VOCALS
[ 5 STEPS TO TIGHT VOCALS - PART 1 | Sheri Gould ]
Here are some simple tips to help you get the
during a rehearsal, it will make a huge impact
few other options.
vocals you’ve always wanted for your team:
because things can be dealt with in the
The first option I like to recommend is that
moment. . . very helpful!
1. LOSE THE BAND teams get in front of a mirror to rehearse. Any Don’t get me wrong, I love a good band. But time I put a singer in front of a mirror they 3. FIND THE RIGHT BALANCE
when it comes to working on your vocals, you improve dramatically. The same will happen for Many people neglect this aspect of team
need to do it with little to no instrumentation your team. When a singer sees what they are vocals. The importance of this becomes more
to get the most out of the rehearsal. When actually doing wrong, they have a tendency to obvious with larger vocal teams or choirs, but
you rehearse acappella, you are able to truly immediately fix it. When a team can see what the principle is in play regardless of size. In order
hear each other: the blend, the balance, the they look like, both together and individually, to get a smooth, tight sound it’s important that
mistakes, etc. But there are other benefits as they can make instant improvements to their the parts are balanced. Many times, we’ll see
well. When there are just voices, it helps your technique. a team that has 4-5 people singing and only
singers to truly tune in to each other. It also
1 or 2 of them are singing a single harmony
develops vocal independence, which is sorely A decent audio recording is also very helpful. part. That will leave the balance tilted heavily in
lacking in so many of our worship teams today. The quality needs to be good so that everyone the favor of the melody. You might think “That’s
Learning to stay in tune without the help if can hear not only the team as a whole, but they great! I want the audience to hear the melody”.
instruments is essential if we are to develop an also need to be able to identify what (and who) Yes and no. We definitely need the melody to
internal sense of intonation. may be causing problems with blend, pitch, be prominent, but much of the time the way
harmony, etc. A regular review of a quality vocal we add harmony is very random and doesn’t
2. GET FEEDBACK (MIRROR, RECORDINGS, VIDEO) recording, with the band very low or completely build a rounded blend of sound, harmony, and
As an artist of any kind, you need to get out of the mix, will be extremely helpful in melody. This makes for a very imbalanced
feedback if you want to improve your craft. identifying outstanding issues that need to be sound and contributes to a bad blend.
As singers, we have several opportunities addressed.
Sometimes this is because we have only
to get feedback that is useful. In the “olden
days”, whenever there was a team, there was A video recording can serve to improve the certain people who are able to sing harmony.
a director. This is not true most of the time overall presentation of your team. I often tell Depending on the type of voice they have, this
today. Most vocal teams I work with have no teams to make a video recording and watch may or may not lend itself to a good balance if
actual director. If they do have a vocal leader, it with the sound OFF. The importance of the the other voices are stronger, weaker, or of a
that person is likely a part of the team itself. In visual side of what we do as vocalists cannot different tone quality. The solution to this may
order to get real feedback, you have to step be overstated. We are usually very visible on be multifaceted. We have to sort through the
out of the team to actually listen and see what our platforms and we need to be aware of how voices on our teams and get to know them.
is going on. If you are IN the team you can’t inspiring we are (or aren’t!). We need to know who is strong in the higher
registers and who is not. We need to know who
step away and hear what it really sounds like
because you take YOU out of the mix. This Lastly, any time you can get someone, who is strong in the lower registers, etc. Then when
creates a unique situation that leaves us with a is qualified, to give you feedback, especially we choose to put a song together we can
better balance by arranging and, if necessary,
rearranging until the balance is good. This
means people have to be flexible and willing to
sing parts that they may not be as familiar with.
This is good for your team—they will grow!
Next time we’ll look at two more aspects of
getting tight vocals for your team. Until then,
God bless!!
16
August 2017
WorshipMusician.com