortably, rather than just you showing how high you can go :-)"
How do you effectively lead worship?
In this post, I’m going to give you 5 vocal pointers for leading worship from the piano, and these are all designed to help you lead in a way that maximises congregational singing. This obviously applies only to those who sing and play the piano simultaneously (multi-tasking!).
Here is the first point...
Make sure you sing in tune!
I know the bible says “make a joyful noise” but when you’re leading, you do need to sing in tune. One of the reasons I mention this, is that if you don’t have a good monitor feed, and you can’t hear your voice, you may be going out of tune without realising it. So, it might be good to ask someone!
Make sure you sing at an appropriate level
In part, this will be the sound engineer’s job. However, what I am referring to hear, is the level that you put out into the microphone; making sure you don’t sing so quiet your voice is not being used effectively and not so loud that you sound like you are straining.
If you are singing with others, decide who is doing certain harmonies
When it comes to vocals, deciding who is singing what ahead of time avoids harmony crashes and helps the sound to be more balanced. You may find it helpful doing this during your practice time.
Check the keys of your songs, allowing for vocal tiredness
This isn't simply checking that the keys of the songs allow you to reach the high notes, but rather, it's also checking that the high notes are not your absolute maximum high note. Otherwise, if your voice gets tired or you didn’t sleep well the night before, you may find when you get to that note you end up sounding like a dying cat or something! Also, prioritize choosing a key that is congregation-friendly as it's more important that most of the church can sing comfortably, rather than just you showing how high you can go :-)
Here is the final point...
Take care of your voice!
As singers, we can often neglect this. It’s tempting to still have that coffee, but caffeine does dry out vocal chords; more so for some people. Also, making sure you drink plenty of water and having some near the piano will go a long way to giving you vocal endurance, and will also help if you get a dry throat. If you do experience vocal strain, I recommend sipping on water in between songs, even if you don’t feel like you need it, to keep your vocal chords lubricated.
Vocal technique also contributes hugely to how our voice sounds, so it could be worth researching some tips and resources on this.
Just to recap, here are the 5 pointers again...
Make sure you sing in tune!
Make sure you sing at an appropriate level
If you are singing with others, decide who is doing certain harmonies
Check the keys of your songs, allowing for vocal tiredness
Take care of your voice!
For any of you who also lead the worship from the piano with singing, I hope this short post has been helpful for you!
[Return to The Church Piano Player Website]
This blog post was written by pastor and pianist Kris Baines, from The Church Piano Player. Kris lives in the UK with his family, having recently moved back from New Zealand where he worked as a pastor for the past 26 years (also leading worship/worship teams). Kris has also spent over 35 years writing, recording, and performing music and is now bringing all that combined experience together to help equip church piano/keyboard players.
Check out the church piano player website for more information on online courses by Kris Baines.
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