Daniel J. Mathew offers BGV tips:
A lot has been said about worship leading, about the responsibilities both musically and spiritually a person has when leading a congregation in corporate musical worship, and whilst most points are relevant to all members of the band and creative arts, often they’re specifically referring to the vocal worship leader who is chiefly leading the band and congregation.
Today, however, I want to specifically talk about a section that can often feel a little less important or even slightly overlooked in a worship team – and that is the backing vocals.
The Backing Vocalists or BVs as they’re commonly called (although now we call them “Frontline Vocals” at church; it’s all in the semantics…) are an integral part of the team and go a long way into helping the general sound of the worship as well as supporting the worship leader and leading the congregation. They’re so important in fact; my first point is actually this:
Know your worth
When BVing, it’s often easy to think that no one can hear you and that no one will notice if you give a bit less effort and take it easy. But when worship leading I know how aware of the BV’s I am and how much I rely on them to back me up and help me drive the service. From every other perspective it is so integral to the team, so if you are BVing please take everything you do seriously. Your body language makes a huge difference to the presence on the stage, and when the stage is setting the vibe for the congregation, every little thing is crucial.
Prepare diligently with warming up your voice, memorising lyrics and harmonies, and even being ready to sing different parts if the service needs it. Don’t set your level of expectation to what the bare minimum is that others expect of you, know your full ability and within yourself set that level of expectation of the very best you can possible give as the bare minimum for what you’re bringing to the service as a BV.
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