There was a secret code that King David played and pleased the Lord.
But modern Gospel singers don't really care now in music, do you?

During the reign of King David, Levite musicians were not singing artists invited to entertain the people at the Temple. They were ministers of music. These were the men whom David put in charge of the service of song in the house of the Lord, after the ark rested there.
They ministered with song before the tabernacle of the tent of meeting" (1 Chron 6:31-32). Through their musical service the Levites ministered to the people.
In five other instances in the Old Testament, the Levites are said to minister to the people through their music (1 Chron 16:4, 37; 2 Chron 8:14; 23:6; 31:2).

They were appointed to invoke, to thank, and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel.
The three verbs used in this text "Invoke," "Thank," and "Praise" suggest that the music ministry was a vital part of the worship experience of God’s people.

Summing up, the music ministry at the Temple was conducted by experienced and mature Levites who were trained musically, prepared spiritually, and served pastorally.

To minister musically in the Old Testament was a great privilege and a most responsible service.
In a very real sense modern gospel singers they shall be New Testament Levites.
Therefore these principles established by God for the Levitical priesthood should be noted as valid guidelines for church music leaders and gospel singers in a New Testament church. 

Lessons from the Temple Music. What lessons can we learn from the music of the Temple? The absence of percussion musical instruments and of dancing bands in the music of the Temple indicates that a distinction must be made between the secular music used for social entertainment and the sacred music employed for worship service in God’s House.

No bands were at the Temple to entertain the people with loud rhythmic music, because the Temple was a place of worship and not a social club for entertainment. Percussion instruments like drums, tambourines, timbrels or tabrets, which were commonly used for making entertainment music, were absent in the Temple music. Only the cymbals were used, but in a limited way. They marked the end of a stanza and the cessation of the singing.

The lesson for us today is evident. Church music should differ from secular music, because the church, like the ancient Temple, is God’s House in which we gather to worship the Lord and not to be entertained.
Percussion instruments which stimulate people physically through a loud and relentless beat are as inappropriate for church music today as they were for the Temple music of ancient Israel.

Another lesson is that the musical instruments used to accompany the choir or the singing of the congregation should not cover up the voice. Like the string instruments used in the Temple, musical instruments used in the church today should support the singing. Musical instruments should serve as a hand-maiden to the Word of God which is sung and proclaimed. This means, for example, that organ music should not be so loud as to drown the voice of the congregation.

7 Wrong Ideas About Singing.

There is controversy in vocal training, and different teachers embrace differing philosophies. There is more than one effective way to accomplish training a voice. However, there are some counterproductive techniques that actually limit vocal ability and that can be flat damaging to the voice.

Here are 7 wrong ideas about singing:

When phonating (making a vocal sound) the belly should go out.
Nope. In my experience, breath support and control are enabled and balanced by the low belly coming in when sounding the voice. Belly out, throat will feel the strain.

A singer should inhale from the nose only.
Nope. I have gotten a lot of work from vocalists in vocal trouble from the chest breathing that comes from this practice. I think this counterproductive notion comes from sports training where you inhale from the nose to moisten the breath. However, it's not a good idea to sing anyway when you jog or lift weights.  

You should never drink coffee if you want to sing.
If this were true, many would not be able to sing. Is coffee dehydrating? Yes. It is debilitating to all singers? In moderation (1 morning cup), far enough away from performance time and if the singer is not overly sensitive to caffeine its not a problem.
NOTE: If you are sensitive to caffeine, stay completely away from it, and don't drink it close to or during performance. 

It takes at least a month of breath training to prepare a vocal student to sing a song.
Nope.Change a singer's posture and voila, breathing problems radically solved. Do breathing exercises help? Sure especially with certain singers  but in my experience even simple rib stretching and flexing can help instantly improve the singing breath.

Singers should sing with arms hanging limp and still at the sides.
NO. Sadly, this is a common belief of choir directors, musical theater directors and recording artists that gets me a lot of work. Turning the arms into what I call 'rib anchors" is one of the worst things you can do to a singer or speaker.

The face should be quiet and still too much facial expression detracts from the performance.
I've actually heard this from misinformed engineers, performance coaches and choir directors. Without an active face, you will never sing as well as you could with communicative facial movement especially the eyes and eyebrows. 

You can't learn to sing unless you were born a singer (also known as 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks").
If you can talk, you can learn to sing. In every instance of "tone deafness", all it takes is some consistent target practice to train the ear-challenged singer to aim at pitch. The question isn't "can you learn to sing?" it's 'how bad do you want to?"

Singing In The Studio ; Question About Using Monitors Instead of Headphones.

The engineers sometimes accommodated them by having a specialized speaker in the vocal booth which was designed so that it didn't get into the vocal mic too much.

Here are the limitations of using speakers instead of headphones:
·        You'll have to keep the volume coming through them (which will be your instrumental tracks) as low as possible. This may make it harder for you to sing in tune (and sometimes to stay in the groove), and to feel the music enough for emotional delivery.
·        It will be harder to 'punch in' if you make a mistake. You may need to sing the whole song from top to bottom for every take (pass).
·        Though it may be muted, there will almost certainly be some track leakage that gets into your vocal mic. This may make any post-processing on your vocal more difficult, or it may not matter. Be sure you take it into account when you make your decision.

That said, you could try it and get magic. It's such an individual thing. Other options are for there to be just the right mix of instruments and just the right level of your voice coming through your headphones that it feels quickly natural to you to use them. 

One other thing, go back to using headphones with one ear half-off, and be sure you focus on singing to someone, which should help you ignore yourself better and help you get 'into' the conversation.

My personal preference is to use headphones for the precision it gives to the  ears and the resulting greater vocal control you can aim for. Let me know if any of you, my readers, have an opinion on the subject.

In these early days of a new year, I wanted to post a message that would encourage us as we start a new year. My mind was drawn to the words of David in Psalm 37.
One particular word stands out in my mind. It’s the word “though” that stands at the beginning of verse 24: “Though he fall.” Some translations say, “When he falls.”
Note that it does not say, “If he falls.”
There is a big difference between “when” and “if.” The latter states a probability, the former declares a certainty.
David understood that all believers fall eventually. We stumble, we lose our way, we struggle, and sometimes we trip and fall on our journey.
No one is exempt. We all fall sooner or later. It’s what happens when we fall that makes all the difference.

Let’s sum up the application of this post with three simple statements:

1. Your struggles are necessary – fight on.
2. Your Lord has not forgotten you – hang on.
3. Your future is assured – walk on.

So here are three cookies to feed your soul.....Fight on, Hang on and Walk on.