Many of our congregational worship songs simply aren\u2019t congregational. There, I\u2019ve said it! But if you\u2019ll forgive my hyperbole I\u2019ll defend myself. Recently I was recording tracks for our Worship Backing Band Multitrack<\/a> project at Musicademy. These tracks are designed for churches with missing musicians that want a full band sound. Basic criteria; they need to be newish, well known CCLI top 150 songs that small to medium sized churches want to sing. We then put them in congregational keys with arrangements that average volunteer worship teams can handle without over complex intros, outros and instrumentals. I.e. take out Lincoln\u2019s Freebird solos. Nothing in any way to do with me not being able to play said solos in the first place you understand of course\u2026<\/p>\n But my problem is this; many of our best known worship songs simply aren\u2019t congregationally singable in their original format, and sometime if you change the format the song just doesn\u2019t work at all. For instance out of the ten songs in that batch, only one, Paul Baloche\u2019s \u2018Offering\u2019 works in its original key congregationally. The rest were up to two full tones above where they should sit given that a stereotypical untrained male and female vocal range is from low A to high Eb.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not simply a matter of changing key. Lots of big songs written in the last few years have a range up to a 15th<\/sup> meaning that in whatever key you place it in, parts are going to be too high or too low for too long, and then people just stop singing!<\/p>\n Recent hymn rewrites can be equally congregationally tricky. In order to get that big climactic lift the newly added chorus jumps up a couple of tones from where most of the hymn is sung. So retaining the original key renders the new chorus unsingable but lowering the key to fit the chorus makes the main body of the hymn too low.<\/p>\n Another way to get big climactic lift is to jump up and octave in the final chorus and many newer songs use this idea. Again it works brilliantly on record and in huge gatherings but simply isn\u2019t usable in average sized churches. \u00a0Matt Redman\u2019s \u2018Here For You\u2019 is a good example of this. It\u2019s a fabulous song but the original is in C which creates huge congregational difficulties when you hit the octave jump. In practice many churches place it in G and forget the octave jump altogether but that doesn\u2019t make for nearly as an inspiring recording or even backing track. Bizarrely one of the most difficult areas of the backing track production is when we change key, even by a small amount, because changing key changes the voicings and often the feel<\/em> of the track. So by changing key you can loose some of the dynamic sense of the original; which leaves worship teams in a kind of sonic stalemate. Conversely it\u2019s no mistake that another of his songs, 10,000 Reasons won two Grammy\u2019s. Most of its range spans a 9th and the melody is stepwise enough to be easily singable. That said most congregations still need to bring the key down a minor third to keep it in range.<\/p>\n If this resonates with you it\u2019s easy to blame the song writer or artist, but I think the problem is much more complex. Many current popular worship songs are written for larger gatherings and mega churches, and promoted primarily through tours and albums, conferences, festivals and of course, radio. That\u2019s really the only way for songs to be heard widespread and the problem is we require a worship song to be too many things to too many people. On radio it\u2019s got to grab you with an upbeat hook, big lift and be entertaining. On album it\u2019s got to best suit and push the artist\u2019s vocal range, have fresh interesting arrangements and in large gatherings it\u2019s got to be anthemically inspiring. All these things make for fabulous recordings but don\u2019t necessarily translate to \u2018off the peg\u2019 usable material for the average sized church.<\/p>\n Now I\u2019m not saying we should get rid of creative arrangements, radio promotion, festivals or anything. Keep it all! But I am saying that if the goal of worship song writing is to truly serve the church at large first<\/span>, then all involved in the production and promotion of worship songs should take more of an active role in showing the average volunteer worship team how to make their songs more congregationally singable, playable and useable.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Congregationally friendly keys for worship songs<\/a><\/p>\n Master (older) song list for small churches<\/a><\/p>\n Why your song list might be getting in the way of your worship<\/a><\/p>\n Worship song cull<\/a><\/p>\n Top 10 signs it\u2019s time to cut a song<\/a><\/p>\n The lifecycle of a worship song (and why it matters for your church)<\/a><\/p>\n Choosing keys for women worship leaders and small congregations Vocal range \u2013 practical guidance for churches (part 1)<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0(part 2)Can’t we just change key?<\/h2>\n
Octave leaps for effect<\/h2>\n
The roots of the problem<\/h2>\n
\u00a0Should songs primarily be serving the local church?<\/h2>\n
Other posts you might like:<\/h2>\n
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