WHAT IS LEADERSHIP?
What is “leadership”? It’s many things, but a core part of it is “showing the way ahead of time”.
If your congregation is in fact a classically-trained choir, then it is possible to ‘lead’ them with Traditional Music Notation, because they can read the pitches & rhythm ahead of time. Or, if you’ve stopped using new songs in worship, then it might be possible for them to learn ‘all the songs’. Or you could use songs that are so repetitive that you end up compromising between the folks who never quite figure it out and the folks who are so bored they quit singing, but that’s not leading, it’s learning.
But for everyone else, the fact remains that they can’t read Traditional Music Notation (TMN), they’re not going to, and you’re going to use new songs, which means that (eek!) you’ve just been performing, not really leading. And if you're a worship composer/leader, then you're really up a creek when you debut your new songs. How could anyone have learned them already?
I know, I know, there hasn’t been a technology yet which could actually lead untrained congregations in songs before, so leading wasn’t actually an option. But don’t fret, the solution is here now. (Get it, fret?)
If your congregation is in fact a classically-trained choir, then it is possible to ‘lead’ them with Traditional Music Notation, because they can read the pitches & rhythm ahead of time. Or, if you’ve stopped using new songs in worship, then it might be possible for them to learn ‘all the songs’. Or you could use songs that are so repetitive that you end up compromising between the folks who never quite figure it out and the folks who are so bored they quit singing, but that’s not leading, it’s learning.
But for everyone else, the fact remains that they can’t read Traditional Music Notation (TMN), they’re not going to, and you’re going to use new songs, which means that (eek!) you’ve just been performing, not really leading. And if you're a worship composer/leader, then you're really up a creek when you debut your new songs. How could anyone have learned them already?
I know, I know, there hasn’t been a technology yet which could actually lead untrained congregations in songs before, so leading wasn’t actually an option. But don’t fret, the solution is here now. (Get it, fret?)
DESIGNED TO BE USED
From easily selecting which verses of a song you'll be singing this week without accidentally missing a beat during playback, to making sure the next thing that's going to be sung is ALWAYS on screen, Sing as One was designed to be used by the people who actually use it: from the untrained non-musicians in your congregation who wish they could sing along, to the pro bono junior-high-aged volunteers tapping the "space bar" on your church's budget computer. Sing as One is designed so that common abilities, like following rhythm, are emphasized, and information supporting less-common skills, like perfect pitch, are downplayed. The features were designed to be automatic. So you never need to worry about re-laying-out words or word wrapping on a slide.
"How does my band keep in sync with the notation?" The app adds a metronome sound to the exported video.
"How does my band keep in sync with the notation?" The app adds a metronome sound to the exported video.
Why a voice-specific notation, and not one for all instruments?
The human voice is a fundamentally different kind of instrument from all others, because of the human ear & human brain. Other instruments, when you press the button for an "Eb", you get an "Eb". No so with humans. #1 there is no button for an Eb. #2, Most people couldn't hit an Eb if you asked for one and they tried. The few that do are said to have "perfect pitch". Most humans have relative pitch. Now, you might think that the instruments are better at music than the humans. Again, not so. The humans can automatically re-sing the tune in a different key with a mere lead in. Think regular instruments are that smart? Head over to a high school band and have their trumpets secretly modulate up a step and see if your trombone section follows along automatically while using all the same slide positions.
So I didn't set out to design a voice-only notation. But I did design a notation for singing. And when I realized that I had to use relative pitch, and not perfect pitch, I realized I had just made the notation more difficult for perfect-pitched instruments. I tried to reconcile it, but alas, again, that was not my goal.
So I didn't set out to design a voice-only notation. But I did design a notation for singing. And when I realized that I had to use relative pitch, and not perfect pitch, I realized I had just made the notation more difficult for perfect-pitched instruments. I tried to reconcile it, but alas, again, that was not my goal.
Once the patent has been completed, I'll share the solution here,
Why no support for image slides, or text outlines, or bible quotes?
Businesses have this idea of a "minimum viable product". It's the product you release on day 1 which is so paired down, so minimal, and yet so distinct that it stands on its own, with nothing besides a single core feature. I was academically trained, so I first imagined that I would release all my big wild ideas on day 1. And that's why it's taken me over 4 years... Finally someone said, "if you keep trying to release the final big product on day 1, you'll never release". So here we are. I actually do have really cool ideas in the space of eliminating slides from showing text, and I even have working demos, which no one else has seen. But that's not a minimum viable product. We have a long way to go in adding features for the music before I can start doing stuff like text & image slides. Remember I have actually re-built my app from scratch for 4 different platforms... (Gosh, I wish I hadn't wasted my time doing that...)
Why no dynamics support?
Philosophical answer:
What is music? What techniques do musicians use to create art through music? If I ranked the aspects of worship music from most to least important, and I successfully added a feature until my congregation couldn't effectively use more information, what would I have? Lyrics, rhythm, pitch, dynamics, ... Yes, dynamics is actually #4 in my list. My original design included dynamic markings. But when I considered that pitch was more important, and that it is a very difficult concept; I realized that's where I would start to lose people, no matter what. Dynamics is less of what music is, and more of a technique used to make music beautiful, by those who have mastery of it. Modern audio productions, like movies, and talk radio use a filter called a "compressor" to eliminate large-scale dynamic variations, because they impede communication more than they help. I had to draw the line somewhere, the dynamics was just a little beyond the line.
Practical answer:
My survey results indicated that people would be so happy to finally know the rhythms & pitches, that they would "sing at the top of their lungs", a joke answer I added, hoping people would click "significantly" instead. But, no, more people clicked "at the top of my lungs" than any other answer. Congregational singing isn't a movie score with carefully planned volume changes to emphasize the direness of the moment, or duck under dialogue. It's a bar-hall free-for-all where dynamics don't really make much sense. Loudness and softness in humans are far more easily lead with emotional context than writing "mpf". If you want them quiet, use darker desaturated cooler colors in your artwork, fewer and more-higher-pitched instruments, and have your lead vocalist lead softly. That'll quiet them down far more effectively than scattering these symbols throughout your music: ◔◑◕ (Yes, those symbols are from an actual documented proposal for improving dynamics in music notation. It was actually the best one I read. Yikes.)
Joke answer:
I think Victor Borge was the first person I heard make fun of TMN's dynamics notations. "sfz", he said, sounding it out, and the audience laughed. "Oh, I guess it is kind of ridiculous, if you don't know what it means." Well, most folks in churches these days don't know what it means...
What is music? What techniques do musicians use to create art through music? If I ranked the aspects of worship music from most to least important, and I successfully added a feature until my congregation couldn't effectively use more information, what would I have? Lyrics, rhythm, pitch, dynamics, ... Yes, dynamics is actually #4 in my list. My original design included dynamic markings. But when I considered that pitch was more important, and that it is a very difficult concept; I realized that's where I would start to lose people, no matter what. Dynamics is less of what music is, and more of a technique used to make music beautiful, by those who have mastery of it. Modern audio productions, like movies, and talk radio use a filter called a "compressor" to eliminate large-scale dynamic variations, because they impede communication more than they help. I had to draw the line somewhere, the dynamics was just a little beyond the line.
Practical answer:
My survey results indicated that people would be so happy to finally know the rhythms & pitches, that they would "sing at the top of their lungs", a joke answer I added, hoping people would click "significantly" instead. But, no, more people clicked "at the top of my lungs" than any other answer. Congregational singing isn't a movie score with carefully planned volume changes to emphasize the direness of the moment, or duck under dialogue. It's a bar-hall free-for-all where dynamics don't really make much sense. Loudness and softness in humans are far more easily lead with emotional context than writing "mpf". If you want them quiet, use darker desaturated cooler colors in your artwork, fewer and more-higher-pitched instruments, and have your lead vocalist lead softly. That'll quiet them down far more effectively than scattering these symbols throughout your music: ◔◑◕ (Yes, those symbols are from an actual documented proposal for improving dynamics in music notation. It was actually the best one I read. Yikes.)
Joke answer:
I think Victor Borge was the first person I heard make fun of TMN's dynamics notations. "sfz", he said, sounding it out, and the audience laughed. "Oh, I guess it is kind of ridiculous, if you don't know what it means." Well, most folks in churches these days don't know what it means...