I was having a great chat to Rowan Kemp today about song leading with regards to song leading at EU Public Meetings (that’s right, we’ve been singing this semester). We had a short chat about song leading which turn into a great discussion about song leading. One of the things that I have thought for a while and have had confirmed through this discussion is that…

Song Leading is different to singing.

That is to say that song leading and singing are two different skills, very different skills. Let me explain.

Singing is the skill that some people have, and some people think they have. Everyone can sing, but not everyone can sing really well. Although it is important for somebody singing at church to be able to pitch a note and lead the congregation as a singer, they do not have to have the most amazing voice ever that is perfectly trained (although having a singer like that at church would by no means be a bad thing, in fact it would be incredibly awesome!). Rather it is much more important to possess the skill of song leading.

Song leading is everything that the singer at church does apart from singing, the main part of this is guiding the congregations emotions and energy through what you say and do, both before, during and after the song. This includes (but is not limited to) giving clear signals as to when to come in (read this), praying, reading relevant Bible passages, and giving good song introductions which lead the congregation into the song.

Could this singer be a song leader as well?

For people who are up the front at church, it is much more important for them to be good song leaders as opposed to being good singers. Ideally we want people who are excellent at both, but I think that it is important for people who sing up the front at church to work on their song leading before they work on their singing.

This discussion has spurred me to think about song leading once again, and I’ll have more thoughts coming on song leading in the coming weeks. so for now, 2 things.

1. Stay tuned for the upcoming posts
2. Let me know what you think about this stuff in the comments below.

This guy is awesome!

Recently Alice and I moved churches to St Stephen’s Normanhurst, and one of the many great friends that I have made there is Tim Fitz. Not only is he an awesome Christian dude, but he is also an awesome musician!

Seriously.

Recently he released a 6-track EP called Infinite Space. As soon as I listened to the first track, Disposable Youth, I fell in love with it. When the synth came in towards the end, my heart jumped with joy. It’s a great folk/electronic/indie sound and he’s got a voice that suits what he plays perfectly, you should definitely go listen to it and throw him a dollar or two while you’re at it.

You can listen to and download Infinite Space here.

Another point to note, his music is so good that it has even been reviewed at a number of other websites. Check them out through these links.

Only an Earthling – East to West – Sound Doctrine

If you want to keep up to date with what Tim is doing (Which I’m sure you would want to) then you can on Facebook, Triple J Unearthed, or YouTube.

Speaking of YouTube, here’s a video of a song that he wrote. As with all other music he does, it is incredible.

Have you heard/seen Shed Muzak yet? If you haven’t then you’re missing out.

These guys are doing some very cool covers of pop songs, and my bet is that they’re going to be a big YouTube hit. They’ve already been featured on Perez Hilton’s blog and I wouldn’t be surprised if there videos got many more views, and links from other sites.

Here is there cover of Blow by Kesha

Go and check out their YouTube channel. And like them on Facebook.