YOUTH WORSHIP TEAM
THE EFFECTIVE VOCAL AUDITION | Vance & Michelle Shepherd
Does your youth worship team have more background vocalists than you know how to get on the schedule, but you don’ t have enough vocalists that can sing leads and special songs for your events and services? Vocalists with a quality tone and good vocal range are much harder to come by than we think – but the way you structure your vocal auditions can help you find great vocalists and can point out their strengths and also their weaknesses, so you know how to best utilize them on your team.
We’ ve found that the best first step in the audition process is to ask for a simple video submission, recorded right on their smart phone, singing to a backing or karaoke track. Just seeing them sing on video will tell you so much about their vocal styling, tone, presence, personality, and how accurate they are on pitch. The video submission frees you up from having to hold so many live auditions, which are time consuming. You’ ll be able to give them feedback via email or phone as to whether they will move forward to the next step of having a live audition in person with you, or you can point them to resources to study and re-audition later.
Once you have determined they will move forward, pick a couple of songs that are very popular in your church.“ What A Beautiful Name” by Hillsong is an example of a great audition song for a female lead vocalist because it showcases different vocal tones in one song – moving from head voice to chest voice, and will allow you to hear if the vocalist can navigate between the two dynamically, or if they sing the whole song in just full voice or head voice only. It’ s great to ask them to also sing something that they personally connect with, or something very stylistic( whatever genre) so you can get a feel for what they might sound good on regarding features or themed songs. You can tell a lot about a singer by asking them to sing something that inspires them.
You also want to see if they can pick out harmony parts by ear. If the singer can pick out multiple harmonies on a recording and be at least 80 % accurate in their execution of the parts), then you will be setting your team up for great vocal success. Another thing to listen for during your vocal auditions is how well they can utilize their full voice and be able to belt. So much of modern worship is now leaning toward that style of singing, and to have vocalists on your team that can execute a full belted voice in addition to airier, head voice songs will give your team a well-rounded, professional sound
During their audition, do a check of their vocal range and see how high they can go in a full belted voice( with control), so you know what type of range they can execute well. A half to a whole step up or down can make a huge difference to a singer, so make sure that you as the worship leader are not asking your singers to sing out of their range. They will be more than happy to try to sing out of their range just to please you, and to be able to sing on the team, but the goal is to set them up for success and also a good worship experience – not have them walk away defeated and second guessing their talent. We try to know every singer’ s range, style, tone, and stage presence before assigning them a song that we“ hope” will fit them. It’ s best to always want to showcase a strength, not a weakness. Excellence attracts excellence, so the higher you set the bar for your team, and the more you know your vocalists and what they can and cannot do, you will attract other talented singers to your team.
May you be blessed as you pour into to or become the next generation of worship leaders!
Vance & Michelle Shepherd Founders of The Shepherd School of Music in Las Vegas, NV, where they work with youth to raise up the next generation of worship leaders and musicians. facebook. com / shepherdschoolofmusiclasvegas www. ShepherdStudiosLV. com
46 April 2026 Subscribe for Free...