Many song leaders define their role in the public assembly primarily in mechanical terms. They believe that they are a success if they correctly pitch each song, correctly beat the hand motions for each song's time signature, and sing with a strong voice. Many song leaders see no other dimensions of song leading that are important. This mechanical self-image has been apparent to those of us who train song leaders.
Most students attend a singing song to acquire basic mechanical skills.
When they have realized that goal they immediately lose interest in receiving any further training from a singing school. We need to enlighten song leaders about the nature of their ministry and promote the thesis that there is more to song leading than mechanical competence. My dynamic ministry of song leading also contains an artistic dimension. Let us briefly define artistic song leading and contrast it to the mechanistic-only paradigm. The artistic song leader is able to capture the emotional spirit of Christian music and project it to the church in such a way that the entire congregation can experience that charismatic atmosphere.