June 2006 Archives - CJ Alvarado

Music Leader: The Balancing Act

Posted By CJ / June, 30, 2006 / 1 comments

As a music leader it is very easy for the focus to be centered around your musicians. You have arrangements, dynamics, sound and a plethora of other things that can be unique to your group that you have to deal with. With so much time and energy being focused on the musicians, little time in many cases is left to work with the vocalists. The result is a sub par vocal section.

Vocalists, especially in a Worship team setting are an Extremely Important (if not the most important) component to the experience. They can either distract and detract or Encourage and Engage the audience. A solid band can quickly be masked by a group of harsh vocalists. With this being said your vocalists need time, energy and vision allocated to them. They need to feeland experience the sense of setting and accomplishing goals. The absence of these basic things can foster an environment of unmotivated, discouraged, and derailed singers.

On one particular occasion I was at a church were the singers were discouraged and running low on confidence and the leader asked them to “be enthusiastic up there” on stage.

Singers, just like anyone and anything else will become much more enthusiastic and contagious on stage when they feel a sense of purpose and confidence in what they do. So how do we replenish that? How do we tighten up our Vocal section?

Here are 5 things any music leader can do today:

1. Readjust Expectations-

If you, as a leader, are not investing the time needed to help your Vocalists succeed and grow then give them a break and cut them some slack. Most of the time these people aren’t paid and are just trying to do their best. So make sure you aren’t expecting them to fulfill some picture in your mind without clearly investing the time needed to get them there.

2. Bring the fun back into it-
This element has always got to be a part of your program. Singing can be a very intimidating thing to do. If your singers are already slightly discouraged than a dose of a little fun will help loosen everyone up again. This fosters a culture of learning again.

3. Training:
Enroll your whole group into voice instruction classes with a professional instructor. If you have a large group then do small groups of 5 or so. Getting a group rate with an instructor is usually much more inexpensive than private lessons. Having your whole team on the same page with general techniques like breathing, projection and mouth positions can do wonders for your team right from the gate.

4. Listening Parties:
Schedule a casual get together once or twice a month to listen to music that your team performs or plans to do in the future. Have the singers listen to the vocalists on the CD and dialogue about what the vocals are doing during each part of the song. For example, are their backing vocals during the verse? If so, what are they doing? What is the dynamic? Analyze the whole song with your group. Here is a sheet that I have created for my teams in the past. Feel free to download it. Click here.

5. Rehearse with Purpose!
Set up weekly practices with your vocalists to rehearse what you have been learning. Rehearsal is not just about learning new songs but about technique and getting your vocalists on the same page. Don’t be afraid in the beginning to spend 15-20 min on vocal exercises before you get into the music. I can hear an audible difference when my team is warmed and when they aren’t. By spending the time doing this in the beginning you will contribute to developing healthy habits for your vocalists.

Finally, get creative with your group. These are just suggestions that have worked for others but the fun shouldn’t stop here. Experiment with some things and then let us know how they worked for you. Good luck.

THE Weekend

Posted By CJ / June, 30, 2006 / 0 comments

This weekend I hope to spend some time on the lake either wakeboarding or wave running. I find the water so relaxing and if I could I would be out there every day. Lookin forward to the long weekend.

Happy 4th of July!

Podcast Revealed: How do I create my own Podcast?

Posted By CJ / June, 29, 2006 / 1 comments

The Podcast Craze! Podcasts are extremely popular nowadays. But there are still many who really don’t understand exactly what it is and how it works. This technology has many benefits and can be extremely effective when used properly.

What is a Podcast? According to wikipedia “Podcasting is the method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio programs or music videos, over the Internet using either the RSS or Atom syndication formats, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers.”

A Podcast can be anything. A radio show, a tutorial, a lecture, a cooking lesson or whatever. There are no rules as to what you want it to be. What is great about this is that it allows your listeners to subscribe to your podcasts via RSS feeds.

For more info click here:

The End of Quarter

Posted By CJ / June, 29, 2006 / 0 comments

In sales you can always count on one thing, the hustle of the end of quarter. Companies scramble to sell and ship as much product as they can to meet goals. It’s pretty stressful at times. We are there. I am mentally drained but see the light at the end of the tunnel with the long weekend a head. I have Monday and Tuesday off so I will be enjoying it!