VOCALS
[ 4 WAYS TO TACKLE THOSE OCTAVE-JUMP SONGS | Jon Nicol ]
Let’s talk about songs we’d love to be able to And that’s the problem—many of these songs primary leader, we’re keeping things within
sing, but can’t: are soooo good, but they can be soooo tough 1.25 octaves. I know how to stay in my lane,
to sing. thank you very much.
• “I Will Always Love You” (Whitney Houston) • “Unchained Melody” (The Righteous Brothers) • “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” (Dorothy) With where my team was at when “Lord I Need Now, this approach lets us have some
• And of course there’s our national anthem You” first came out, I made the painful decision basement/rooftop songs in our repertoire
not to use it. A few of my team members without pressuring the average vocalist to try
even sent me hate-mail. (OK, not really. It was to nail them. But the drawback? What if you
In our corner of the world, Matt Maher’s “Lord I actually hate-email.) So, is that the only option don’t have someone who can qualify for The
Need You” comes to mind. The big part of the if we don’t have a killer vocalist—just not use Voice? And then there’s the big drawback—
song hangs out up near Chris Tomlin’s morning these songs? the ability of the congregation to sing it.
Thank you, President Wilson.
voice, while first verse and chorus are in the
The next two approaches seek to serve the
key of Crash Test Dummies. Lord, I need… Paul and I would agree that these songs
someone else to sing this. can have a place for the average worship
congregation better.
team with the right approach. He and I came 3. DOUBLE THE MELODY 8vb.
I call these songs “basement/rooftop” songs. up with a 4 ways to help you tackle these The average dude in the pew is a baritone.
Part of the song is in the sonic cellar, and the octave-jump songs. The average male worship leader is Adam
other part climbs several stories to resonate
from the roof.
Levine (or thinks he is). Do your men a favor
1. JUST DON’T JUMP. and keep someone on the melody “8vb” (an
Simply put the song in a comfortable key and octave below) when you jump. The pro to this
A few months ago, Paul Herman from CCLI sing the verse and chorus in the same register. approach—your guys might keep singing. The
made this observation: “Working at CCLI, we The benefit of this approach is that it solves the con—it’s not “proper” vocal arranging. But
see a lot of new worship songs come in. And dilemma of where to key the song. we’re serving the congregation, not trying to
it’s pretty easy to spot the two current trends
win Grammys.
in worship songwriting. First is the “octave If we key it comfortable enough for the average jump,” and that one probably deserves its own tenor to sing the low notes, the chorus will be And the fourth one is all about serving
separate article…” (WM September 2017) screaming high. And if we keep the chorus in a the congregation:
congregational range, the tenor worship leader
I was excited to see someone else was will be grunting a bad Johnny Cash impression. 4. JUST DON’T DO THE SONG.
commenting on this trend, so I reached out to Keeping it in the same register makes it easy Save it for a special music piece or just don’t
Paul and asked if we could collaborate on this to sing, but removing the octave jump is like do it. If it’s musically too big for your team
article. And he emailed back, “Jon who?” After putting a Honda Fit engine in a Corvette. It’s still or congregation, there are plenty of other
slipping him a $25 Chick-Fil-A gift card through a ‘Vette, right? But not really. killer worship songs that will fit your church
Doug Doppler, he was onboard.
better. Remember, we have a dual role on the
Before you choose to do this sonic neutering, platform to both worship God and serve the
Here’s Paul’s take on these wide-range songs: let’s explore a few other ideas. You may decide congregation. But we can’t always have the
“The songwriter’s obvious intent is some added that a combination of a few these approaches dual role of serving our church family and our
punch at a key point in the song. Clearly, it’s is right for you. own musical tastes.
that same impact if they have more limited 2. SCHEDULE IT AROUND THE RIGHT LEADER. Speaking of taste, Paul and I are heading out to
vocal range.” But they aren’t keeping churches There are songs that I only plan when I have grab a chicken sandwich and some waffle fries.
from singing them. Paul pointed out that certain vocalists scheduled. I (Jon) have a He’s buying.
“Cornerstone” (currently #8 on the CCLI chart) vocalist on my team who made it to the blind has a similar octave jump as “Lord I Need You”, auditions for The Voice last season. She can which is trailing right behind at #9. handle whatever I throw at her. But if I’m the
hard for worship leaders and teams to create
62
February 2018
Jon Nicol
The founder of WorshipTeamCoach.com, a resource
that helps worship leaders build strong teams and
lead engaging worship. He lives in Lexington, Ohio
with his wife Shannon and their four kids.
WorshipTeamCoach.com
WorshipMusician.com