range. The goal: make the recording a great listening experience.
But- as I hope you’ re very aware- that key will likely not be the best key for the vocal participation of your congregation.
Especially when the original artist / vocalist is a tenor( like Chris Tomlin, Phil Wickham, Brandon Lake, Cody Carnes, and others), the congregational key- where average people in your congregation can actually sing the melody- will be very different.
The flow-on effect? Better rehearsals, stronger services, and greater success in leading your congregation to worship Almighty God through song.
So how do you do it? There are many tools available, but here’ s what I’ ve found works best for me: semitones in either direction and the results won’ t make for great listening. Higher shifts make the vocals sound like chipmunks, while lower shifts may sound like an underwater troll is singing! That’ s why I always provide my team with the original recording as well- for inspiration and enjoyment.
In my role with More Than Music Mentor www. MoreThanMusicMentor. com- providing training for the heart and the art of worshipping musicians- I routinely hear statements like these from leaders of church teams:
NOTE: For more info about how to choose a congregational key, read this.
If we want our team members to spend time preparing songs during the week leading up to rehearsal and Sunday services, we must make it as easy as possible for them. That includes providing access to a sound recording of each song in your key.
This doesn’ t just make personal preparation easier. It makes it possible! Even during my years as a pro bassist( with bands like Paul Colman Trio and Sonicflood), there was no way I could properly learn a song from a recording in one key in preparation for playing it in another. We can’ t expect the( most likely) amateur, volunteer musicians and singers who serve in your church to do that either.
Maybe you and your church are already doing this. If so, well done! Larger churches( often with paid staff overseeing the music) have known the vital value of this for a long while. In fact, Planning Center- the most widely used subscription service for organizing church music- has the ability to stream digitally transposed versions of recordings built in.
But here’ s the good news: in today’ s digital world, it has never been easier for Musical Directors to provide their teams with song recordings in any key. With just a few simple tools and a little extra effort, you can set your team up for more effective personal practice. transposr. com Totally free, super easy to use. It’ s the same tool that’ s found within Planning Center. Simply drag and drop or upload an MP3, indicate how many semitones higher or lower you need, and within a minute or two your digitally transposed MP3 is ready to download.
Your team members will need access to these physical MP3 files. I use Dropbox to share both MP3s and PDFs with my teams.
Don’ t have an MP3? No problem. If your team members install the free“ Transpose” plugin for the Google Chrome browser, they can listen to YouTube videos of songs in any key. Just send them the YouTube link and tell them how many steps up( 1 to 12) or down(-1 to-12) to slide the Transpose control.
Simple. Cheap. Essential.
Be aware that the digitally altered audio will sound strange. Shift more than two or three
“ Most of the team members don’ t do any personal preparation before rehearsal. It’ s a real problem!”
“ If the band worked on the songs in their own time- even a little- we’ d be way more effective on Sunday morning.”
“ Why don’ t they practice the songs!?”
I get it. It’ s frustrating. And it seems to be a widespread and ongoing challenge for many churches, especially( though not only) smaller ones.
Yes, there are always other factors affecting why individuals don’ t prepare songs on their own. But team leaders and Musical Directors need to take some responsibility. We must provide our teams with the right resources and do so in a timely way.
Show your team members that you value their time and effort. Encourage and honor them by providing sound recordings in your chosen keys- recordings that match the PDFs. I’ m convinced you’ ll see a marked improvement in personal preparation when you do.
Grant Norsworthy Grant is the founder of More Than Music Mentor- providing online & onsite training for the heart & the art of worshipping singers, instrumentalists & technicians. Grant’ a passion is to IMPROVE musicality, INCREASE participation, INSTILL unity & INSPIRE worship in The Church worldwide. An Aussie who also lived in Nashville, TN, USA for 17 years as a pro CCM muso, today Grant lives and works from his Nelson New Zealand home base.
MoreThanMusicMentor. com Facebook. com / GrantNorsworthy
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