Please Give Input!!!

[jkeyz]

I would like feedback or techniques on how to teach a person/group how to retain parts.

HELP PLEASE!!!!

[bishopcole]

I would like feedback or techniques on how to teach a person/group how to retain parts.

HELP PLEASE!!!!

Welcome Doc to LGM. I will repost this for you!  God bless, Bishop Cole

[bishopcole]

See if this helps   http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,46406.0.html    Bishop Cole

[PianoWizard]

Welcome to the LGM family "jkeyz".....Be Blessed.

PianoWiz...

[ferrente]

Welcome To LGM,  jkeyz

[LyricTenor]

What they said.   

[momuzik]

I've been having this problem for a while now. We can go over parts a hundred times, and before we even end rehearsal, some will forget their parts.
When it gets too frustrating, I'll just have them all sing in unison.
I just have to accept the fact that everyone who's willing to sing doesn't have a musical background or experience.
So in the meantime, I'm grateful for their willingness (while we're singing in unison) hoping that one day they'll catch on.

[LaylaMonroe]

I've been having this problem for a while now. We can go over parts a hundred times, and before we even end rehearsal, some will forget their parts.
When it gets too frustrating, I'll just have them all sing in unison.
I just have to accept the fact that everyone who's willing to sing doesn't have a musical background or experience.
So in the meantime, I'm grateful for their willingness (while we're singing in unison) hoping that one day they'll catch on.

Have you rearranged (or considered rearranging) your choir members' positions or do you just let them sit wherever they please?  When you have a choir full of singers, of course the best positioning is to have the stronger vocals in the front rows and the weaker vocals toward the back.  But, based on the problem you're having, I'll assume you don't have a choir full of singers, so perhaps it'll help to first identify the stronger singers and then assign them to buddy up with a weaker singer.  Arrange them so that the stronger singers are juxtaposed to the weaker singers and can help them out when they stray from the note.

Another thing that takes work, but may help, is to record the section parts and provide it to each section.

Although I don't work in music at all anymore, one thing I tell every pastor/client I work with is to work with what ya got.  Don't lament over what you don't have or wish you had; make the best out of what you have.  Select songs that can be done in unison nicely or select 1-2-3 songs (old Hezekiah, old Milton Brunson, John P. Kee, old Mississippi Mass, etc.) instead of the more complicated Ricky Dillard or James Hall stuff that everyone loves to do.

[momuzik]

Have you rearranged (or considered rearranging) your choir members' positions or do you just let them sit wherever they please?  ...  But, based on the problem you're having, I'll assume you don't have a choir full of singers, so perhaps it'll help to first identify the stronger singers and then assign them to buddy up with a weaker singer.

We have a praise team, about 6 members (2 sop, 2 alt, 2 ten). I have one strong alto and one strong tenor; so if someone is off, it's noticeable. Yes, I do pair them up and it works until one of my strong ones have to sing lead or is absent. One other thing I do is invert alot of their parts to make it easier for them.
What trips me out sometimes is that they'll request to sing alot of popular songs, and when we try one, I hear a bunch of "that's too high!, I can't reach that note!", etc...
So I try to stick to the easy stuff like "Lord You are good", "Let the glory of the Lord rise among us", etc...
But, I alway let them know that I appreciate their faithfulness. I'd rather have faithful ones who can almost sing, than good singers who aren't committed.

[kennygee30]

Ok this is my 2cents worth...lol    What may work for someone elses choir or my choir/praise team may not work for yours but I will tell you this...when i first started working with my praise team and choir they both had like one or two songs that they where in good harmony on, and when i started teaching them new songs they would say they forgot the words or the harmony was to high(and believe me this is something you may never get totally away from with any choir..you must keep in mind that this is one of the hardest ministries at the church to deal with because you are dealing with people that may be set in their ways or are complacent with how and the way that they sing so first you must stay strong).........What I told them was if that was the kind of defeated mentality they where going to have(Because that is all that is a trick of the enemy)....then there is nothing I can do because inorder to grow in the music and singing ministry you must first get away from that dreaded (I can't or it is to high sindrome) first of all it leaves room for the devil to come in and make your rehearsal harder than it allready is and It will kill your spirit as a musician because you are going to be like why am i learning these songs if all I am going to hear is I can't do it or the song is too high...so what i did was after about the second rehearsal I sat them down and let them know that not only is the preacher deacon or any other office in the church suppose to be taken seriously but the music and the singing is suppose to be taken that way as well...Let them know that alot of the times...well actually most of the times the music and their voices are the first thing the people in the church hear so If they want to minister in the way that God needs them to minister then they have to first PRAY and understand that God is trying to take their voices and your music to another level in Him and you all have to be on one accord with this...

I hope this blesses you...and please keep in mind that when God is doing a new thing with you and your music everyone is not going to understand what He is doing But as long as they put in the work with you it will work together for everyones Good because God will be magnified in a way that is better for you because you are a musician and they will start hearing more harmony..beleive me it will work;;