{"id":3176,"date":"2009-12-07T20:03:57","date_gmt":"2009-12-07T20:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/?p=3176"},"modified":"2019-08-08T08:43:26","modified_gmt":"2019-08-08T08:43:26","slug":"ask-the-expert-how-do-i-get-my-backing-vocalists-away-from-the-sheet-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-how-do-i-get-my-backing-vocalists-away-from-the-sheet-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask the Expert – How do I get my backing vocalists away from the sheet music?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Julie Meyer from Kansas emails:<\/p>\n

“I’m having trouble weaning my background vocals off of sheet music.\u00a0 Any suggestions?\u00a0 The problem is they stare at the music (sometimes 5 pages per song) the whole time and don’t really participate in worshiping (their most important role on the team).”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Andy replies:<\/p>\n

You didn\u2019t mention what they are actually reading on the music. I am guessing it\u2019s the lyrics rather than reading the full score or specific parts they are trying to sing. Either way I think it\u2019s really important for a singer who takes their role seriously to learn the words of the songs and not just rely on the music. I\u2019d say the same to musicians about chords, parts, starts and stops. However I\u2019ve also been in churches where the weekly speaker chooses the worship list from the theme of their talk each and so the pool of material the musicians have to work with is over 300 songs, so memorization is tricky!<\/p>\n

So job one is to make sure your repertoire is manageable and used frequently enough so singers and musicians will find benefit in committing them to memory. However as we all get older it does get harder to memorize and recall chords, lyrics and parts instantly, especially under pressure. So don\u2019t take the safety net of the words away immediately, maybe just encourage them to the score as a cue card when they need a prompt on the odd word. If you are not sure whether they are engaging in worship how about prompting a discussion about what they think about when they worship or perhaps what songs are meaningful to them and why, and critically how, does the experience of singing those songs make them want to respond to God? Can they translate that meaning into the act of singing? Group discussions like this can often yield some deep and surprising results\u2026<\/p>\n

Obviously some people respond pretty outwardly in worship and others don\u2019t, some cope well with memorizing lyrics and others don\u2019t but really I think it\u2019s a question of intent and desire to respond to God in some way.\u00a0 I remember getting really worked up about the fact that I was so concentrating on trying to get the guitar parts right I had no headspace to mentally engage and worship. If that\u2019s people in your team\u2019s situation then I\u2019d just say don\u2019t worry. Serving God and the congregation in a situation like that could be likened to hosting a party. The host and the guests will have very different experiences and memories of the party but both perform invaluable roles that the event couldn\u2019t happen without. They\u2019ll also find that the more they do it, the easier it\u2019ll become so eventually they\u2019ll relax enough to get a bit of headspace to actively focus on God.<\/p>\n

Practically speaking if the music is on 5 pages it might be difficult to follow and maybe a much simpler chart is required. Often we only need the first line of each verse or even just the first words of a few key lines to help us remember the rest. If you have a screen to display the words for the church maybe reposition your singers so they can see that rather than using the score. Or maybe even ban charts in rehearsals to wean them off.<\/p>\n

It sounds like you\u2019ve got a full on task ahead but I hope some of that helps.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do check out our\u00a0DVDs, CDs and downloads<\/a>\u00a0of vocal training resources.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Other posts you may find helpful:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Music stand rant<\/a><\/p>\n

The art of backing vocals<\/a><\/p>\n

Learn to sing harmonies in worship<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Julie Meyer from Kansas emails: “I’m having trouble weaning my background vocals off of sheet music.\u00a0 Any suggestions?\u00a0 The problem is they stare at the music (sometimes 5 pages per song) the whole time and don’t really participate in worshiping (their most important role on the team).” Andy replies: You didn\u2019t mention what they are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":2467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,41],"tags":[736,735,790,289,700,107,38,37],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAsk the Expert - How do I get my backing vocalists away from the sheet music? | Musicademy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-how-do-i-get-my-backing-vocalists-away-from-the-sheet-music\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ask the Expert - How do I get my backing vocalists away from the sheet music? | Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Julie Meyer from Kansas emails: “I’m having trouble weaning my background vocals off of sheet music.\u00a0 Any suggestions?\u00a0 The problem is they stare at the music (sometimes 5 pages per song) the whole time and don’t really participate in worshiping (their most important role on the team).” Andy replies: You didn\u2019t mention what they are […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-how-do-i-get-my-backing-vocalists-away-from-the-sheet-music\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-12-07T20:03:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-08-08T08:43:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/backing-vocalists.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"345\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marie@Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@musicademy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@musicademy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marie@Musicademy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-how-do-i-get-my-backing-vocalists-away-from-the-sheet-music\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-how-do-i-get-my-backing-vocalists-away-from-the-sheet-music\/\",\"name\":\"Ask the Expert - How do I get my backing vocalists away from the sheet music? | Musicademy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-12-07T20:03:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-08T08:43:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f250bacb3de5aa97fa822e06e84a706c\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-how-do-i-get-my-backing-vocalists-away-from-the-sheet-music\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Musicademy\",\"description\":\"Award-winning training resources for church based musicians\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f250bacb3de5aa97fa822e06e84a706c\",\"name\":\"Marie@Musicademy\",\"description\":\"Marie is a Director of Musicademy and works as the Business Manager and E-Commerce specialist. Prior to setting up Musicademy with Andy, Marie worked as a marketing consultant. She is also a qualified teacher and continues to lecture in Business and Marketing for various professional organisations and universities. Marie co-leads an \\\"emerging\\\" church\/housegroup and is married with two teenage children. She takes great delight in answering Musicademy emails at all times of the day and night \u2013 some people would suggest that she needs to get a life.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/musicademy.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ask the Expert - How do I get my backing vocalists away from the sheet music? | Musicademy","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-how-do-i-get-my-backing-vocalists-away-from-the-sheet-music\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ask the Expert - How do I get my backing vocalists away from the sheet music? | Musicademy","og_description":"Julie Meyer from Kansas emails: “I’m having trouble weaning my background vocals off of sheet music.\u00a0 Any suggestions?\u00a0 The problem is they stare at the music (sometimes 5 pages per song) the whole time and don’t really participate in worshiping (their most important role on the team).” Andy replies: You didn\u2019t mention what they are […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-how-do-i-get-my-backing-vocalists-away-from-the-sheet-music\/","og_site_name":"Musicademy","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Musicademy","article_published_time":"2009-12-07T20:03:57+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-08-08T08:43:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":520,"height":345,"url":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/backing-vocalists.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Marie@Musicademy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@musicademy","twitter_site":"@musicademy","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Marie@Musicademy","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-how-do-i-get-my-backing-vocalists-away-from-the-sheet-music\/","url":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-how-do-i-get-my-backing-vocalists-away-from-the-sheet-music\/","name":"Ask the Expert - How do I get my backing vocalists away from the sheet music? | Musicademy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-12-07T20:03:57+00:00","dateModified":"2019-08-08T08:43:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f250bacb3de5aa97fa822e06e84a706c"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-how-do-i-get-my-backing-vocalists-away-from-the-sheet-music\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/","name":"Musicademy","description":"Award-winning training resources for church based musicians","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f250bacb3de5aa97fa822e06e84a706c","name":"Marie@Musicademy","description":"Marie is a Director of Musicademy and works as the Business Manager and E-Commerce specialist. Prior to setting up Musicademy with Andy, Marie worked as a marketing consultant. She is also a qualified teacher and continues to lecture in Business and Marketing for various professional organisations and universities. Marie co-leads an \"emerging\" church\/housegroup and is married with two teenage children. She takes great delight in answering Musicademy emails at all times of the day and night \u2013 some people would suggest that she needs to get a life.","sameAs":["http:\/\/musicademy.com"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3176"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3176"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22946,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3176\/revisions\/22946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}