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HEARING  VOICES

Join In The Song!

7/6/2016

11 Comments

 
Every believer has the right to experience praising God through song. 
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     There is nothing like singing with fellow believers. A cappella congregational singing, when it is grounded in Christ as an offering of mutual edification, makes for the most exhilarating community experience a church can be a part of. Many churches who have enjoyed the riches of this congregational idiom, however, are allowing it to fall by the wayside, blaming their static, lifeless, worship services on the a cappella tradition itself, as if we as a brotherhood haven’t completely neglected to equip our congregations with the skills that enable them to bring their best for the Lord on Sunday. 

    What’s the solution? Training and education. If a church wants to keep singing alive as a vital experience for every believer, training in congregational singing for the entire church is essential. When I was young, my home church would bring in Ralph Casey to provide a training weekend for the purpose of equipping our entire church family on music basics, singing fundamentals and song leading. This happened more than once in my home church.

    The need is greater than ever.  Sharon and I travel with the Praise & Harmony congregational singing workshops for the purpose of equipping churches to establish a solid training program to keep a cappella singing alive.  Our primary target audience is not the most gifted vocalists, who are already passionate about singing, but the beginners who either don’t participate or who have never tried to sing harmony before.  We are finding the results can be amazing!​
​​   We encourage churches to establish “new song” classes in which every person is encouraged to sit by voice part with basses, altos, sopranos or tenors. Teaching new songs should be a regular and frequent objective of growing churches. Using training CDs on a daily basis (in cars, homes, etc.) to reinforce the new song class will greatly accelerate the learning process.

    In order to coordinate everyone to your arrangements, we urge everyone to use projected musical notation. We urge them to incorporate real dynamic volume changes in their singing, which can easily be facilitated by singing verses softer and choruses louder, for example. Additionally, when the song leader dominates the volume for the duration of the song, it dwarfs the contribution of the congregation, and unintentionally moves the focal point on the worship leader. This is why we encourage the use of a hand held microphone so the leader can “mix himself out” of the overall sound, and only take charge when necessary to drive the tempo and facilitate changes.

    In this video, “God Of Wonders,” notice how the congregation is sitting in sections by voice part; lower voices on the left and higher voices on the right. By being “immersed” in each section, beginners find it much easier to learn to sing harmony by ear.  Secondly, notice how we are working to sing the chorus, “God of wonders beyond our galaxy” louder than the unison verses.  I am using the microphone to take myself out of the mix so that the leader is only heard when necessary, and the bulk of the experience becomes a culmination of every voice present. One voice (or voices) should not consistently dominate the congregational experience.

    For those interested in hosting a Praise & Harmony Workshop, find out more here. We strongly encourage churches to send their gifted song leaders to the annual advanced training “bootcamp” available at the Worship Leader Institute. If your church would like to participate in a professional worship recording, find out more here.  The video below provides more information from the volunteers who participate in the recording process, which happens at least once a year.

11 Comments
John Shipley
7/6/2016 04:12:50 pm

What an uplifting and encouraging night of voices blended together to Worship the One True God. The Spirit is immediately lifted and you can pray to the Father in Praise through song. All Christians, all voices together Exalting God... wowzers!!!

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Keith Lancaster link
7/6/2016 04:17:11 pm

John, I love prayer songs, and so many of the songs we sing are prayers. Thanks for sharing and for your enthusiasm and participation in this ministry!

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Sandy Denman
7/6/2016 05:01:36 pm

Ever wonder what happens in a Praise & Harmony Workshop led by Keith Lancaster? We've had two so far at Mansfield Church of Christ. Our church has also sent several of our worship leaders to the Worship Leader Institute over the past four years. These have been the main contributing factors to our congregation's ability to keep the a Capella tradition very much alive and well. Every voice is important and every believer needs to participate. These tools give believers the skills and confidence to sing out to the Lord! Listen to the video; you can hear it in their voices!

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Keith Lancaster link
7/6/2016 05:31:14 pm

Sandy, It is exhilarating to witness the "drastically" positive progress that has taken place in Mansfield, Texas! So glad you guys continue to take this seriously.

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Retha Wallace
7/7/2016 02:50:27 pm

God of Wonders is one of my most favorites! My soul soars with every word. Appreciate every effort extended to make our praise to God a sweet aroma to him! Thank you

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Keith Lancaster link
7/7/2016 03:54:18 pm

Thank you, Retha!

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David Denman
7/9/2016 07:30:28 am

I get asked occasionally why I volunteer to sing with the AP&H group. I believe the question is legitimate, for some of us put in a large block of resources with each new CD to master the material. I usually reply with some version of this: Singing is the ONE THING we KNOW we will be doing forever. Why not start now? I need no payment, no reward - those who have sung know that it is its own reward, paying dividends in countless blessings to the singers and the singees (hopefully!) It is the BEST way to let our lights shine! Come on, join the song!

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Keith Lancaster link
7/9/2016 07:45:15 am

I love it. An eternal activity!

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Christy Miller
7/12/2016 07:23:44 am

Hi--I listened to those clips! Beautiful singing as always. I look forward to the release of Exalted God. Also I read your blog post and it is right on, especially the bit about how the funeral-esque singing is being blamed on the acappella tradition..the minute I started listening to Praise and Harmony as well as ZOE Group, I realized the scapegoat should not be on Acappella as the misconception is simply not true..just recently I showed an online buddy of mine one of the songs on the Praise and Harmony CDs and she was blown away, and little by little, other people have come to realize it too. I can't stress enough how happy I am when I'm able to experience such edifying congregational singing as well as how touching it was for me to have met you.

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Alberta Ebony link
1/24/2021 11:12:22 pm

Hi nice reading youur post

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New Jersey Cuckold link
11/25/2022 12:10:45 am

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    I believe that the human voice is the greatest instrument of music ever created. Harmonizing hearts and voices in praise to the Creator is the highest calling of mankind.  Host a Praise & Harmony Workshop for your church and sponsor leaders to attend the Worship Leader Institute
    PraiseAndHarmony.com

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