Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Coming Soon!!!

Next event:

Western District Camp Meeting
Santa Maria Fairgrounds
August 4 - 8, 2008

WAY Choir will be singing Thursday, August 7
in the evening pre-service and main service.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Directing D'Andre Dignifies


Hi! It's D'Andre! I had the time of my life on WAY Choir Tour 2008. I've never been around so many youth that could sing like this! I mean everywhere I turned I could hear somebody hummin' or singin'. Some of my best memories of this year were in practices. Bro. Fitzpatrick is so full of passion for ministry and every time he spoke to us, it was like hearing preaching. We were constantly fed with WORD and constantly pushed to concentrate. Sis. Fitz was such a nice person and always full of encouraging words. As the week went on, I found myself getting more and more attached to these folks and was like, "How am I gonna say goodbye?? What am I gonna do without the Allards!!??" They made this tour sooooo much fun and taught me so much. Everyone in the choir was in such good hands and everyday was a new experience with new challenges. I had not directed a choir in years! I learned techniques and signals and was so honored to tag-team with my buddy Keith this year. The view of the choir singing under the anointing of the Holy Ghost was overwhelming. I hope to stay in touch with everyone and I love you all as my family. Thanks for embracing the WAY rookie :)
God Bless,
D'Andre

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Lesson On Singing High Tones

Sogogospelnews.com features articles by Bill Baize and I thought I would share some with you. Here's a current lesson on singing high tones - - -


1. You must have confidence that you will be able to hit the note that you are reaching for. Much of the battle to sing good high notes is lost in this area. I remember before I ever studied how to sing, I was singing with The Smitty Gatlin Trio in Ft. Worth Texas. I had a high C to hit on one of the songs and I had been hitting it very well in practice. Time came for us to sing the song on the stage at the Will Roger’s Auditorium one night. There were several big name groups there and I really wanted to do well. At the time I was just starting to sing professionally. Opened up and went for the high C, it splattered all over the place (my voice cracked). I lost all my confidence that evening. It took me quite a while before I wanted to try a high C again. I finally gained my confidence back after I studied voice for a couple of years. Once I learned about posture, breathing, tone placement, and word pronunciation ,in my vocal studies, I was able to sing over and over consistent high C’s, and while singing with the Stamps Quartet I got to where I could sing an E flat above high C, which I did every night for sometime, when we were singing either “Rainbow of Love” or “When It’s My Time”. What was the difference? The difference was that I had studied and worked at making myself better by singing correctly. My voice still would crack at times if I didn’t sing correctly now. That’s why learning how to sing correctly, not only protects your voice for your old age, but it can give you the tools to know how to correct anything that doesn’t seem to work right. I know now that when I sing correctly I don’t crack. If I ever cracked, I would know what to do to correct it. What would I do? I think about my posture first, am I standing straight and are my vocal cords relaxed? Then I think about am I supporting the tone enough with the proper amount of air? Then I think about where I am placing the tone in my resonation chambers. When I do all of that correctly, my tone always comes out well with no quivers or cracks. Because I know how to do these things, I have confidence that when I do them correctly, that my notes will come out clear and not crack.

2. In singing higher tones, it is best to concentrate on vowel sounds more than the consonant sounds. Opera singers do this and that is why they can all sing well when they are young and during their later years in life. Vowel sounds are the foundations of the words that you will be singing. Therefore, if you learn how to sing them and their modifications, it will help you sing high notes better. Vowel sounds should take precedence over consonant sounds, in your pronunciation of words, while you are singing. There are certain consonants that seem especially hard to pronounce and still keep your singing mechanism in a relaxed state. One of those consonants is the letter R. Many great singers modify the R sound until it only really comes in on the very last of the pronunciation. For instance in the word “Art” in the song “How Great Thou Art” many of the great singers sing it like AAArT . Many ordinary singers sing it like ARRT. When you put to much emphasis on the R sound it throws your singing mechanism out of whack, and can cause problems, causing your voice to rasp out or crack when you least expect it. This is just one example of this phenomenon. This area of singing is part of what I call the fine tuning area. It helps you to fine tune your singing to a point that you are able to do good things with your voice that you previously couldn’t do. It is a real challenge and often it is better accomplished by having a good voice instructor listen to you and guide you in the direction that it takes to fix whatever problem you might have.

3. In singing higher tones, the most effective thing you can do is to remember to breathe correctly. Sometimes you have to really think, while you are singing, about your breathing. In singing higher tones, it is imperative to keep excellent breath support under your tones.

4. Remember to open your mouth widely, and remember the lessons of posture that I have written about previously, like holding your head straight. Do not turn your head to either side, tilt it back or forward too much. Keep your head on straight. Relax your lips, jaw and tongue and most of all your neck where your vocal cords are. For easier singing of high notes, push from your diaphragm and place your tone forward in your mask . You can even, most of the time, sing the higher tones to where they sound to you as extremely nasal tones. Most of the time, when we think that they are nasal to us, they are only then beginning to have the amount of mask tone that makes the tone, being sung, sound clear and understandable to the listener.

5. The best way to work on most of these things is with a vocal coach in person. You may try them yourself and put your singing on a tape or CD to listen back to. Then when you listen back, and let someone listen with you, you can critique yourself about whether you sound better or not.

My best advice is to go to a vocal coach and have him or her listen to you and help you with these things.

There is so much more that needs to be said about singing high tones. I can not possibly cover it all here in a column or two. It is time for me to close this month’s column.

Remember Psalm 118:6 says “The Lord is on My Side, I will not fear, what can man do unto me?” The Lord is on your side. Keep working for him and ministering to those that he gives to you to minister to. Don’t be discouraged, just keep on keeping on. God loves you and wants you to be all that he created you to be. Keep on the sunny side.

In His Service,
Bill Baize

Saturday, July 5, 2008

S.A.T.

Soprano
Alto

Tenor

Friday, July 4, 2008

Play It, Guys

Meet some of the musicians (not pictured-keyboards: Ken Fitzpatrick, organ: Michael Hernandez)...

Percussion: Jonathan "Peto" Moreno
Guitar: James Langston
Drums: C.J. Caragan
Bass: Aaron Gomes

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Appreciation from Abigail

WAY Choir Tour 2008. Wow! It was something amazing. Just like almost everyone said on the bus, I, too, almost didn't come this year because of certain situations in my life, and certain doubts I had. But I really am glad that I decided to come because I know that my life did change during the week, and I know that it's going to stay changed. People always say their lives are changed after a certain service, or event, but this time I KNOW that I KNOW my life will never be the same. Just like the song we did, "I"m not going back, I'm moving ahead, I'm here to declare to you my past is over IN YOU!" That song sums up how I feel about what God did for me this past week.

Now I know that no matter what happens in my life, no matter how many times the devil attacks me, I will keep fighting back because I'm not going back to the person I was before the tour. I know that we only spent a week together but a lot of you made a big impact on my life and I am so grateful for it. The friendships that were made stronger this week were lifelong friendships and I love each of you.

My favorite night was in Dinuba. I don't even know if I should be admitting this or not, but as some of you know, the devil has been fighting me a lot lately, more so than usual, and I have felt like I just couldn't fight back anymore, so when I was praying at the end of service, I was able to finally get to the place in the spirit that I told the devil he couldn't have me, he couldn't have my family, and that no matter what, I was going to fight for them! I know that one day I will see my dad come back to church. I know that the things that I am praying for, I will see happen, in my life, in my family's and friends lives, in my church.

Because no matter what happens, I know in the long run, it's all going to be worth it. I thank God that I was given the opportunity to go on the tour this year. A special thank you to Bro. and Sis. Fitzpatrick for all your hard work and dedication to us. Thank you also to Bro. & Sis. Allard, you are awesome! (Sis. Allard, you are my hero! Thanks for being there for me)

To Sheramy, Kendra, Lacy, and Kadee, you'll be happy to know that I finally ate when I got home, so no worries! lol. Sorry this was soo lengthy. I love you guys and miss you all soo much already! I'll see you all at camp meeting.

Love Abigail