Many worship songs being written today are difficult for most people to sing comfortably in the key they were originally recorded in. Many churches have recruited worship leaders who can sing them in those keys. Congregations would love to participate fully, but worship ends up feeling more like a concert.
The fix is simple: choose keys that keep melodies roughly between Bb3 and Eb5 (for women; Bb2 to Eb4 for men).
Ever since I first encountered prayer songs, songs sung to God rather than just about him, I have been hooked. I played guitar and could sing well enough, so I became a worship leader on and off for many years at various local levels, enjoying so many sweet times of singing and worshipping, alone and with brothers and sisters in Christ. I just love opening up my voice in full-throated singing to God along with the saints. There is nothing like hearty congregational worship, regardless of the size of the “congregation”. The music carries the words deeper, into a connection with God in heart and soul and mind and strength, often more effectively than reading them alone.
When our family moved to a new church in the mid-2000s, I noticed for the first time that the congregation was hardly singing during worship. I was also having difficulties “entering into” worship.
I soon realized that the worship leader had a vocal range more than half an octave higher than I was used to, and I typically could not sing a whole song without having to drop an octave somewhere. When I did that, the songs lost much of their vocal power for me, and the octave jumps distracted me from the emotional and spiritual connection.
I also noticed that most of the men, if they were singing, were an octave below the leader, with the verses uncomfortably low. The women who were singing were in the same vocal register he was, so most of them were also in the lower end of their range. The volume and engagement of the congregation were down several notches from what I was used to. More of the teens could sing along, but the adults seemed subdued.
What if the chosen keys had something to do with it? Was there a “more typical” range where more people could sing? Searches yielded very little to go on, though the question had been raised. A couple of worship leaders stated that they tried to keep songs in a key so that the melody ran from about Bb3 (the B-flat below middle C) up to Eb5, an octave plus a fourth. In untrained singers, this corresponds roughly to the baritone range in men and the mezzo-soprano range in women.
That was a perfect range for me, and given my experience as a worship leader (never seeming to have a problem with people singing out), I wondered if that might be the middle of the bell curve for vocal ranges. Of course there are many who are above or below that, and most trained singers can reach closer to two octaves.
Hymnals have been around a long time, and it occurred to me to look through one, paying attention to the melody ranges. For the last few centuries, churches have collected into hymnals the songs that were meaningful to them and that they enjoyed using in worship. Typically they were written with four-part harmony for either a cappella singing or keyboard accompaniment. For each song, the editors had to choose a key.
Walking through page after page, it was clear that for most songs the melody was within the range Bb3 to Eb5. Check it out yourself! There were exceptions, but they usually strayed by only about a half step. My best guess is that the editors tried to choose a key where most people could sing the melody, since fewer people could sing the harmony parts. It is also clear that hymnal melodies rarely camp out in the top part of that range (whereas many recent worship songs do). This hymnal analysis strongly suggests that range is the sweet spot for congregational singing.
Most websites that discuss “baritone” or “mezzo-soprano” are talking about trained voices and give larger ranges. Only a small fraction of people at a worship set have trained voices. More people would likely sing along if the songs sat in their range. Consider that most people struggle with the octave-and-a-fifth range of the US National Anthem.
Ron Williams has put together karaoke-style worship videos for use in his congregational worship (several are in the Karaoke section on this site). He has often changed the key from the original. It seems he has also found that many songs need a new key for his congregation to sing along. Almost everything he arranges for them sits in the traditional range. Visit Ron Williams’ YouTube channel.
Brian at the Worship Tutorials YouTube channel, in a video teaching the song “How Great Is Your Love,” makes this somewhat throw-away comment: “C is the key Phil Wickham sings it in, so it's kinda high.” He then coaches on how to do it in a lower key. Watch the moment on YouTube.
This has coincided with a trend, starting in secular music, toward popular male vocalists singing in the stratosphere. This has slowly trickled into the church. I used to be able to sing almost any worship song being written and led. Now, if I'm lucky, I can sing comfortably one or two of the songs in a Sunday morning worship set, typically ones led by a woman (and I'm comfortable an octave below her for the whole song).
There are also many worship videos that claim to be in a “female key”, and these typically are in that range. Churches may need to decide whether they want people to engage deeply in worship or mostly spectate.
“Concert” volume levels are hindering the sense of participating in corporate worship, and are risking people's hearing. The volume should be loud enough that people don't need to worry about others being distracted by their so-so voice so they can sing out, yet not so loud that people can't hear themselves singing, or can't tell that this is a full congregational event.
When running sound, I have aimed for about 85 dB, with peaks around 90 dB. Some worship bands are pushing 95–100 dB, which is not healthy for hearing and tends to completely drown out the congregation.
Honestly, I'm not happy writing this article, because I know so many churches have recruited male worship leaders who can sing today's good worship songs, many of which are written and popularized by tenors. Maybe these songs are aimed first at teens. The problem is that most of the men among the people of God are probably untrained baritones and are having trouble singing them. Listen for yourself (if you can hear others over the band), and you'll notice that the women who are singing are in the same register as the male worship leader, while many men have gone quiet.
I think congregational singing matters to God, so with something of a heavy heart, I'm pointing this out. The solutions are simple: choose keys that fit the most common vocal ranges, and keep the volume where the congregation can tell they are participating in a group event.
FWIW I have collected some playlists of worship songs I like that I can sing onto a YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@WorshipICanSing. Feel free to drop in there. Most of the songs have lyrics as part of the video so you can more easily sing along.