are incapable of singing in tune and so they tend not to do so , at least when other people can hear them . A very tiny subset of the 4 % believe they can actually sing and might have somehow slipped through any auditioning process and now find themselves on a platform with a microphone , with a band , attempting to help lead a congregation to worship God through songs .
Over my 15 plus years of Music Directing ( MDing ) and providing training for countless bands with innumerable singers covering a huge range of ability , I have only ever encountered two “ singers ” in church bands who I believed were tone deaf . If you happen to have a tone-deaf vocalist in your team , that presents its own particular set of problems . But it ’ s highly unlikely . What ’ s far more likely is that you have vocalists who are a little ( or more than a little ) pitchy from time to time ( or maybe all the time ).
They can sing ! We just need to help them sing better .
This is the second part of a two-part article on working with “ pitchy ” vocalists and helping them to improve their pitch .
In the first part , I explained that , in the context of leading a congregation to sing as an expression of worship , perfectly pitched vocals aren ’ t truly achievable and are not actually essential . If you want the full background to this second part , please jump back and read that first part first .
We are often working with less than fully developed singers . We can expect a little pitchiness here and there . What we need to do is to give the singers we have - no matter what their ability level - the best possible chance of success . There are things the MD can do to create the right conditions and provide experiences so that singers can sing with only mild amounts of pitchiness . Our singers will be able to guide the voice of the congregation effectively , with only manageable levels of the undesirable , Sonic Soup-producing poor tuning .
I have developed some techniques that help singers improve their pitch - reducing the distraction that pitchiness can throw at the congregation . Maybe some of these will help you too :
1 ) MONITOR SOUNDCHECK Whether we ’ re using in-ear monitors or oldschool open speaker wedges , having a good monitor mix is essential if singers are going to sing with pitch that falls within the required , correct ( ish ) range . The best thing I can do to help singers sing with better pitch is to run a proper sound check and make sure they are hearing a good quality , natural , inspiring sound for their own voice , the other voices in the ensemble and the accompanying instruments .
We then need to make sure that they have the right balance . Not too much of their own voice . Not too little . They should be aware of their own voice as a small contribution to the overall sound . For more info about my system for soundcheck , please grab these links and read my articles called The All Important Soundcheck
Part 1 and
Part 2 .
Sadly , proper soundchecks are often overlooked by teams of worshiping musicians and technicians . This leaves singers wading through their own personal monitor nightmare of Sonic Soup . Little wonder that their pitch becomes wayward . Have a proper soundcheck and your vocal pitch issues will improve dramatically . They might even vanish .
2 ) DRAIN THE SONIC SOUP FROM THE ACCOMPANIMENT All-too-commonly , the reason why singers can ’ t achieve the sort of monitor mix they need is because there are too many other sounds from the band competing with their voices .
This is not just about too much volume on the platform or an unbalanced monitor mix - although both can be major problems . It can also be about the actual parts being played by each instrument in the band . For example : If the drums are playing drum fills and cymbal hits during the vocal melody - especially if they use a different rhythm - they will “ crowd ” the sonic space needed by our vocalists . Another example : If acoustic guitar , electric guitar , and keyboard are all busily slabbing out every note of every chord throughout the song - especially if they are using uncomplimentary rhythms - the midrange of our sound will become oversaturated . Our vocalists ’ pitch will drown in all that Sonic Soup .
If the instrumental accompaniment is slightly out of tune or out of time , the singers ’ pitch will suffer . If we simplify and clean up the band ’ s overall sound - have the instrument create a platform for the voices of our vocalists rather than steam-rolling through them - we will find that our singers are way more likely to sing on key .
3 ) GET OFF THE MICS & LISTEN If we ’ ve got a good monitor mix , and clean , supporting instrumental accompaniment and we ’ ve still got unacceptable levels of pitchiness , the next step it to move away from our microphones and monitors , have the singers circle up ( facing one another ) and with only gentle piano or acoustic guitar accompaniment ( or even acapella ) we sing together .
Working on a troublesome part of a song in this way can help build confidence and can teach us singers to really listen to the other voices and to hear our own voice as one blended element of the overall sound .
You might even consider having your vocalists arrive 30 minutes early to rehearsal and run each song like this before we add mics , monitors and the band . But even one or two