Who would you like to see perform with John Schlitt?

[executioner]

I don't pop up here very often to disagree.. but..

About the comments suggesting that there is no work involved in being a good singer - that it is more of a natural gift. I can see how people think that.. but I have to disagree.

I believe that a person can be gifted with a good VOICE.. but just having a nice voice doesnt make you a good singer by any means.

I play guitar and sing.. I'm not great and certainly not half the singer John is, nor am I half the player that Bob is... BUT I will say that I look at the voice as being an instrument JUST as much as I do the guitar.. and I believe the voice to be the hardest instrument to figure out... atleast when aiming to use it properly..

Just like there are scales, chords, lead patterns, etc.. with the guitar.. There is proper breathing, voice trasition through registers, Chest voice, Head Voice, Mixed Voice, Tone... for singing. There are SEVERAL things to work on for singing..

Can some people sing good naturally? Sure.. but WORKING and TAKING CARE of your voice is key to anyone wishing to better themselves... Listen to John in bootlegs of Head East or early Petra bootlegs... does he sound good? Yes. Is he a good singer? Yes. But when I listen to those recordings and then watch something like Petra Alive 2000... Johns vocals live became just as good (and sometimes BETTER) than studio recordings. Showing that kind of improvement... especially into your older years.. requires work, skill. and good TECHNIQUE that is learned and developed. and to say something else for singers... it takes ALOT more work for them to keep their instrument sounding good into their older years... especially when you have toured as much as John Schlitt has! Singers dont just switch on an amplifier and dial in the tone.. not saying that its super easy for guitar players to keep all their chops.. but I am saying its harder for a singer.

You can bet that John has put as much work into his voice as Bob has the guitar... The main thing to do - to further your knowledge of playing or singing isnt all about getting "lessons" .. its just doing it! Play, play, play.. or Sing, sing, sing!

I don't speak out about this to start an arguement.. nor do I think I'm a genius of guitar or singing... but I do know that there is a lot more to it than opening your mouth and yelling!

-Stephen

I think the vocal is in fact the hardest part of the music business, it can go at anytime and it takes as much or even more time to perfect then any guitar player or drummer can even imagine. I know Mike Sweet said the hardest thing for him is to keep his voice where it needs to be and guitar playing is more 2nd nature to him then his vocal duites.

[executioner]

I became a mod several years ago when this site was first established. I volunteered because Micah was asking for mods and no one wanted to do it. As far as I know, I am currently the only active mod and those with Site Admin powers are hard to get ahold of and are rarely here, so if you want to get technical, I am the only peace keeper. If you want to be a mod, no one is stopping you from requesting mod powers, but good luck getting anyone to respond.

I didn't realize a requirement of being a mod was to be a koolaid drinker for the band. I am a Petra fan, but I am also objective enough to realize that they had their time, it passed and there is much better music to be found these days. I also tire of the attitude on this board that Petra is a sacred cow and we should never bring any criticism towards the band. Some people need to realize that they are just a band and they aren't the second coming of Christ.

Show me where I said anything negative about Christian music? I didn't, so stop putting words in my mouth. I tend to agree with brent's sentiments about the industry and such, but I don't hate Christian music. I think a majority of the Christian music that is marketed is mediocre at best, which is sad. Luckily, many of the better Christian artists out there (Switchfoot, Relient K, Jars of Clay, etc.) see that the end of CMI (Christian Music Industry) is drawing near, and they are moving to mainstream labels or going independent.

Your IMO better Christian Artists list lacks better Christian Artists. They are shallow at best at portraying themselves as Christian Artists. I and other Christian Music fans look at the ministries first and then the music second in order to say they are a good Christian Music Artist.
Jars of Clay has been known to one night play in a church and talk about God and Salvation and then their next next show play in a secular venue and not talk about anything but love and how we should treat each other and also change lyrics in their songs and take out their Christian and Biblical views and add things like love in place of Jesus and God. They also add secular songs like You Give Love a Bad Name(Bon Jovi) and Another One Bites the Dust(Queen) to their set lists and take away their worship songs when playing secular venues. To me that shows they are shallow Christians and they do what they do to apease the world.

If you add bands like FireFlight, Day Of Fire, and DecemberRadio to your list which go out and tell the Gospel even in secular venues then your Christian Artist List would be more respected.

[Jonathan]

Christianity should stay inside the walls of the church where it belongs.

[separateunion]

Christianity should stay inside the walls of the church where it belongs.

Exactly.

[executioner]

Christianity should stay inside the walls of the church where it belongs.

Exactly.

LOL

[p-freak]

Your IMO better Christian Artists list lacks better Christian Artists. They are shallow at best at portraying themselves as Christian Artists. I and other Christian Music fans look at the ministries first and then the music second in order to say they are a good Christian Music Artist.
Jars of Clay has been known to one night play in a church and talk about God and Salvation and then their next next show play in a secular venue and not talk about anything but love and how we should treat each other and also change lyrics in their songs and take out their Christian and Biblical views and add things like love in place of Jesus and God. They also add secular songs like You Give Love a Bad Name(Bon Jovi) and Another One Bites the Dust(Queen) to their set lists and take away their worship songs when playing secular venues. To me that shows they are shallow Christians and they do what they do to apease the world.

Looking through rose colored stained glass windows...

By the way, you're comment about Jars Of Clay it totally off the mark. They have the guts to stand up as Christians and do something instead of trying to ministering to a ever-growing crowd of lazy Christians who think that christianity consists of singing soppy worship songs in church and who forget that following Jesus actually means to live a socially radical life on the edge of society.

[Jonathan]

Agreed. What's the sense of playing worship songs in secular venues? Reconcile that with the reasoning for playing Christian music to begin with. And what's the original point of worship? Of leading worship? But I sort of digress.

In my opinion, most P/W songs are as tepid as it gets. I may be crazy, but going into a road house or a tavern and busting out "I Love You Lord" is probably not going to go over too well. My brother played Burl Ives' "Holly Jolly Christmas" on the jukebox last month at a pool hall and was almost murdered over it. (I know, we're cut from the same cloth.)

And I don't believe playing one set in church and a completely different set in a coffee house is wrong. If you play something the pagans can relate to in a secular setting, and play it well, people will buy your recording...people will download your music. (So the P/W, Jesus-y stuff can still reach those ears, if you represent on stage.) That's the nature of the evolving Christian music scene, especially the small-time scene, at least here in GR.

Man, when will I stop putting God in a box?

[Shell]

Jonathan, you always have such a way of summing things up, LOL.

By the way, do I dare mention "Holly Jolly Christmas" is one of my most cherished childhood memories, or would I be murdered? Okay, so I was probably about 8 years old the first time I heard it, what does an 8-year-old know?

[charl]

When did Christianity become about being social revolutionaries? And why didn't anyone tell me? Here I was thinking it was about Christ and Him crucified for the forgiveness of sins.


Man. I'm always behind.

[executioner]

When did Christianity become about being social revolutionaries? And why didn't anyone tell me? Here I was thinking it was about Christ and Him crucified for the forgiveness of sins.


Man. I'm always behind.

Yeah wake up from your slumber and get with the program lol.

[executioner]

Your IMO better Christian Artists list lacks better Christian Artists. They are shallow at best at portraying themselves as Christian Artists. I and other Christian Music fans look at the ministries first and then the music second in order to say they are a good Christian Music Artist.
Jars of Clay has been known to one night play in a church and talk about God and Salvation and then their next next show play in a secular venue and not talk about anything but love and how we should treat each other and also change lyrics in their songs and take out their Christian and Biblical views and add things like love in place of Jesus and God. They also add secular songs like You Give Love a Bad Name(Bon Jovi) and Another One Bites the Dust(Queen) to their set lists and take away their worship songs when playing secular venues. To me that shows they are shallow Christians and they do what they do to apease the world.

Looking through rose colored stained glass windows...

By the way, you're comment about Jars Of Clay it totally off the mark. They have the guts to stand up as Christians and do something instead of trying to ministering to a ever-growing crowd of lazy Christians who think that christianity consists of singing soppy worship songs in church and who forget that following Jesus actually means to live a socially radical life on the edge of society.

Naw I heard it with my own ears. It was back in 2000/2001 I saw them at a church in Humble, Tx(Houston) on a Friday night and then again on Saturday in a club in Houston and it was like seeing 2 totally different bands. They purposely avoided songs with strong Christian overtones and played a series of covers one which was very sexually perverse, also joked with the crowd about getting wasted after the show, and using foul language like f*** this and s***. I as my youth pastor who was invited to the show by one of the bands members(he was a huge fan) was just floored by what we saw and heard. This men might be Christian but they were acting so ungodly that it literally made us sick. I've never seen or bought anything else from them and never will.

[Jonathan]

Here I was thinking it was about Christ and Him crucified for the forgiveness of sins.

Isn't that social radicalism? And moral absolutes are almost Dadaist.

[charl]

walk quickly away from the pietists children. No NO don't look directly at them.

Depends on what you mean by radical Jonathan. If by the phrase you mean someone who trusts in the gospel work of Christ rather than his own merit and changes diapers to the glory of God, sure. The cross is after all a scandal and offence. And crossing over from death to life is a pretty earthshattering thing.

However in my experience, Jesus as social revolutionary rarely if ever means God incarnate on a bloody cross, broken and dying for sin to those who use it. Usually it is little more than some social and political agenda. Left hand stuff-that is boring and short sighted.

[Jan]

I think Nicol Sponberg would sound great with John. A raspy duet!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKrupUMbadA

[Edward]

That is too broad of a statement. I have witnessed truly gifted singers and multi-instrumentalists that have literally picked up their craft and ran with it. I know some that have worked and studied hard. This is completely individual and musical genre dependent.

Singing appears to be simple. Singing correctly, skillfully, in pitch, over time is just as hard if not harder.

The human voice changes over time. Muscles control relaxes. Physiological changes (teeth, mouth, nose, sinus cavity, head mass, etc change the voice and enunciation. Threshold shifts in hearing make for incorrect pitch.

One is not easier than the other across the board. We all know of 20 year old screamers in rookie bands that cannot play as well as 50+ year old guitar heros.