Add this entry to Your Favorites | [0] Favorites [9] Comments

Please wait...

Hello to all gospel music fans and artists. Greetings in the lovely name of Jesus!

Since this is my first column about vocal technique, I believe I should tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Bill Baize. I sang tenor for J.D. Sumner and the Stamps Quartet from 1971-1976. I also taught vocal technique at The Stamps Music School during those years. After those years I went into full time evangelistic ministry and kept my interest in Gospel Music by recording and teaching vocal technique at the Stamps Music School, which later became the Blackwood Brothers Music School, and later became the International Music School, and even later became the Christian Music Conference. I taught in all of these schools combined for over a period of 32 years, retiring from that in 2003. I am currently working with the revival of the Prophets Quartet which is comprised of Ed Hill (former Prophets, Statesmen, Stamps, Singing Americans baritone singer); Paul Jackson (Lead); Mike Allen (Bass); and myself (Tenor). Some of you who are in your late 50's and older will remember my time with the Stamps. Many of you younger than that may not know my name at all, that is why I have tried to give this brief bio sketch at the opening of this new column.

I want to thank Deon Unthank for asking me to contribute this column to the Southern Gospel News. I am honored to have been asked to write for Southern Gospel News. I realize that all things said in an instructive manner are subject to scrutiny and possibly can be disagreed with.

The things that I will be writing in this column will be all information that I have studied over the years as well as during my college work prior to my joining the Stamps in 1971. These are things that I have found, through study and trial on the stage and in pulpits around the country, to have worked for me. I am now 67 years old and still singing. The things I will say here will be things that will help preserve your voice so that you can sing longer in your life, and you can be a blessing to more people and win more souls to the kingdom. M y goal is to do whatever I can to equip people to be able to minister, ( and ministry is the soul purpose of this column)., in order that we all can build the Kingdom of God by winning souls through our music.

Thanks for reading my BIO and STATEMENT OF PURPOSE now let’s get down to business.

I will start at the very beginning of what I have found to be important in singing technique.

In this column I want to address ,first, the most rudimentary element of singing to save your voice and, it is your POSTURE. The first question is HOW IMPORTANT IS POSTURE?

The answer is, without CORRECT POSTURE you can injure your voice very easily, especially when you are pushing your limits as many Gospel Singers do. The second question is WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT IT? I am going to list several things that ought to be thought about every time you sing. Once you get these things down, you will find your singing will be much easier to do, and your voice will not wear down as quickly as it has before. Also, when you feel like you are having a hard time singing, if you will check these things mentally immediately and address them immediately through correction of anything you are not doing correctly, you will find by addressing POSTURE first that many times you singing problems will clear up. There are many other things also that can be taking place, which I will be addressing in future columns, but these are the immediate things to check:

1. KEEP YOUR HEAD ON STRAIGHT, DO NOT tilt your head backwards, forwards or turn it to either side while you are singing. The reason for this is that your vocal chords are made up of over 100 tiny muscles, each having its particular function to pull and adjust the chords as your mind sends signals to them. Each of these muscles is very tiny. If you don’t hold your head straight, then you have large muscles on either side of you vocal box which hold your head on which go into action to turn your head or raise or lower it backwards or forwards respectively, and these muscles called STERNOCLEIDOMASTOID muscles are LARGE MUSCLES which when turning your head or raising or lowering your head apply PRESSURE or RESISTENCE to the tiny muscles in your vocal chords, making them work much much more than necessary to make a given tone. That in turn STRAINS YOUR VOICE control mechanism. If this is done over a period of time it will interfere with the power of these tiny muscles and weaken them to where they are not as useful as they once were and you will have VOICE TROUBLE. Therefore, first check the POSITION OF YOU HEAD. Make sure it is not turned to one side or the other, or tilted back or too much forward. Make sure that it is in a normal straightforward position. IF YOU MUST TURN TO SING TO THE AUDIENCE, THEN TURN YOUR ENTIRE BODY. IF YOU WANT TO LIFT YOUR EYES TOWARD HEAVEN, DO IT WHEN YOU ARE NOT ACTUALLY SINGING, DO IT WHILE SOMEONE ELSE HAS THE LEAD ON THE SONG OR AFTER YOU FINISH SINGING. MAINTAINING EYE CONTACT WITH THE AUDIENCE USUALLY PUTS YOUR HEAD IN GOOD POSITION, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE LOOKING ABOUT 1/3 OF THE WAY BACK IN THE AUDIENCE.

As you can see that this is getting lengthy. I will have more next month on POSTURE.

May God richly bless each of you.

Bill Baize

Reader Comments

Bill,

I met you in Springfield, MO when you used to come sing each year at Billy Burris' church, where we used to attend. I think we were at al of your appearances there, as that was before we went back on the road with our own group.

They were sensational concerts - both artistically and spiiritually. I really appreciate the way you honor God as you minister for Him, and I will look forward to these articles each month.

Cliff Cerce
The Cerces

Cliff Cerce
The Cerces, PO Box 8525, Springfield, MO 65801
417-863-8440
http://www.thecerces.com

Add Comments

If you are seeing this form you are not a Member or have not logged in. Why not consider becoming a Member?

Membership allows you to have a prepared signature of your choice applied to every comment you make, as well as the ability to choose an avatar to display next to your name to help identify your posts. Members are also given opportunity to vote weekly in our Weekly Chart as well as special Members Only contests, polls and giveaways during the year. If you are already a member, login here, otherwise please register here.

**Note: Forums membership is a seperate membership.

By posting you agree to our Comments Policy

Name:
Email:
Location:
URL:
Comment:
	Remember my personal information
	Notify me of follow-up comments?
Please enter the word you see in the image below: