BAND STUFF: what to do with BVs

BVs (or BGVs in the States) are a wonderful tool in enhancing a song sonically, and in helping to lead worship. You have one or two singers right there with you (or more depending on the style of things in your church), not only singing, but modelling worship to the congregation (in a sense, giving the congregation 'permission' to respond).

Just like every instrument though, background singers shouldn't be singing all the time through every song. What I usually ask my singers to do is to come in with harmonies in the choruses. Sometimes I'll ask them to highlight the odd line through a verse, or to bring in one harmony on the pre-chorus, and then add another in the chorus and so on.

It can be awesome to sometimes strip the song back, and only have harmonies - cutting out all the other instruments to hear the voices.

During the song, if the singers aren't singing their part yet, I encourage my guys to sing anyway, but to do it 'off mic' - that way they still get to worship without putting too much into the arrangement.

Backing singers can tend to feel the most left out of the musicians in the band - as leaders, we need to try and remember this so we can stay inclusive - and as backing singers, we need to remember that we're using our voices like instruments, so we don't need to feel hurt if we're asked not to sing at a certain part of the song.