Worship choirs are one of the most rewarding ministries in the arts today. How wonderful to hear 20, 30, or 100 singers worshiping the Lord. The great challenge, however, is what notes should they sing? How high, how low, how fast, how slow?

Here are five things I have learned that just might help you figure out what notes to give your worship choir and worship team

1. Make sure the song is in a good congregational key.
   Don’t let male worship leaders decide congregational keys. Just kidding, well kind of, but if you want to be sure that the song is in a good congregational key, test it with a female voice. Male singers will have a tendency to pitch a song in a tenor range which will make it almost impossible for most men and certainly most women to join in. The rule of thumb is don’t let the melody of a song hit an Eb (10 notes above middle C). One exception to this rule is that younger congregations will sing songs higher than a congregation with an older age demographic.
2. Keep it simple.
   If the arrangement is too difficult it will hurt the confidence level of the choir. Don’t hesitate to use unison singing. Unisons are wonderful if sung with energy. There are two kinds of unisons: octave unison—where the men and women sing the melody in their natural octaves—and prime unison—where the men and women sing the melody in the same octave. This is a very strong and hip sound. I have a rule: when teaching new songs to the worship choir, it has to sound good in 15 minutes. You don’t have time to spend an hour on one song during a rehearsal.
3. Stay away from too much traditional harmony.
   Whether you are writing out the harmony parts or if you are teaching by "rote," or by "ear," experiment with different kinds of harmony. The usual approach is for the sopranos to sing the melody, the altos are right under the sopranos
   and the tenors are below the altos. This is called mirrored harmony. It’s the kind of harmony we all learned in high school, college, ensemble singing, etc. Mix it up. Use more linear harmony. This is singing a line that is not chasing the same intervals as the melody. Some bluegrass harmonies are good examples. Invert the voicing to allow the altos to sing the melody and have the sopranos above them—if the song is not too high.
4. Use harmony wisely.
   Is it really possible to sing too much harmony in church? Yes, I believe so. Harmony is a wonderful, beautiful thing. But to sing harmony constantly will have a numbing effect on congregational participation. Sing a verse and chorus before adding harmonies. You will notice how wonderful harmonies are if you use them sparsely.
5. Learn songs quickly—layering is the answer.
   If you have four songs to learn during a rehearsal, don’t spend too much time on one song. Layering is the process of spending a little time on the first song, then move on to songs two, three and four and then go back and start on the first song again. Keep repeating the layering process. Your singers will know the music better if you go over each song as many times as possible during a rehearsal.

Stan Endicott is Pastor of Worship at Mariners Church in Irvine, California and Director of Worship choir at Saddleback Community Church in Lake Forest, California. He is producer of the new Lillenas label, "Consuming Worship" and is part of the slingshotgroup.net consulting team.

Reprinted with permission from Worship Leader Magazine (May 2007 issue, vol.16, no.3)

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