[SHOnOFF]

i sure I'm not the only one with this problem. basically every one and their mother wants to sing on stage. the biggest problem is alot of them can't sing, and having been doing this for a wile i learned people don't like being told they cant sing no matter how nice you tell them. i'm stuck and need some help

thanks
luke

[nate95366]

The idea of auditions for the church music group is best approached very carefully and diplomatically. If you go that direction, some suggestions I would have are:

1) Don't have a 1-person evaluation panel
2) Do have a specific evaluation "rubric" for rating the auditions of each person. This makes the audition more legitimate than just a general impression.
3) For those who need help in some areas, offer resources or suggestions, including ideas on where to go to get lessons, etc.
4) Hold auditions regularly (annually, perhaps?), and diplomatically request that everyone in the group audition during every cycle. That way, at the very least, you can track individual growth and development of talent in a measurable way.
5) If it's true of the person, learn to be comfortable saying something like, "I really like who you are as a person (and give reasons/instances why), but I really think your ministry gifts might be better suited to a non-musical area, at least for the time being. What do you think about that?"
6) If you don't really like the person, first you may want to think of why not and whether you can be a legitimate evaluator of that person. This is when it really helps to have a team of evaluators, because if you don't it can really stink...

Nate

[gtrdave]

If people trust and respect you as a person and a musician then they should trust and respect your decision on who is well-suited and who is not well-suited to serve on the team.

[Jaymze13]

If you still wind up with more people than you need I'll tell you what we finally had to do. Our leaders had to get to the point where they divided everybody up into (what is right now) 4 different teams. Our assistant music minister came up with a schedule and sent it out to everybody. Some might not be too thrilled because they may only sing for 2 weeks then be off for 4, but it's the system we had to implement.

We've had as many as 6 people on mics on any given Sunday in the past. It was getting to be a problem for a few reasons. It was getting to be tougher to control the levels and feedback since they all had to stand together. I personally feel the more the number of singers, the more the band was buried in the mix. I've griped a lot about this in the past so I won't rehash, but my feeling on the situation was more than 3-4 singers was a kiss of death to any sound I had going as the guitar player.

And while this may be getting too sticky, some of the singers seemed a little more concerned with hearing themselves and the overall sound. So you had quite a few people up there and the favorite saying was "I can't hear myself" or "_______ is too loud" (fill in the space with any instrument and it's usually the guitar ).

We now have groups of 4 and it's at least easier to manage for the sound team. Sometimes I still wish they would just put a mic in front of us and let us be our own singing group, but they seem to think people want to see actual singers out front leading everybody.

[Jaymze13]

***sorry***

[cngp90]

Originally Posted by SHOnOFF

i sure I'm not the only one with this problem. basically every one and their mother wants to sing on stage. the biggest problem is alot of them can't sing, and having been doing this for a wile i learned people don't like being told they cant sing no matter how nice you tell them. i'm stuck and need some help

thanks
luke

Great question. I've been having the same problem.

[cngp90]

My problem is the people that can't sing but think they can. I guess if your gonna tell someone their off the team (for any reason), it just has to be done in love.

[SHOnOFF]

Originally Posted by cngp90

My problem is the people that can't sing but think they can. I guess if your gonna tell someone their off the team (for any reason), it just has to be done in love.

exactly out of the 10 people (yes i said 10) 4 are trained vocalists 2 cant hold a note and the other 4 are decent

[thesteve]

Originally Posted by SHOnOFF

exactly out of the 10 people (yes i said 10) 4 are trained vocalists 2 cant hold a note and the other 4 are decent

i'd say take the four who are trained and the 4 who are decent and mix them. that way the decent can learn from the trained and eventually you'll have 8 good vocalists.

[Job 19:25-27]

I've got a girl on my team who thinks she can sing, has been told that she can't by one of our more outspoken band members, & left the youth group for a while. By the time I became band leader, she was already back on & now I'm not sure what to do...

She was driven away once already & she just started coming to church. I don't know her very well, so I'm not sure how she'll take me telling her that she really can't sing.

I don't want to hurt her but I'm being dishonest w/ her right now b/c she thinks she's really singing, but in reality she's only turned on in the moniters on the stage. No one can hear her out in the congregation...

HELP!!!!

I really want to do the best for her but I'm not sure what that is.

~Nobody

[Job 19:25-27]

MOST of the kids I have to work with really can't sing.

So even if they could sing with a strong vocalist to help them one on one, they really can't right now, b/c they throw each other off.

I rotate people, but when 6 out of 8 singers are not gifted in the area of singing... MAN!!!

[Shift]

Can't the sound guy take care of it?

[Job 19:25-27]

What do you mean by that?

[Jaymze13]

Probably drop them in the mix a little bit and bring up the ones who can sing.

[bobthecockroach]

This is a really weird idea, but what about being honest with people and not letting people on the team just so you can figure out how to get rid of them later?