{"id":4614,"date":"2010-11-04T08:35:36","date_gmt":"2010-11-04T08:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/?p=4614"},"modified":"2019-08-01T17:09:16","modified_gmt":"2019-08-01T17:09:16","slug":"stay-on-the-melody-please","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/stay-on-the-melody-please\/","title":{"rendered":"Stay on the melody (please)"},"content":{"rendered":"

One simple thing that many worship leaders could do that would immediately increase their effectiveness by leaps and bounds would be to stay on the melody<\/strong>. By resisting the urge to break off of the melody and sing higher, or sing harmony, or sing a cool little blues run, they would instantaneously be easier to follow, less distracting, less annoying, and more confidence-building.<\/p>\n

The average person in the congregation is an average singer<\/strong>. You have some who are really good and some who are really bad, but most people are just average. They can carry a tune, enjoy singing, and while they wouldn\u2019t want to sing in front of people with a microphone in front of their face, are generally willing to give most songs a try.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re leading worship it means that, for the most part, you\u2019re somewhat comfortable singing in front of people. You might have a great voice, you might have an average voice, and you might have a below average voice. But that doesn\u2019t matter. Whatever kind of voice you have \u2013 you should be singing as averagely as possible<\/strong>. Nothing exciting, nothing special, and nothing noteworthy except for it\u2019s averageness. Sing the melody, sing it confidently, sing it clearly, and sing it only.<\/p>\n

I know, I know. There are occasions when it works to go off the melody a little bit. But those occasions are (or at least, should be) so rare, that your general rule of thumb should be to sing the melody and only deviate from it when it won\u2019t throw anybody off. Anybody<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most of the time when a worship leader sings anything other than the melody, it throws people off. Maybe not everyone \u2013 but someone. This is why it\u2019s usually (always?) a bad idea. Control yourself, keep it together, and sing so Felix the dishwasher repairman can follow you.<\/p>\n

I think there are several worship-leading vocal myths that can get into our head and make us distracting singers. See if you recognize any of these:<\/p>\n