Checkpoint
A Checkpoint is an opportunity for Charmaine to check on your progress throughout the “Discover Your Voice” and “Master Your Voice” courses and give you personalized feedback on how you’re doing with the workouts and song application! It’s important to make sure you’re doing the exercises correctly so that you can move forward in strength and confidence… and see the quickest results in your voice!
How It Works
Submit a video recording of yourself doing each of the vocal exercises that have been chosen specifically for the Checkpoint, and receive a written response from Charmaine detailing her analysis on what’s working well, and how to improve in any areas.
Record yourself
Record a single video (or several individual videos) of yourself doing each of the exercises outlined in the Checkpoint (below).
Ask questions
(Optional) In an extra video, ask questions about specific issues you are having with the Checkpoint exercises.
Send video
Follow the instructions below to upload your video(s) directly to us from your phone or computer.
Purchase
Go through the checkout process to submit your order!
Step 1: Record Yourself
Choose the Checkpoint you’d like to submit and follow the instructions for that Checkpoint laid out below. See the FAQs below if you need further help!
The purpose of this Checkpoint is to give you feedback on your voice after you’ve gone through all of the “Discover Your Voice” course. This Checkpoint will give you an analysis of your overall vocal tone and technique in both your exercises and song application.
What to do:
- Record a video of you singing through all of tracks 1 through 8.
- Record a video of you singing through each of the three song application exercises. Choose one key per exercise (whichever key you most want feedback on).
Important notes:
We have not included the exercise explanations in the Checkpoint playlist, as these exercises are identical to the ones in the “Discover Your Voice” Full Voice Workout. Make sure to refer to the exercise explanations and follow the instructions as closely as possible before and as you are recording your Checkpoint. That being said, perfection is certainly not the goal here! We’re not expecting you to have mastered the exercises… just that you give us a “real” sampling of where you’re at with your voice so we can give you the best feedback moving forward!
Your submission must include:
- Video recording of tracks 1-8 in the Checkpoint playlist
- Video recording of your choice of key for each of the three song application exercises.
Male
Female
The purpose of this Checkpoint is to give you feedback on your voice after having gone through the “Master Your Voice” Resonance lessons. Resonance is foundational for everything else in the voice, and this Checkpoint will assess your tone and resonant placement to ensure it’s as efficient and relaxed as possible.
What to do:
Press play on each track in the Checkpoint playlist below and create a simple video recording (using a smartphone, video camera, etc.) where Charmaine can clearly hear your voice and see your face. You can record them all in one video, or record each exercise in its own video.
Important notes:
- We have not included the exercise explanations in the Checkpoint playlist, as these exercises are identical to the “Master Your Voice” Resonance Workout.
- We have not included as many scales as are in the Resonance Workout tracks, simply because it is only necessary to hear a few scales from each exercise in order to give you feedback. The primary purpose of this Checkpoint is not to hear your entire range (the next Checkpoint will give you feedback on your low and high range), but to make sure your tone and resonant placement are as efficient as possible.
- We suggest that you not submit your Checkpoint until you have done the resonance workout at least 3-5 times and are familiar with each exercise. Make sure to follow the instructions from the Resonance Workout and refer to the Resonance lesson notes as closely as possible before and as you are recording your Checkpoint. That being said, perfection is certainly not the goal here! We’re not expecting you to have mastered the exercises… just that you give us a “real” sampling of where you’re at with your voice so we can give you the best feedback moving forward!
Your submission must include:
- Video recording of all 10 Checkpoint tracks
Male
Female
The purpose of this Checkpoint is to give you feedback on your voice after having gone through all of “Master Your Voice” Part 1. This Checkpoint will assess both your low and high range, as well as make sure your tone, resonant placement and breathing habits are as efficient and relaxed as possible.
What to do:
Press play on each track in the Checkpoint playlist below and create a simple video recording (using a smartphone, video camera, etc.) where Charmaine can clearly hear your voice and see your face. You can record them all in one video, or record each exercise in its own video.
Important notes:
- Only go as high or as low as you can comfortably. If you start to feel tension, try the techniques that are talked about in the video lessons, but feel free to skip some scales if they are out of your current range.
- We have not included as many scales as are in the lesson workout tracks, simply because it is not necessary to hear the entire set of ascending/descending scales from each exercise in order to give you feedback.
- We have not included the exercise explanations in the Checkpoint playlist, as these exercises are identical to the ones in the various “Master Your Voice” lesson workouts. We suggest that you not submit your Checkpoint until you have done all the workouts in Part 1 of the course at least 3-5 times each and are familiar with each exercise. Make sure to refer to the exercise explanations and follow the instructions as closely as possible before and as you are recording your Checkpoint. That being said, perfection is certainly not the goal here! We’re not expecting you to have mastered the exercises… just that you give us a “real” sampling of where you’re at with your voice so we can give you the best feedback moving forward!
- When you submit your exercise video(s), you may also submit a video of yourself singing a verse & chorus of your choice of worship song if you would like feedback on your voice in the context of a song! Maximum length of song video is up to 90 seconds long. Longer videos, or videos without both a verse and chorus will not be assessed.
Your submission must include:
- Video recording of all 10 Checkpoint tracks
Male
Female
The purpose of this Checkpoint is to give you feedback on your voice after you’ve gone through all of “Master Your Voice” Part 1, as well as at least the first three lessons of Part 2. This Checkpoint will give you an analysis of your vocal tone, range, strengths and weaker areas—to help you focus your time and energy most effectively moving forward… and help you play to your strengths!
What to do:
- Submit your AUDIO recording and worksheets from Exercise 1 in Lesson 9 (singing the verse and chorus of “Nothing but the Blood” in multiple keys along with the workout track). Feel free to submit the ones you completed while doing Lesson 9, or re-do the exercise now. Sing in as many keys as you can without hurting or straining your voice, as that will give me as accurate a picture of your vocal range and tone as possible! (Video recordings are fine to submit if that’s what you have!)
- As well, submit a VIDEO recording of yourself singing the whole song, or at least the verse, chorus and bridge of one of the songs from the list below. Choose whatever key you’d like, and feel free to sing a cappella, with a track, or accompany yourself on an instrument. Please briefly introduce yourself at the beginning or end of your song and share why you chose this particular song. Maximum length of song video is 6 minutes long.
Choose from these songs:
- Build My Life (Housefires)
- Cornerstone (Hillsong)
- Do it Again (Elevation)
- Glorious Day (Passion)
- Good Good Father (Housefires)
- Goodness of God (Bethel)
- Graves Into Gardens (Elevation)
- Great Are You Lord (All Sons & Daughters)
- Holy Spirit (Bryan & Katie Torwalt)
- King of Kings (Hillsong)
- King of My Heart (John Mark McMillan)
- Lion and the Lamb (Bethel)
- Living Hope (Phil Wickham)
- Lord I Need You (Matt Maher)
- No Longer Slaves (Bethel)
- O Come to the Altar (Elevation)
- Oceans (Hillsong)
- Raise a Hallelujah (Bethel)
- Reckless Love (Cory Asbury)
- So Will I (100 Billion X) (Hillsong)
- The Blessing (Elevation)
- This is Amazing Grace (Phil Wickham)
- Tremble (Mosaic)
- Way Maker (Leeland)
- What a Beautiful Name (Hillsong)
- Who You Say I Am (Hillsong)
Your submission must include:
- Audio recording of “Nothing but the Blood” (13 min long)
- Photos/scanned pictures of Lesson 9, Exercise #1 – pg 36, 37, or 38 AND pg 39
- Video recording of your choice of worship song from the above list (up to 6 min long) (please note that longer videos, song medleys, audio-only recordings, or videos without a spoken introduction will not be assessed)
Male
Female
The purpose of this Checkpoint is to give you feedback on your voice after you’ve gone through all of “Master Your Voice” Part 1, as well as the majority of “Master Your Voice” Part 2. This Checkpoint will give you an analysis of your overall vocal tone and technique, focusing on the skills/concepts we’ve covered so far: resonance, breathing, range, efficiency with vowels/consonants, power voice, light voice, texture, etc.
What to do:
- Record a video of you singing through ALL of tracks 1-4 in the Checkpoint playlist (exercises are from “Master Your Voice Lesson 3: Resonance Workout”), which will give me a basic idea of how your resonance and technique is going.
- Record a video of you singing ANY THREE scale exercises from tracks 5-17 in the Checkpoint playlist (exercises are from “Master Your Voice” Lessons 12-17), whichever ones you most want my feedback on! You can record them all in one video, or record each exercise in its own video.
- Record a video of you singing the whole song (or at least the verse, chorus and bridge) of one of the songs from the list below. Choose whatever key you’d like, and feel free to sing a cappella, with a track, or accompany yourself on an instrument. Please briefly introduce yourself at the beginning or end of your song and share why you chose this particular song. Maximum length of song video is 6 minutes long.
Important notes:
We have not included the exercise explanations in the Checkpoint playlist, as these exercises are identical to the ones in the various “Master Your Voice” lesson workouts. Make sure to refer to the exercise explanations and follow the instructions as closely as possible before and as you are recording your Checkpoint. That being said, perfection is certainly not the goal here! We’re not expecting you to have mastered the exercises… just that you give us a “real” sampling of where you’re at with your voice so we can give you the best feedback moving forward!
Choose from these songs:
- Build My Life (Housefires)
- Cornerstone (Hillsong)
- Do it Again (Elevation)
- Glorious Day (Passion)
- Good Good Father (Housefires)
- Goodness of God (Bethel)
- Graves Into Gardens (Elevation)
- Great Are You Lord (All Sons & Daughters)
- Holy Spirit (Bryan & Katie Torwalt)
- King of Kings (Hillsong)
- King of My Heart (John Mark McMillan)
- Lion and the Lamb (Bethel)
- Living Hope (Phil Wickham)
- Lord I Need You (Matt Maher)
- No Longer Slaves (Bethel)
- O Come to the Altar (Elevation)
- Oceans (Hillsong)
- Raise a Hallelujah (Bethel)
- Reckless Love (Cory Asbury)
- So Will I (100 Billion X) (Hillsong)
- The Blessing (Elevation)
- This is Amazing Grace (Phil Wickham)
- Tremble (Mosaic)
- Way Maker (Leeland)
- What a Beautiful Name (Hillsong)
- Who You Say I Am (Hillsong)
Your submission must include:
- Video recording of tracks 1-4 in the Checkpoint playlist
- Video recording of your choice of any 3 scale exercises from tracks 5-17 in the Checkpoint playlist (please note that if you submit more than 3 extra exercises, only 3 will be assessed)
- Video recording of your choice of worship song from the above list (up to 6 min long) (please note that longer videos, song medleys, audio-only recordings, or videos without a spoken introduction will not be assessed)
Male
Female
The purpose of this Checkpoint is to give you feedback on your voice after you’ve gone through all of “Master Your Voice” Part 1 and Part 2. This Checkpoint will give you both an analysis of your overall vocal technique and a detailed analysis of a full song of your choice—focusing on the skills/concepts we’ve covered so far: resonance, breathing, range, efficiency with vowels/consonants, power voice, light voice, texture, tone, dynamics, as well as your ability to craft an engaging song journey.
What to do:
- Record a video of you singing through ALL of the tracks in the Checkpoint playlist (exercises are from “Master Your Voice” Lesson 3: Resonance Workout).
- Record a video of you singing through a worship song (choose a song from the list below). Choose whatever key you’d like, and feel free to sing a cappella, with a track, or accompany yourself on an instrument. Please briefly introduce yourself at the beginning or end of your song and share why you chose this particular song. Maximum length of song video is 6 minutes long. Be intentional as you craft your song journey!
- Create a “song journey worksheet”—a simple dot diagram and a written detailed analysis of your song journey, following the guidelines on pg 267 in the lesson notes.
- Answer the questions on pg 270 in the lesson notes.
Important notes:
- We have not included the exercise explanations in the Checkpoint playlist, as these exercises are identical to the “Master Your Voice” Lesson 3 Resonance Workout.
- We have not included as many scales as are in the Resonance Workout tracks, simply because it is only necessary to hear a few scales from each exercise in order to give you feedback. The primary purpose of the exercise portion of this Checkpoint is not to hear your entire range, but to make sure your tone, resonant placement, and overall vocal technique are as efficient as possible.
- Make sure to follow the exercise instructions from the Lesson 3 Resonance Workout and refer to the Resonance lesson notes as closely as possible before and as you are recording your Checkpoint. That being said, perfection is certainly not the goal here! We’re not expecting you to have mastered the exercises… just that you give us a “real” sampling of where you’re at with your voice so we can give you the best feedback moving forward!
- Make sure your song journey is comprised of only one song (no medleys please!) and is no longer than 6 minutes. Do not feel the need to “fill” the 6 minutes—do what is best for the song and the journey, which may be shorter or longer depending on the song and what you desire to create!
Choose from these songs:
- Build My Life (Housefires)
- Cornerstone (Hillsong)
- Do it Again (Elevation)
- Glorious Day (Passion)
- Good Good Father (Housefires)
- Goodness of God (Bethel)
- Graves Into Gardens (Elevation)
- Great Are You Lord (All Sons & Daughters)
- Holy Spirit (Bryan & Katie Torwalt)
- King of Kings (Hillsong)
- King of My Heart (John Mark McMillan)
- Lion and the Lamb (Bethel)
- Living Hope (Phil Wickham)
- Lord I Need You (Matt Maher)
- No Longer Slaves (Bethel)
- O Come to the Altar (Elevation)
- Oceans (Hillsong)
- Raise a Hallelujah (Bethel)
- Reckless Love (Cory Asbury)
- So Will I (100 Billion X) (Hillsong)
- The Blessing (Elevation)
- This is Amazing Grace (Phil Wickham)
- Tremble (Mosaic)
- Way Maker (Leeland)
- What a Beautiful Name (Hillsong)
- Who You Say I Am (Hillsong)
Your submission must include:
- Video recording of all tracks in the Checkpoint playlist (you may record them all in one video, or separate videos for each exercise)
- Video recording of your choice of worship song from the above list (up to 6 min long) (please note that longer videos, song medleys, audio-only recordings, or videos without a spoken introduction will not be assessed)
- A picture/scanned image of your “song journey worksheet”—a simple dot graph and a detailed analysis of your song journey, following the guidelines on pg 267 in the lesson notes
- A picture/scanned image of pg 270 in the lesson notes, with all questions filled out (don’t worry, all of this is private and is for Charmaine’s eyes only!)
Male
Female
The purpose of this Checkpoint is to give you feedback on your voice after you’ve gone through all of “Master Your Voice” Part 1 & 2, as well as at least Lessons 21-24 of Part 3. This Checkpoint will give you an analysis of your vocal tone and technique—with specific emphasis on phrasing, articulation, stylistic nuance, and your overall grasp of the contemporary sound.
What to do:
- Record a video of you singing through ALL of tracks 1-3 in the Checkpoint playlist (exercises are from “Master Your Voice” Lessons 21 and 23).
- Record a video of you singing either Song Application #1 or #2 from “Master Your Voice” Lesson 23 (“I Surrender All” and “Life, Breath, a Song to Sing”), whichever you most want my feedback on. (Choose only one key to record and submit.)
- Record a video of you singing a verse & chorus of your choice of worship song from the list below. Choose whatever key you’d like, and feel free to sing a cappella, with a track, or accompany yourself on an instrument. Please briefly introduce yourself at the beginning or end of your song and share why you chose this particular song. Maximum length of song video is up to 2 minutes long.
Important notes:
We have not included the exercise explanations in the Checkpoint playlist, as these exercises are identical to the ones in the “Master Your Voice” lesson workouts (in this case, lessons 21 & 23). Make sure to refer to the exercise explanations and follow the instructions as closely as possible before and as you are recording your Checkpoint. That being said, perfection is certainly not the goal here! We’re not expecting you to have mastered the exercises… just that you give us a “real” sampling of where you’re at with your voice so we can give you the best feedback moving forward!
Choose from these songs:
- Build My Life (Housefires)
- Cornerstone (Hillsong)
- Do it Again (Elevation)
- Glorious Day (Passion)
- Good Good Father (Housefires)
- Goodness of God (Bethel)
- Graves Into Gardens (Elevation)
- Great Are You Lord (All Sons & Daughters)
- Holy Spirit (Bryan & Katie Torwalt)
- King of Kings (Hillsong)
- King of My Heart (John Mark McMillan)
- Lion and the Lamb (Bethel)
- Living Hope (Phil Wickham)
- Lord I Need You (Matt Maher)
- No Longer Slaves (Bethel)
- O Come to the Altar (Elevation)
- Oceans (Hillsong)
- Raise a Hallelujah (Bethel)
- Reckless Love (Cory Asbury)
- So Will I (100 Billion X) (Hillsong)
- The Blessing (Elevation)
- This is Amazing Grace (Phil Wickham)
- Tremble (Mosaic)
- Way Maker (Leeland)
- What a Beautiful Name (Hillsong)
- Who You Say I Am (Hillsong)
Your submission must include:
- Video recording of tracks 1-3 in the Checkpoint playlist
- Video recording of your choice of Song Application #1 or #2 (in one key)
- Video recording of your choice of worship song from the above list(up to 2 min long) (please note that longer videos, song medleys, audio-only recordings, or videos without a spoken introduction will not be assessed)
Male
Female
The purpose of this Checkpoint is to give you feedback on your voice after you’ve gone through “Master Your Voice” Lessons 1 through 29. This Checkpoint will give you a detailed analysis of your vocal tone and technique—with special attention given to concepts covered in MYV Part 3: phrasing, articulation, stylistic nuance, vibrato, ad libs, and your overall ability to craft an engaging song journey using the stylistic techniques you’ve learned. This Checkpoint will also give you an opportunity to get feedback on specific exercises that you’ve found challenging throughout the course.
What to do:
- Record a video of you singing through “Doxology” from Lesson 29 (using the piano-only track) OR one of the songs from the list below (please sing the whole song, not just a section from it). Choose whatever key you’d like, and feel free to sing a cappella, with a track, or accompany yourself on an instrument. Please briefly introduce yourself at the beginning or end of your song and share why you chose this particular song. Maximum length of song video is 6 minutes long.
- Answer ALL of the questions on pg 229-232 in the lesson notes.
- Record a video of you singing through ALL of the tracks in the Checkpoint playlist (exercises are from “Master Your Voice” Lesson 3: Resonance Workout).
- (Optional) Record videos of you singing up to THREE exercises from the course—choose whichever ones you most want my feedback on! Feel free to use scale and/or song application exercises, but for song application exercises, please choose one key (not multiple keys) to submit. For each exercise, please introduce it in your video—tell me which lesson the exercise is from and why you find it challenging.
Important notes:
- We have not included the exercise explanations in the Checkpoint playlist, as these exercises are identical to the “Master Your Voice” Lesson 3 Resonance Workout.
- We have not included as many scales as are in the Resonance Workout tracks, simply because it is only necessary to hear a few scales from each exercise in order to give you feedback. The primary purpose of the exercise portion of this Checkpoint is not to hear your entire range, but to make sure your tone, resonant placement, and overall vocal technique are as efficient as possible.
- Make sure to follow the exercise instructions from the Lesson 3 Resonance Workout and refer to the Resonance lesson notes as closely as possible before and as you are recording your Checkpoint. That being said, perfection is certainly not the goal here! We’re not expecting you to have mastered the exercises… just that you give us a “real” sampling of where you’re at with your voice so we can give you the best feedback moving forward!
- Make sure your song journey is comprised of only one song (no medleys please!) and is no longer than 6 minutes. Do not feel the need to fill the 6 minutes—do what is best for the song and the journey, which may be shorter or longer depending on the song and what you desire to create!
Choose from these songs:
- Build My Life (Housefires)
- Cornerstone (Hillsong)
- Do it Again (Elevation)
- Glorious Day (Passion)
- Good Good Father (Housefires)
- Goodness of God (Bethel)
- Graves Into Gardens (Elevation)
- Great Are You Lord (All Sons & Daughters)
- Holy Spirit (Bryan & Katie Torwalt)
- King of Kings (Hillsong)
- King of My Heart (John Mark McMillan)
- Lion and the Lamb (Bethel)
- Living Hope (Phil Wickham)
- Lord I Need You (Matt Maher)
- No Longer Slaves (Bethel)
- O Come to the Altar (Elevation)
- Oceans (Hillsong)
- Raise a Hallelujah (Bethel)
- Reckless Love (Cory Asbury)
- So Will I (100 Billion X) (Hillsong)
- The Blessing (Elevation)
- This is Amazing Grace (Phil Wickham)
- Tremble (Mosaic)
- Way Maker (Leeland)
- What a Beautiful Name (Hillsong)
- Who You Say I Am (Hillsong)
Your submission must include:
- Video recording of your choice of worship song from the above list, or “Doxology” from Lesson 29 (up to 6 minutes long) (please note that longer videos, song medleys, audio-only recordings, or videos without a spoken introduction will not be assessed)
- Pictures/scanned images of pgs 229-232 in the lesson notes, with all questions filled out
- Video recording of all tracks in the Checkpoint playlist (you may record them all in one video, or separate videos for each exercise)
- (Optional) Video recordings of up to three tracks from any “Master Your Voice” workouts throughout the course
Male
Female
Step 2: Ask Questions
You may also submit up to a 2-minute video of yourself asking questions and demonstrating specific issues you are having trouble with in the Checkpoint exercises. This is totally optional, but if you do submit this extra video, please keep your questions specifically related to the Checkpoint exercises, and not about worship songs, other lessons, etc.
Please note: Your questions must be in video form, not written in an email. Videos longer than 2 minutes will not be received as part of the Checkpoint, so please respect the time limit! See the FAQs below if you need help!
Step 3: Send Video
Send your video files to us using the link below. Standard video file formats are recommended (MP4, MOV, AVI, etc.). Please make sure you have followed all Checkpoint submission instructions (content, length, video format, etc.) so that your submission can be evaluated without delay. If you need further help, check out the FAQs below!
Step 4: Purchase
$50.00
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely. With personalized feedback from a knowledgeable vocal coach, it’s pretty much guaranteed that you will see faster results in your voice… because the more you do the exercises correctly, the quicker your voice develops the right coordinations, tone, strength, stamina, etc! The Checkpoints are totally optional, so if you don’t have it in the budget, don’t feel badly… just keep going and do the best you can on your own! But we encourage you to be creative with your budget and see this as an investment into your vocal skill and progress, because it will actually become a time-saver for you and will mean that you are able to do more with your voice in a shorter amount of time!
We do require that your submission be in video format. A video recording is important so that we can not only hear your voice, but also see your mouth shape, jaw/tongue/neck placement, any excess tension, etc. All of this will help to give you the best and most useful feedback moving forward! No need for it to be a high-quality video, though… a simple smartphone recording is fine.
As long as you are familiar with the exercises from the related Workout, the Checkpoint should only take you about 10 minutes to complete. We suggest doing a few extra warmups before you begin recording (so that your voice is at its best!), or perhaps even go through each of the Checkpoint exercises once to warm up your voice and familiarize yourself with the tracks.
You will receive written feedback on each of the Checkpoint exercises, detailing what you are doing well, along with specific instructions and recommendations for what you can improve on (tone, mouth shape, tongue placement, relaxation, releasing tension, etc… basically, any tips for making the exercise better and more efficient for your voice!). If you submitted a video with specific questions, Charmaine will also address those.
You will receive your feedback within 14 days of submitting your Checkpoint.
Please understand that (although we would love to be able to give ongoing personalized feedback to every subscriber!) for each Checkpoint submitted, Charmaine generally spends 45-60+ minutes listening to your voice and giving detailed feedback. Personalized time spent assessing your voice is valuable! We love giving you feedback, but we do have to charge to make it worth everyone’s time!
If you have questions unrelated to this Checkpoint, please use one of the following options:
- Questions about course lessons can be asked in the Comments section beneath each lesson.
- For technical/support questions, please email [email protected].
- For questions related to your voice, or to get feedback on a song, please submit an “Analyze My Voice” recording (available for purchase here).
- For a personalized vocal workout and one-on-one vocal diagnosis, inquire about booking a lesson with Charmaine. Please note lesson availability is very limited, depending on the time of year and student capacity.
- If you have worship or worship-team related questions that you would like to get other worship leaders’ advice on, join our private Facebook community and ask your question on the FB wall!
Have no fear, we’ve tried to make this as straightforward as possible.
- On a laptop or desktop computer, once you have recorded your video(s), save those files to your computer. Then, all you need to do is click the “Submit Videos” button and a new page will ask you to locate those files to send to us.
- On a phone, once you click the “Submit Videos” button, you’ll be able to find your videos in your phone camera roll and upload.
- Once the video(s) are finished uploading, the page will confirm that it’s finished. That’s it! The files come straight to us via a secure connection so no one will see it except Charmaine!