Uptempo/Fast Female Songs

[stephen_can_man]

I am getting a little tired of changing keys for females to lead songs and I was wondering if you guys have found some new (1-2 years old) uptempo female songs? When the guitar licks are designed around a male key, it gets to be a pain switching everything around. Let me know what you guys got going on...

[Klampert]

I find that the vivky beeching stuff is in a perfect key for female and male vocals

[El Ben]

An easy rule of thumb is that you can make any "male" song singable for a female by transposing it up four or five full keys. I know there are those out there totally not into the whole transposing thing, but it really is a great little tool to have in your arsenal. We've done exercises on our worship team where we have everyone transpose up one or two keys on the fly, just to keep them sharp.

Okay, moving on to upbeat girl songs:

O Taste and See- Brian and Jenn Johnson (G or A depending on your girl)
Sing to the King- Candi Pearson (care of passion) and I forget what key, but I think E
For All You've Done- Hillsong (E)

Those are the top three I can think of that we use.

[mandyt]

Rita Springer, although her stuff isn't always upbeat....
Darlene Zschech carries a few of the Hillsong songs, so they're in the key of "Girl"
Definitely see what Passion is offering from Candi Pearson or Watermark's vocalist...
Vicky Beeching too...
I find that most upbeat songs (and new songs in general) are coming from guy writers like tomlin, redman, walker, foote, and others..... so i transpose transpose transpose!
www.1christian.net's Rockin' With The Cross now has an automatic transpose button, where you can pick the key and change it immediately. its priceless.
or, just use a capo.
:)

[lytesource]

Good point, ... Female and male vocals Being equally important, shouldn't we be looking to do most, if not all, our our songs in keys both can sing unless they are special pieces meant just for listening?

Transposing is a real need for worshipleaders. After all, we have the pleasure and privilege of arranging pieces to fit our particular needs, depending on what kind of musicians we're are blessed with.

Most recorded material isn't in a key that's easy for the average singer, let alone the average congregation. So, having to make adjustments for their sake is a must. After all, aren't we just facilitators for the grand choir, God's Church?

an automatic transpose button, where you can pick the key and change it immediately. its priceless. or, just use a capo.

Great assets if you can't transpose... absolutely! the auto-transposers are a great help. Here's another one that I've used over the years. logue.net (http://logue.net/xp/index.htm) Ususally accurate too.

And that capo is a nice option providing we're still aware of what key we are playing in (for the benefit of our musicians).

tired of transposing Take heart .... you are ministering to God's people every time you sit down to arrange that worship song and you are ministering to the Lord.

cosima

[twc_admin]

This brings up a very interesting question that I bring up often - range. So many songs have such a wide range, they are nearly impossible for both women and men to sing the melody comfortably.

Once the melody (which I usually voice in the soprano) goes over C or D (as in treble cleff, 3rd space C or 4th line D), it's getting too high - sopranos are screeching by then, and men are reaching - most men who are singers can hit the D, E, F ... but with force.

Songs that fit into the space between a note or two below Middle C and the c-d above (maybe about a 10 note range) fit well with most singers, I think, and can be led by either a male or female.

Thoughts?

[russhutto]

C (Bb) to C (D) is my default go to range for everything. The notes in parentheses are the "stretch" notes.

Problem comes in with a lot of this modern stuff, and even in a lot of the old hymns, range is EXTREME!

So we do what we can, at times switching lead vocalists in and out for different parts of the song. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't.

I typically write no lower than C and no higher than D (maybe a passing E on occasions). What I've found that most of my songs need to be transposed down a 3rd, 4th, and sometimes a 5th, for most female vocalists to actually LEAD comfortably. I say go for it!!

[lytesource]

I'm back... I just came across this video of Paul Baloche talking about going no higher than the D. A great video that includes, tuning during your worship set, what to do if you break a string during the set and, at the end, worship flow & singing no higher than the D. Enjoy... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAtvzYYPLUg)

[BoydGaffney]

Yeah, a lot of older hymns have big octave and a half ranges, and it makes them hard to do with a congregation of men and women singing in unison. I guess maybe they were written to be sung in four parts, so no need to transpose them? We do a lot of transposing here!

[maydavidj]

"That's What We Came Here For" is a good fast female led song if your band has that Hillsong sound. Doesn't work too well if your looking for "rock band" songs like David Crowder's.

EDIT: Just saw the 1-2 years old... Oh well, still a good song.

[amriser@pacifier.com]

We sing 'Hallelujah' by Nicol Sponberg at our church. Sounds fantastic led by women in key of Bbm. Great uptempo song with strong agressive sound but different that the typical Hillsong sound.

[Emmaroo]

We do a lot of Hillsong stuff...the Mighty to Save album has a lot of great female-led songs.

...and the best tool ever made was CCLI's SongSelect. If you have Advanced Melody SongSelect, it allows you to transpose the chord sheets and lead sheets (and hymn sheets for the super advanced version) to whatever key you want. It has been an AMAZING tool for our worship, and keeps us legal to boot.

[chipshot0701]

or you can do what we do..........

play everything too fast! lol

I made a disclaimer in a service last spring, ladies and gentlemen, if you came here to listen to slow songs, you've come to the wrong place cause we can't play slow.

its not exactly true, but we do like to speed up the girls slower ones. like Thy Word. Its beautiful when played slow, yet we like to rock it out alittle bit.

have fun everyone.

[chipshot0701]

We do a lot of Hillsong stuff...the Mighty to Save album has a lot of great female-led songs.

...and the best tool ever made was CCLI's SongSelect. If you have Advanced Melody SongSelect, it allows you to transpose the chord sheets and lead sheets (and hymn sheets for the super advanced version) to whatever key you want. It has been an AMAZING tool for our worship, and keeps us legal to boot.


great point emmaroo. This type of service should save the original postee of this topic a ton of time when it comes to transposing. we use it regularly.

mike

[MeredithLCurtis]

I am getting a little tired of changing keys for females to lead songs and I was wondering if you guys have found some new (1-2 years old) uptempo female songs? When the guitar licks are designed around a male key, it gets to be a pain switching everything around. Let me know what you guys got going on...

I have to change keys ALL the TIME!!!!

However, here are some uptempo songs I have left in the same key and can sing easily!
Yesterday, Today and Forever (Vicky Beeching)
Party (Chris Tomlin--I sing down with him--a high song for a guy!)
Falling in Love (Vineyard---again I sing with the lead guy)
God of Ages (Darlene & Hillsong--Savior King)
Mighty to Save (Hillsong Mighty to Save--a little high!)
King (Tree 63--verse is a little low, but sing with guy!)

Barlow Girls have redone some praise songs too. I don't know if there are music books.

I change the keys of 90% of my upbeat songs! It is a need to be filled out there--songs for lady worship leaders who want to lead the church in exhuberant praise.

In changing keys, I try the song in several keys and then try to make it the easiest key on the guitars that I can still sing. Sometimes I make a song TOO LOW! I just changed "My Future Decided" (Hillsong United) and made it too low! But I don't have the heart to have the guitars relearn it AGAIN!

God bless!

[russhutto]

I actually find it hard to believe that with all the stratospheric male tenors who are "in" right now as far as modern worship goes, that women would have a hard time finding music that isn't singable. Just about every Chris Tomlin song is WAY too high for me (male) and all of our females can belt them out in their natural (not falsetto) range. The same goes with a lot of the Israel Houghton stuff. I can't sing it. But our ladies can.

My question is where are all the BARITONE worship leaders!?

[El Ben]

You got one right here. No way am I a tenor, whew. You should see the faces I make when I try to hit the tenor notes when I sing harmony. They're beyond bizarre.

[Stevie Nature]

See it's funny, I can sing pretty high. I used to be a first tenor when in choir for whatever that's worth. The problem I have is that all the ladies on my team want me to lower the key. I'm also sensitive to the fact that most of the congregation can't sing extremely high and I don't want to lose them.

[ten30band]

Hey, my wife and I have been leading worship together for almost 10 years now and we have found allot of great tunes from Vineyard UK and USA. there are some really good songs there. You have to dig to find the gems, but they are there. There are really allot less songs out there that rock for female leaders. I struggle with the same thing dude. Your not alone :) Do check out some of Vineyards discs. There are many good female lead tunes there. If you want some suggestions let me know. :) HL

http://www.themcconnellslive.com

[Alison]

Ok, maybe this sounds harsh...but get over it. :)

Women are used to doing it all the time - not being able to sing with the melody because there is a guy worship leader; think about it...you don't change keys when a guy leads, but what about the women in the congregation? They are in the same boat as the women on your team when a guy leads...

Sorry if the guys have to adjust once in a while...but get over it...

And I mean that in the most loving way :)

[ten30band]

That was a funny response! ha. I'm not complaining. I've not had an issues with keys for females. Anyways, your response was funny. :)

HL
http://www.themcconnellslive.com

[Alison]

Haha - well, thank you. I'll be here all week... ;) HA!

[russhutto]

Women are used to doing it all the time - not being able to sing with the melody because there is a guy worship leader; think about it...you don't change keys when a guy leads, but what about the women in the congregation? They are in the same boat as the women on your team when a guy leads...

I'll have to respectfully disagree here. On the basis of, I think it depends on which music you're singing and who your lead vocalists are. A LOT (and I mean a lot) of music we do is from the Israel/Tomlin/Hillsong vein. ALL of our women can sing it with ease. None of our guys can (well maybe a few).

I've "led" worship for almost 15 years, and I always have to change keys (a step or 2 lower) and I'm a guy.

I think the point is finding a balance though. There is NO GOLDEN RULE that says that every person in every service at every minute should be singing. Sure, we as leaders are out to provide an "environment" of participation and not just spectating*, but, IMO, we as leaders need to be free to be diverse and engaging in our selection. IE: we should not be slecting all of our songs in one range or the other, it should be a living and dynamic selection.

What I mean is that one month you might do a song in one key where a female leads out, the next time you do it you might (gasp) change keys and let a male lead through it. Don't get so stuck in ruts.

Granted, it might mean a little work for the team, but geez, what part of skilled musicians are we missing?

Allison, I agree with your statement more than I disagree, but I don't think it's as simple as just saying "get over it" :)

I think the key is interchanging songs where female AND male leaders shine, so that female AND male worshipers can follow right along. The simple truth of the matter is, you'll probably always alienate someone's vocal range regardless of key selection. That being the case, we'd do better to approach our selection with a more varied sensitivity.

* spectating (oddly enough is actually a word)

[Alison]

Well, that was a little tongue in cheek...

However, I, too have led worship for over 15 years - going on 20 - and I can only think of a handful of times where women DIDN'T come up to me afterwards and say something to the affect of, "Oh, it was SO nice to actually have songs in my range today!"

And I've done all the Crowder, Tomlin, Redman, Hillsong material myself...

That said, I agree that it's about balance - not so much for the team, but the congregation. Finding keys that are singingable for the masses, not just for the leaders, because they most likely have larger ranges than the majority of those they lead in the first place.

Granted, it might mean a little work for the team, but geez, what part of skilled musicians are we missing?

By the way, I loved that - made me laugh!

[russhutto]

What's funny is we have this kind of "standard" where we say try to fit everything from C to C anything higher gets a bit too high, and anything lower is a bit low...

BUT...have you ever heard most women try and sing anything above an A? It gets a little piercy and is tough.

I would suggest (Congregationally) it might be best to adopt an A to A range...as uncomfortable as that might be for some of our tenor singing brethren...it's actually more realistic as far as comfort goes for the ENTIRE congregation.

That being said, it really sounds funny when a guy tries to sing too low, OR a woman tries to sing too high. So, like Allison said, jump in the middle there.

Or use my method, sing a song for the dudes, and then sing a song for the dudettes. Everyone wins.

[chipshot0701]

Is it bold of me to ask fellow post-ers' for some help? I am looking for the chord arrangement for Nichole Nordeman's Brave. My listening ear isn't as good as it once was and I have a tough time penning out guitar chords lately.
It is an up beat and super female lead song.
Merry Christmas
Chipshot

[twc_admin]

Hey there,
Not too bold - very appropriate - I asked for help on my blog last week to figuring out the gospel chords to "Joy to the World" by Mariah Carey .. the only thing is ... if someone responds, they should PM you or email .. we can't post the chords here in the forum, as that would be a copyright violation.

Hope you get the help you need - if you don't get an answer, I may try and look at it later this afternoon.

Fred

[chipshot0701]

I'm close but I keep missing something throughout the entire song.
Plus, it sounds like they use a mandolin throughout.
Merry Christmas.
Mike

[christianwalker]

Lead Me To The Cross - Hillsong United from the All Of The Above album