Advice on practicing

There is a thread on the Message Boards about practicing with ear monitors and sound systems. I want to talk about this in a little more detail than I could on the Message Boards. There are several areas that practicing effects, so it's not just a time of singing your songs together. It effects how you hear each other, how you hear yourself with the group, and how you hear yourself and the group with the music, be it live or track.

First, let me say that the attitude in which we approach practice effects our attitude on stage. Now don't get me wrong, I believe in having fun at practice, but it can't be all cutting up and having fun. At the same time, practice shouldn't be all work and a drudgery to go to. Practice sets the stage for how your group will perform in every area of your existence. Practice is to be a relaxed place where everyone is free to learn. When you quit learning, it's time to quit. Practice is where you learn not only new songs, but new styles, new techniques. Practice is where you hone the talents that you have and learn to enhance them. Practice, not on the stage is where you experiment.

As I said in my post on the Message Boards, I don't like to practice with a Sound System. I don't really care what you use for monitors (well I do, but that's another topic altogether) when you are on stage singing, but at practice you need to hear the natural voice of everyone around you. Let's remember what Sound Systems are for. The were not designed or purposed for singing in a small room. Sound systems were designed so that many people in large rooms and auditoriums could hear singers from a far away distance. When a sound system is used for it's designed purpose, it is a wonderful thing, but a small read where people are practicing is NOT what it was designed for. So, why not use a sound system for practicing? First when practicing without amplification, you must listen closer to hear each individual. This makes you pay much closer to the detail of what you are doing. It also makes for a much more intimate setting. When you have to be close enough to each other to smell each others breath, you have to let your defenses down and relationships being to happen. When you are standing close to each other practicing, you begin to notice the little movement in each others voices and you begin to follow them causing a brilliant blend that is not accomplished standing ten feet away form each other using a sound system. There is a carry-over of this intamacy from the practice room to the stage, and the audience will see it and hear it. Get rid of that sound system at practice, you'll never regret it.

I've got more to say, but I'll save it for another time.

Finally Quality Wins

I get so frustrated when watching music reality shows and the person with the most talent doesn't win. I just want to pull what little hair I have left out when I'm watching American Idol or Nashville Star and week after week pitchy poor singers stay, while real good talent gets voted off.
Finally, this season's Nashville Star winner was the best talent in the group. Melissa Lawson was a standout vocally from the very beginning. She was a little heavy, but looked really nice, and she was not in her 20s. Overcoming these two flaws, her talent won out.

While watching Nashville Star, a couple of things really stood out to me when comparing Country Music to Gospel Music. Since we like to refer to each other as Cousins, there are some similarities and some big differences. First, there is no comparison in the quality level of the vocals. While Melissa was a stand out vocally, the rest of the crop, for the most part were not near the quality of any of our up and coming artists. When I compare the groups, Southern Gospel artists blew them away. I promise you that you will hear better competition at the Talent Competition at NQC this year than what was on Nashville Star.

Another thing that I noticed was that it seems to be opposite ends of the musical spectrum that exists between our two genres. While the musical stylings are similar, in Country music, soloists seem to have an advantage over groups. Country fans seem to prefer one voice with a guitar standing in from of a microphone. In contrast, Southern Gospel fans seem to prefer groups with great harmony. While Southern Gospel fans seem to shy away from female singers, Country fans adore them. I'm not real sure why that is other than the old "women keep silent in the church" argument that has just carried over into our musical world.

These are just a few things that I noticed while watching Nashville Star this season.