Anju Ebanks

This is a good topic to write about. In so many churches you find that the female worship leaders are having to push their voices to try and hit notes that are difficult, this is not because they can’t sing very well. It is because the Key of the song is too high for a woman.  My vocal coach says that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, meaning that if you don’t have the full picture you can find yourself tied up in knots  (I’m explaining because I didn’t really understand the saying until I met her).

We are given a natural vocal ability, we can move past our natural ability but that will take time and training.  Some of the songs that we sing at church are complex which means that they won’t always fit into our natural range, this is where technical singing comes into play.

So lets talk about our natural voice, you know that place where what you’re singing is neither too high or too low.  I struggled with this one for years. I felt that I couldn’t sing because I couldn’t hit the high notes or any notes sometimes!

I discovered that the reason I was struggling to sing was because everything was pitched so high. I think that is mainly because the worship scene is dominated by male worship leaders, bless them, naturally they are going to sing within their vocal range and so they should.

Women are typically divided into three groups: soprano, mezzzo-soprano and alto.

• Soprano -The soprano is the highest female voice.
• Mezzo-soprano-The mezzo-soprano is the most common female voice.
• Alto-The alto voice is the lowest female voice.

(I have generalised here as there are many sub-categories to the three categories above and I encourage you to find out for yourself where your voice fits in)

The most common female voice is not the highest  in the female range so why are we (women) singing in uncomfortable keys?

Girls if you are leading worship at church transpose the keys to keys that you can sing in comfortably.  Make sure you give new chord charts to the band, unless they are used to working with women because they will be used to playing the songs in male keys and it won’t feel like a comfortable set piece for them.  If you don’t know how to transpose enlist the help of someone who does.

When you are singing in a vocal range that suits your voice you will feel more confident about what you are doing and you will have vocals in reserve for the highs in the service when you want to push into the heavens.

Finally when you choose your keys make sure that you pitch the songs as high as possible, you are called to lead men and women in worship so try your best to include both sexes, this is honouring to God and to our congregations.  Guys I challenge you to do the same, pitch songs as low as you can so that you are including everyone to the best of your ability.

I like your comments, it raises for me the whole question of preparation for worship.  In most churches the time spent in worship, is actually similar to, if not longer than the time given to the teaching.  We probably expect our teachers to have spent time in preparation, both in prayer and at their desks.  Given the importance we place on worship, is it unreasonable to expect those who lead worship to be giving any less time to their particular calling?  Of course, every worship leader wants to reserve the right to flow into spontaneity, but I wonder if it is actually the hard work of preparation and the skills that we learn and practice that actually release a whole new breadth of expressive abilities that can be drawn upon in the times of spontaneity.

John Ryeland, Director, The Christian Healing Mission

I’ve experienced many worship times when the worship leader starts a song and my heart leaps because I have some connection with the song we are about to sing.  So I join the worship leader on the journey he or she has invited me on.  As we continue the journey I sometimes find that I have to pull out of the journey because the melody is not the melody that I have been taught or learnt.

So today I’m asking how important is it for us as worship leaders to learn the songs that we are using well?  Is it ok to to kind of know where the song is going and jump in or should we spend a bit more time learning the material so that when we lead we lead with the best of our ability?

I think that we should take time to learn a song/melody thoroughly before we start to use it at church.  I know we can be very keen as creatives to release a song because it has annointing on it or because we love the song so much, but how much more anointed would it be if we actually could relax into knowing we have spent quality time learning the song.  Musicians in the secular music field would never stand before a group of people and sing/play a song that they kind of know, they have spent hours upon hours on the song in order to deliver it well.  I think that we in the worship field should take a leaf out of their book.  Not that we become obsessed with performance, just that we raise the game so that we skillfully lead worship.

As we do this we do a few things that help worship move along. Firstly we teach songs to our congregations correctly.  When members of our churches visit other churches,  festivals or are lead by other worship leaders they will be equipped to enter into the worship journey.  We ourselves will be more relaxed and confident as we lead and because we are at ease the congregation will be too.

Practical ways to get the song into your head.

1. Get a copy of it and listen to it on your ipod, in the car in the kitchen on the train/bus.
2. Have it playing in the background  when you are at home.
3. Listen to it on the internet if you can’t afford a copy, make sure it’s the right version and not somebody’s else’s version/expression of the song.
4. Rehearse rehearse rehearse all the best musicians do.

Here’s my Christmas present to you, a free track from the album. The song is called “We Give You All The Glory.”  You can download it by clicking on the download link on player on the right.

The song is a favourite with many people who have purchased the album, if you haven’t got a copy you can buy one from this site.

The song begins with piano and vocals which creates a lot of space and then it gradually builds up to an anthem of praise.

I wrote if for many reasons, the heart of the song is to give God all the Glory, letting Him know that we know that if we are moved in worship it’s because of Him, if we are encouraged it’s because of Him, if we are healed it’s because of Him.  I could go on but I think you get the picture.

I hope you enjoy the track feel free to let your friends know about the free download and share the track.

I worked with an amazing band for this conference. I had prepped for the conference weeks in advance and had sent out intial set lists along with my thoughts about arrangements etc. By doing this I gave the band lots of time to listen to their parts and do their own preparation, which they did.

Once I had chord charts I sent them out too. We only had one rehearsal, we had twenty songs to run, so it could have been quite a pressured time.

The band had all done their homework, they had listened to the songs and taken note of the things I had communicated to them. They were aware of their parts even with songs that they had never played and because of their professionalism the rehearsal was very productive. There were no points at which we had to stop to work out parts etc we generally top and tailed the songs and worked on links.

Finally, I had made sure that I had a set of chord charts for every song for the rehearsal, this makes everyones life easier, as everyone can make notes on their copies and we all have a general structure for each song.

The conference was a complete success, everybody loved the band.

1. Prepare well in advance (you can modify set lists as you go)
2. Decide on keys
3. List reference songs for the band to listen to
4. Make notes next to each song on the list
3. Have final set lists and charts for every member of the band for the rehearsal

A day led by Pete Greig

CHM Conference - When Healing Does Not Happen

Saturday 21 November 2009 @ 10 - 4 Tickets £15
St Pauls Hammersmith
Queen Caroline St W6 9PJ
chm@healingmission.org

The Mission are delighted that Pete Greig has agreed to speak at their 2009 conference. Pete is one of the founders of the 24-7 Prayer Movement and is also the director of Prayer at Holy Trinity Brompton. The day is titled, “When healing does not happen”, and Pete is well qualified to lead us as he has first hand knowledge of the tension between times of miraculous healing and seasons when God seems silent. His book “God on Mute” is based on the experience of his wife’s illness. He acknowledges that healing is a mystery and has had to come to terms with occasions when God has not appeared to answer his prayers and he will share some of what he has learnt from this. Anju Ebanks will be leading worship and there will be an opportunity for questions and ministry during the afternoon. Do book your places via by calling us at the Mission 020 7603 8118  at what promises to be both a very enjoyable and helpful occasion.

Sometimes it’s hard to use the 311 rule because the congregation changes so much from week to week.  I would still use the 311 rule but watch the members of the congregation that are there on a regular basis, select a variety of people so that you can get a true reflection of how well the song is being received.

The other thing that I would do in the above situation is to re-teach the song (Nothing heavy just sing a verse and chorus to them).  I was once in a church where I had to re-teach songs nearly every week, I prefer to re-teach and drop other songs rather than lose half the congregation because they don’t know the song.

Having said all that rules are made to be broken. Above all we should be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit and sensitive to the congregation. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to energise the songs that we are singing and the congregation are gathered because they love Him and want to meet Him, to catch a glimpse of Him.

If a song is simple and has only 4 lines then I would use it wherever it felt appropriate. I would sing it once and then invite the congregation to join me.

Another great place to introduce new songs is in a ministry time although you still need to be sensitive to what ’s going on around you. Not everyone will be having ministry many will still be worshipping. Just sing the song straight through, if there are lots of people still worshipping sing the first verse and chorus twice, just to give the congregation the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the song and join in.

In a conference setting I would be more inclined to introduce new songs from the first set and then use them throughout the conference. I wouldn’t spend time teaching them to the delegates. If you use the new songs consistently during the conference people will pick them up and make them their own.

How many times do we come away from a conference with new songs in our hearts.

I try and introduce new or unfamiliar songs to the congregation at the beginning of a worship set. At this point in the service people are generally still getting their thoughts together and are just beginning to get their focus on the Lord. So for me this is the best time to introduce a song. We are at the beginning of the journey into the Father’s presence. When I’m preparing for a journey I can’t wait to actually get into the car and drive. Before the key turns in the ignition there are check lists to tick off, people to organise and so on but once we’re in the car the journey begins and I start to relax. This is how I see the beginning of a time of worship. I feel it is a good use of time; I can’t break a flow that has not yet been established.

I always like to teach the song rather than launch into it. I’ll tell the congregation that it’s a new song, then I’ll sing them a verse, get them to sing it back to me, sing them a chorus get them to sing it back to me and then take it from the top. I generally introduce the tag if the song has one when we arrive at the tag, just pull everything back and sing it to them and then invite them to join in. It’s ok that there’s no real flow, it’s the first time they’ve heard the song.

Once we have sung a new song I tend to move to more familiar songs, you can almost feel the congregation breathe a sigh of relief. I reckon they’re thinking ‘hooray I know this one now I can enter into worship.’ This is where the flow begins to be established the congregation close their eyes, sing away and get lost in God’s presence.

Once I’ve introduced a new song I use the 3.1.1 rule to see if the song will work in the church or not. You use the song for 3 weeks; you rest it for a week and then use it again the next week. If the congregation own the song by this point it’s a keeper.

I led worship for the Christian Healing Mission this weekend. We had wonderful times of worship the presence of God was evident amongst us as we lifted our hearts to Him and sang our songs to Him. We had times of energy and times of intimacy. God cannot help but turn up when we sing to Him.

I love the Mission. It’s a fantastic place, everytime I go there I am immersed in the presence and love of God and I’m always encouraged and loved by the wonderful team there.

John Ryeland and I have been talking about how to make worship more accessible to those who aren’t used to christian jargon. Also John wanted me to minister in song in order to give those present time and space to interact with the Lord within the worship times.

I’ve been listening to some country songs of late so I thought it would be great to find a secular song that I could use, the question that was knocking around in my mind was ‘will God use the song?’ After much debate I settled for a song called songbird, it was written by Fleetwood Mac and sung by Eva Cassidy. I had decided to hold an experiment and see if we felt there was more power and anointing on a particular song.

In the first set I sang a Songbird, I sang it at the end of the worship time, I chose to do it there because I want to keep the flow once we are flowing, I find it so frustrating when I’m in God’s presence singing away to Him and then the worship leader starts a song that I don’t know, it takes me out of God’s presence and back in front of a screen reading words. In the second set I sang a Jesus Is Lord.

What I wanted to find out was did the Holy Spirit use both the songs. Is God in this thing of using a secular song to minister to people. The answer is yes, the feedback that I got was very positive and the sense of the presence of God in the room was evident. I found that people had a connection with songbird and that the Lord used it beautifully, which is just amazing.