{"id":10199,"date":"2013-05-02T01:00:17","date_gmt":"2013-05-02T01:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/?p=10199"},"modified":"2019-07-27T09:33:16","modified_gmt":"2019-07-27T09:33:16","slug":"what-happens-when-the-songs-are-too-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/what-happens-when-the-songs-are-too-high\/","title":{"rendered":"5 things that happen when the songs are too high"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was recently watching a well-known worship leader lead worship at a church that was broadcasting its service online. His leadership was excellent, the played was playing well, and the songs were really good. There was one problem, though. The keys were all way too high.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve written before about the art (it\u2019s not really a science) of choosing the right key for your congregation, so I won\u2019t go into all those details before. You can read that article<\/span><\/a> if you\u2019re wondering what guidelines to follow (generally) to choose congregation-friendly keys. But if you\u2019re not convinced that it matters what key your songs are in, here are some effects that high keys have on a congregation.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. They stop singing
    \n<\/strong>They might not all stop singing at once, but they do start dropping off like flies pretty quickly. The brave and enthusiastic will keep on singing. But the people who are on the fence about singing (and you know that every church has them) will stop singing first. Then even the eager will start dropping out because their throats hurt.<\/li>\n
  2. They are confused<\/strong>
    \nHere are the questions that start going through the congregation\u2019s mind when the key is too high: Am I supposed to try to sing that note? Maybe I\u2019m just supposed to listen to the worship leader sing it? I guess I\u2019ll sing down an octave, but that feels really low, that can\u2019t be right, can it? Am I just a really bad singer? Will the next song be more singable?<\/li>\n
  3. They get tired more quickly
    \n<\/strong>When the songs are in unsingable keys, people will get worn out more quickly. After just one song in the stratosphere, people are going to want a break. Why? Because it feels like exercise. And it is, in a sense. If you\u2019re singing songs in really high keys, you\u2019re asking people to do a vocal work out. And it\u2019s tiring.<\/li>\n
  4. They focus on (and blame) you
    \n<\/strong>People don\u2019t like feeling uncomfortable. That\u2019s a basic fact of life. And when people feel uncomfortable, they look for someone to blame. So if I\u2019m Joe the Plumber and I come to church on Sunday and the songs are all really high and unsingable, I\u2019m going to blame the guy\/girl who\u2019s leading them. Now the worship leader is the focus and Joe the Plumber isn\u2019t singing along. Not good.<\/li>\n
  5. They get conditioned to be spectators<\/strong>
    \n<\/strong>After several too-high songs, or after several weeks\/months\/years of unsingable songs, your congregation will be conditioned to not sing along. They will have learned that it\u2019s much more comfortable for them to listen to\/watch you sing. At this point, you\u2019ll really to have work to get them to sing along with you. Shouldn\u2019t it be the opposite in the churches? I\u2019d rather my congregation to be so accustomed to singing along in church that it feels foreign to them to just listen\/watch.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I can\u2019t overemphasize the importance of choosing keys wisely for congregational songs. If the Psalmist said \u201clet us exalt his name together<\/em>\u201d (Psalm 34:3) then surely our number one priority is unified singing. Good keys are the basic building blocks of unified singing.<\/p>\n

    This first appeared at the Worthily Magnify<\/a> blog written by Jamie Brown.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Other posts you might like:<\/h2>\n

    Choosing keys for women worship leaders and small congregations<\/a><\/p>\n

    Top 10 Do\u2019s and Don\u2019ts \u2013 Backing Vocalists<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I was recently watching a well-known worship leader lead worship at a church that was broadcasting its service online. His leadership was excellent, the played was playing well, and the songs were really good. There was one problem, though. The keys were all way too high. I\u2019ve written before about the art (it\u2019s not really […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5303,"featured_media":21690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[98],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n5 things that happen when the songs are too high<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There's an art of choosing the right key for songs. 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