Singable Up-Tempo Songs

Nomes · 01-07-2008, 12:38 AM

So... my problem is this... I'm a girl. Now, that's isn't really a problem,

only that a lot of songs (and nice songs they are) are written by guys, and in bad keys for me to sing in. Sometimes transposing can work. But more often than not, the songs are written so the verses are low and the chorus is at least an octave higher - which I can do, but it is too high to keep the song sounding balanced, and I'm sure freaks the congregation out!

Examples of this problem are:
Best Friend - Hillsong
Sweetly Broken - Jeremy Riddle (though not an up-tempo one)
Numerous others than I don't go near...

I particularly find this difficult with the up-tempo songs.
I'm always on the look out for up-tempo songs that are singable.
Does anybody have anything that fits into the singable category?

Jia Yue · 01-07-2008, 03:44 AM

Check out "Maker of All Things" by Tim Hughes and "The Rock" by Michael Neale (by the way, Michael Neale's new album is AWESOME). All 12 songs are what I call "vertical", meaning they are sung directly to God. There are both uptempo and slower songs on this album. A very good investment for a worship leader. From what I have listened to, all of them should be "singable". None of them have that wide range jump you were speaking of.

**DaGeek** · 01-07-2008, 08:29 AM

Yeah, Hillsong and Hillsong United are known for having some crazy-to-sing stuff. Their ranges are just incredible, unlike us mere mortals...

What type of upbeat worship song are you looking for? David Crowder has a few (Like "You Make Everything Glorious") upbeat worship songs that are pretty singable. Paul Baloche does, too, I believe, but I can't name any titles at the moment.

Joe F · 01-07-2008, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaGeek

Paul Baloche does, too, I believe, but I can't name any titles at the moment.

We just started working up Paul's newest release "Our God Saves" and it's upbeat and very easy to sing for everyone. He has the sound sample and the lead sheet on his website:

http://www.leadworship.com

Here's the song: http://www.leadworship.com/resources/ourgodsaves.m3u

Jia Yue · 01-16-2008, 05:08 AM

Also, be careful of songs by New Life Worship (Desperation Band) because they can have very wide ranges within their songs.

joshua.lee.90 · 01-16-2008, 09:22 PM

Im pretty sure from the girl singers in our church is E is usually the key that most comfortable for them. A song which guys might have a hard time singing is You Are Good by Isreal Hougton in E. When i lead i usually do it in C for guys but for girls i think E is good.

rockerclb · 01-18-2008, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jia Yue

Also, be careful of songs by New Life Worship (Desperation Band) because they can have very wide ranges within their songs.

oh yeah, I remember when we broke out Ready Now, only to figure out that in the bridge there's a high G that only me and another girl could hit. Gotta watch out for that stuff.

Jia Yue · 01-19-2008, 05:20 AM

Actually, it is a fallacy that there is one preferred key for either female voice or male voice. It all depends on the melody line, which should generally stay within B below middle C and D an octave+ higher.

It is true that female voices generally sit lower on the melody range than male voices, which might seem odd, but it is because so many male voices are tenors but very few female voices are "high" soprano.

Hope that helps

ThanksALatte · 01-19-2008, 10:01 PM

I have this problem also. Fortunately, I am fond of transposing...but I also have a guy on my worship team that can lead, which helps (now that I know how to harmonize better).

"You Are Holy" (AKA "prince of peace")
"Open the Eyes of My Heart" (can be done more upbeat)
"Unchanging" (by Chris Tomlin i think)
"Hallelujah" (Your Love Is Amazing)
"The Happy Song"
"O Praise Him"
"No One Like You"

Most of these will probably have to be transposed (I had to transpose them) but I think they're not too crazy... (correct me if I'm wrong) they couldn't have been too bad if they were in the songbook that I used when I was by myself leading worship. :0)

Decency · 01-21-2008, 06:24 AM

The whole issue on transposing songs is this. I look at it as whoever wrote it, wrote it in their range. I can sing higher like tomlin, so I'll usually keep it, but he writes his songs in a way where all you have to do is move a capo off or on and you've got the same song. That's how I look at it.

As for songs, a lot of crowder and tomlin stuff are easy. You can take just about any moderately fast song and speed it up.