Basic things that are important to singing well for a long time.
The things I will be addressing in this article are Proper Rest, Proper Diet, Proper exercise, and Determination. .
Anytime you sing you are using many muscles. There are over 100 very small muscles that control your vocal cords. Whether you are using tiny muscles or large muscles in your body, they must be rested after intense use. If you have ever played sports or worked out in a gym, you know that after you participate in either one you need to relax, and rest some, to let the muscles recuperate and get back to full strength. You also know that if a series of exercises are done in a row that there must be times of relaxation after so many reps, so your muscles will strengthen. This happens to the muscles that control the vocal cords just like it happens to triceps and biceps etc. You also know that if you haven’t exercised certain muscles in your body for several days, then you need to warm them up, with stretches and light activity, prior to really pushing them to perform. All of these things are true about your VOCAL CORDS and the muscles that control them. Therefore, PROPER REST AT THE RIGHT TIME, AND PROPER EXERCISE WITHOUT STRAIN, on the tiny muscles that control them, is extremely important to keeping your vocal cords healthy and operating at their maximum capacity, just like any of the other muscles in your body. That is why it is IMPORTANT to warm up some and do some vocal exercises a few hours prior to EACH TIME YOU ARE GOING TO SING ON THE STAGE. After which you should let your vocal cords rest for a while. That means DON’T TALK TOO MUCH. Most Gospel Singers I have known over the years have a tendency to use up their voices talking too much prior to singing. Many of them still perform admirably, however it would be better for their voices, and better for their vocal longevity, if they would rest their voices, after warmups and prior to singing , each time that they are going to perform.
In the previous paragraph I mentioned that you use MANY MUSCLES when you sing. That means that you not only use the muscles that control your vocal cords, but you also use all the muscles that control your breathing, and your posture. Therefore, the better shape that you keep your whole body in, during your entire life, the longer your career in singing will be. I don’t believe that you have to become a gym rat, although that would n’t be a negative. I do believe that some exercise like walking, jogging and light upper body exercises will be of great benefit to anyone who wants to prolong the years of being able to sing at a top level.
Another thing that is helpful and healthful is trying to control what you eat.. Eating the wrong things and the wrong amounts of food, can have an effect on your health which in turn eventually affects your singing ability. As much as possible, we should all try to control our food and beverage intake if we want to have a long productive life and singing career. I am not saying that you can’t sing well if you don’t control what you eat. There are many, many who have been great singers that didn’t control their food intake. I do not have to name names, however I have seen, over the years, many others who sang great for a longer period of time who took care of their voices and bodies by being disciplined in what they did and did not eat and drink. I would recommend to try it, you might like the results you see and feel.
I made some notes prior to starting this article. I wrote down that I should mention Proper Rest, Proper Diet, Proper Exercise, and the fourth thing that I wrote down was DETERMINATION.
If you have covered the other things that I listed above, then DETERMINATION is the point that will put you in the position to succeed in the singing ministry that God has given you. TALENT alone will not make you a success. . You must be determined to do the will of God for your life. If His will is for you to minister to others by singing His message in song, and you know that, then you must determine to follow His leading for your life. The ministry that He has for you, sometimes is not exactly what you thought it would be when you started out. If you are determined to follow what He wants, then it will be successful.
You can’t always measure success by monetary gain. I remember when I went into full time evangelism.( I had been used to singing with “The Stamps Quartet”, and had sung on the stage with Elvis Presley ,as a backup singer, had even been given the privilege of singing a solo ,during the middle of Elvis’s set , while Elvis stood on the stage and watched and cheered me on to his huge crowds, on several occasions . Plus “The Stamps” opened the Elvis show every night with twenty minutes of Gospel music. ) . God spoke to me and told me to leave all of that and go into a full time ministry. God called me to preach and sing His message.
When I started booking dates for my own solo ministry. A brother in the Lord contacted me to come to his church and sing. He told me he had a rather small church. I had also , in the mean time, lined up about three other churches to minister in on my trip to this brother’s area of the country, each one of them I enjoyed very much, they treated me wonderful and gave me good offerings, which I needed and was very thankful for. But, getting back to this special brother, I told him that I would be glad to come and minister in his church. I walked in to this small church and set up for the singing service that I would be doing, and of course I noticed that the building wasn’t very big. When service time came, I looked around and there were 10 people at the service. The first thing, I had to battle was my own ego. I thought surely all of the “big things I had been a part of”would draw more people than that. I learned two things there that set my spirit right.
This would be a time that God would teach me a couple of lessons that have stuck with me. One of the first things I thought was why would a person pastor a church with so few people. The second one was about my importance. I found out then and there that I wasn’t nearly as important as I thought I was. I felt like God spoke in my spirit, “Who are you singing for, yourself or me?” Then I felt like God spoke in my spirit, “Who are you to ask about why this man has such a small church, he is working for me.” The Lord showed me something very profound. God showed me that if this man was able to shepherd these 10 people to Heaven, then he had accomplished a whole lot more than I had by just singing songs TO ENTERTAIN PEOPLE. At that point my eyes were opened to the reason that He allowed me to be able to sing. I understood that everything that I do should be pointed in the direction of winning and nurturing souls ,with a determination, and in a fashion that would help them attain Heaven and keep them out of hell. I should not perceive myself as an entertainer, but rather as using the talent that God had given me to bring souls into the Kingdom. I know that this sounds simple and many of you say that your goal is to bring souls into the Kingdom. It is very easy to doubt that sometimes about people who do everything they can to just get standing ovations and self adulation. I had been a part of that set and God had to teach me this important lesson. I also know that many of you have never looked at your singing in that way and I say bless you for that . You are the ones that God can really use. However, at that time, because of where I had been, I looked to much to myself and not enough to God. At that time, God totally changed my outlook and goals and I determined to be all that I could be and do all that I could do to help souls attain Heaven and keep them from going to hell. This happened many, many years ago back in the 1970's. It is still real today and whatever it takes to answer God’s call I want to do that. I also learned that I am never to question another person’s ministry, because God has a ministry for each of us. One of us might have the opportunity to minister to millions, another to 5 or 10. The key message that God taught me was DO WHAT HE WANTS AND WHATEVER RESULTS HE USES YOUR EFFORT FOR, LET HIM HAVE HIS WAY AND GIVE HIM THE GLORY . The Kingdom will grow because everyone works together and lifts up the NAME OF JESUS. God also prompted me to think about what if I spoke to only one person about Him and that person turned out to be another Billy Graham, who has won millions of souls to the kingdom,
I understood that the more people that I speak to the more possibilities there are for God to use me to speak to that one person who would go on to win millions of souls. From That time on I have understood that GOD WANTS FAITHFULNESS AND DETERMINATION far above talent and star power. Let’s face it ,every talent that I have He has given me. Therefore, that means that as the old saying goes “only one life, will soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last”.
May God richly bless each and everyone of you in your efforts to lift up THE NAME OF JESUS
through singing and preaching the gospel.
My favorite scripture: “The Lord is on my side, I will not fear, what can man do to me” Psalm 118:6 He is on your side too!
In Christian Love,
Bill Baize
Author: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Written: 10/11/2010
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Category: The Vocal Coach
Comments: 2
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Thanks Bill,
What a wonderful message, Bill were in those last few paragraphs -
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