Today I watched the Worship Vocal Workshop DVD by Paul Baloche. I found the DVD quite helpful on a number of points, and plan on sharing some of it with our vocalists.

The DVD is geared toward those who would sing as vocalists on a worship team, whether as a leader or as background vocalists. It’s another in Baloche’s series designed to serve contemporary worship teams. It runs for over 2 hours, and includes Baloche along with a rhythm section and 3 fine vocalists who all play different roles in their churches. One sang background with TobyMac, another is from Gateway church in Texas, and another from Lakewood.

They hit most of the major areas that background vocalists tend to be looking for advice on. Here were some of the take-away points:

Preparation/Warming Up: It’s important. They explained breathing in very practical ways, and gave a number of exercises that you can do to prepare, whether in the car or at church in the morning. One simple example: if you’re breathing right, your belt will get tighter!

Singing as a Group: They explained the difference between singing as a lead vocalist, and singing as a background vocalist. How to blend. How to vary the amount of tone in your voice, depending on whom you’re singing with. They addressed watching the leader, vibrato, timing, breathing together, etc. All of this is rooted in humility. You’re not trying to put yourself out front, but really serving the overall sound.

Vocal Styles: How to sing in different styles, as well as practical ways to growing in these styles. For a classical musician, growing in a more “contemporary sound,” and vice-versa. Controlling vibrato. Also addressed how to sound “gritty” without hurting your voice.

Mapping out a Song: Knowing where within a song one voice sings, where you do harmony, where you just “support,” and where you really let it out.

Singing Harmony: They provided a very basic introduction to learning how to sing harmony. They gave an example of singing up the scale in 3 parts, and simple songs one can use to begin to learn harmonies, like “When I Survey,” and “Lean on Me.” While not comprehensive, they did provide enough examples to help most musicians to get started.

Sound techs and microphones: This section was surprisingly helpful, addressing some of the issues that vocalists have like “I can’t hear my voice,” as well as giving the basics of what a vocalist needs to know about monitors and the technical team.

I’d recommend this DVD to most any church, but especially those who are trying to get their hands around how to transition from a more traditional style to a contemporary sound.