teaching new songs - tips
If you're writing songs for corporate worship, you'll want to teach them at some point. Here are some guidelines on how to make this a positive experience for everyone.
Your goal is to help singers become familiar enough with the song that they can sing it as written, so the song comes alive and becomes a means of personal expression for them.
General - Preparation
Make sure you know the song well enough, so that you can lead it with confidence. Analyse the structure of the song - both the melody and the lyrics.
Identify key dynamics in the song (the tricky bits), i.e. the places in the song where it takes an unexpected turn.
General - Introducing the song
- Explain your approach: i.e. that you want to teach the song; that you'll pay particular attention to the tricky parts, and gradually build up to the whole.
- Draw attention to the words and the lyrical structure of the song - how the song is built up and how the various parts relate to each other.
- Start with an easy part, e.g. the chorus.
- Then introduce a tricky bit that leads naturally into the chorus. Sing the chorus again.
- Next, start at the beginning, and go straight through up to the chorus (but don't repeat the chorus again, unless it's necessary), so people get an idea of the structure of the song.
- Then focus on the individual tricky bits, going over them singly and in combination as often as required.
- Once most people are fairly secure, run through the whole song.
- Plan to use the song later in the service. The break should give people's brains enough time to iron out any wrinkles.
Introducing songs hot off the press
Occasionally I get the opportunity to introduce a song "hot off the press", so to speak.
At that stage the song can be a little "unstable". Still, it's worthwhile giving it a test run. I've found that if you have enough confidence in the project yourself, people are willing to give the song a try, to help you achieve a better product.
Pay particular attention to people's spontaneous response. Armed with this feedback, you can make the necessary improvements to the song.
When next you introduce the song, the improvements you've made should make it even easier to sing. So the fact that it isn't the same as when you first introduced it should not pose a problem.
irene bom ~ songwriter © 2022