By Nic Siew
Psalm 96:1-3 – Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise His name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare His glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all people.
You don’t need a great voice to worship the Lord, just a willing and open heart that is focused on Him. It is also important to note that in everything we do, we strive for excellence because our God deserves our very best. Which was why I decided to join the vocal training conducted by our very own, talented Rachel Liu.
Being in the worship team as a guitarist and vocalist, it is important to bring our very best every time we are called to serve. So just like how one would practise playing the guitar to improve one’s skill, the same goes for singing.
Rachel helped us understand our vocal anatomy much better; it involves a series of warm-ups (yes, singing is a workout), practising to engage our diaphragms, how to stand (yes, this too), and also doing a series of exercises to practise projecting our voices (bystanders would think we were just shouting “melodiously”). She also helped us understand and appreciate our voices better, to know that each voice is unique and special in its own way, i.e. a deep low bass voice can sound just as nice as a powerful voice hitting those difficult notes, a high-pitch voice can also sound just as nice as a deep low bassy tone.
After attending three of the vocal training sessions which also doubled as a practice for Good Friday’s presentation song “Thank You Jesus for the Blood”, I wouldn’t say I am a much better singer than I was prior to the training. This isn’t a magical course that miraculously turns you into a Darlene Zschech, Kari Jobe, Phil Whickham or Don Moen, but I can confidently say that I am more aware of what I need to do to get better.
Getting better at singing requires lots of practice, just like how you would need to practise getting better at anything you do. Yes, some people might have a headstart because of talent, but with effort and patience and lots of perseverance, we will get there too.
At the end of the day, in everything we do, we do for the glory of God. As we lift our voices to Him with full of praise and worship. We remember it is not about hitting those nice notes, or belting that amazing riff, but the posture of worship we bring to Him with open hearts focused upon Him.
To God be the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Get Involved
💻 Watch the effort of their practices here.
🎶 Have a heart to serve with the worship team? Contact Pastor Joshua Tong if you’re keen.