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Praise band "perils and pitfalls"


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For me it has always been best to not be a part of leadership, but to remain simply a volunteer willing to serve as needed. If I can be a positive resource able to contribute something, great.

 

+1

 

As I stated earlier in the thread, I'm officially one of the "leaders" but only to chose songs and musicians to work with. I don't sing. But I definitely wouldn't want to do that every week. There are other duties in the church that I perform, and and I'm much more comfortable with those. Our pastor recognizes that.

 

Thanks for all the responses as it's been very helpful. This obviously isn't going to be a situation that can easily be fixed, however, I'm hoping by the new year we will be able to set better goals for the future.

 

 

When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray.
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Last year, our pastor scheduled a worship seminar that would have been extremely valuable for all of us, however, the person in charge of leading that event had to cancel. Sadly, the seminar was never rescheduled.

 

This is a case of "it's broke, please how can we fix it?" :(

 

After reading through the thread this morning, I'd push to get this done somehow. It sounds like the pastor recognizes at least some of the issues with the team. Talk to him about giving a seminar another shot.

 

The smoothest teams I've been on have had someone in charge of the whole thing. Sometimes that person has had complete control, sometimes some duties have been delegated to others, but there's some kind of organizational structure. I'd strive for that as one of the goals of your seminar -- along with reminding people that the purpose of a worship team is to praise God, and not have their feelings hurt if their songs aren't selected for the service. I think you mentioned that up there somewhere.

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Matt Redman has written some good books on Worship and the musician. Works like "The Unquenchable Worshipper" are good resources especially for those new to this sort of thing. It helps one get centered around the concept, the heart, the purpose, etc.
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Bob Kauflin has also written a book called Worship Together that I have found really helpful. Good one to get a whole team to read and discuss.
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Pray before you play.

 

I'm told that God helps those who help themselves, so I practice before I play.

J.S. Bach Well Tempered Klavier

The collected works of Scott Joplin

Ray Charles Genius plus Soul

Charlie Parker Omnibook

Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life

Weather Report Mr. Gone

 

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Our house band has a piano role and a keyboard/synth role (two different players). Practiced last week with a larger than normal set for this weeks service with me playing keys/synth.

 

Sounds ranged from percussion stuff on one song; traditional pipe organ on another (abnormal for our typical music); basic pad type synth stuff; orchestral string parts, organ/leslie stuff. None of this is overly tough but was more sound/patch changing than usual and all in a pretty tight set. It's all good.

 

Get a text at 9 PM Saturday night. Piano player is sick. Three of the songs have signature piano intro parts. WL asks "Do you want to play from the keys station or from the piano. I'm going to strike what you're not using." Easy answer. "I'll cover it all from the keys rig." After getting the text, to the piano to make sure I'm good with the necessary piano stuff. Good to go.

 

Now the puzzle begins. I was already playing parts with both hands on most of the songs. "Which keyboard to use for acoustic piano?" "How does that affect what I was already planning to do?" "What part do I leave out?"

 

Show up on Sunday and am told one of the songs (with a signature intro) was changing keys. Nice. :taz: We run the set. A bit stressful for me but it all goes well.

 

Afterwards one of the singers says "I heard the piano but knew Bubba (made up name) was sick. Where you doing piano and key parts?" Me: "Yes." Singer: "Wow, you were rockin'!" :keys2: Me: "This is the only band I've ever been in that had two keyboard players."

 

Was any of this a big deal? No, not really. Yes, I could do it.

 

Church bands.........you gotta be flexible.

 

Incidentally, I did get a "thank you" text from the WL acknowledging the impact saying that I "handled everything masterfully" and that he appreciated how I always keep things flowing. :)

 

 

 

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Pray before you play.

 

I'm told that God helps those who help themselves, so I practice before I play.

 

Apocryphal at best, but consistently God deserves our very best, so we practice to bring our best when it matters most.

 

Perhaps this may be helpful without getting me over the line re: religion in the forum.

 

In any organization or team, it helps for everyone to be measuring success in the same terms. This is easy on a sports team (the score), less so with any kind of music project (personal goals, ego, impress audience, etc.).

 

A useful paradigm I taught for years is the worship triangle. Lots of folks, if pressed, would describe Sunday morning worship as a 3-way activity.

 

1) worship team are the performers

2) congregation is audience

3) God is sort of a cheerleader to make the experience spiritual and transcendent

 

I'd suggest a better understanding might be to "turn" the triangle on its ear as:

 

1) congregation are the performers (offering their worship)

2) God is the audience

3) worship team is sort of a cheerleader to compel, motivate, make it easier for #1 to offer genuine worship

 

If everyone on the worship team understood their role on the team as #3 in the latter model (rather than as performers in the former model), at least everyone is trying to accomplish the same purpose and goals - and measuring progress and success in the same terms.

 

Maybe that's helpful, maybe that's not, maybe db deems this posts crosses the line.

 

Anyway, my 0.02.

 

Tim

..
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Church bands.........you gotta be flexible.

 

 

 

I hear you BIF. I cover piano from my keys three, maybe four times a year. Changing the key of a song, changing songs and even adding extra parts to a song on the fly seems normal to me now.

 

Tim. Thanks for your post. I like your triangle paradigm. ~BOB

I'm practicing so that people can maybe go "wow" at an imaginary gig I'll never play. -Nadroj
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Changing the key of a song, changing songs and even adding extra parts to a song on the fly seems normal to me now.

 

That happens once in awhile at our church as well... you get used to it. :)

 

Tim. Thanks for your post. I like your triangle paradigm. ~BOB

 

:thu:

When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray.
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Our house band has a piano role and a keyboard/synth role (two different players). Practiced last week with a larger than normal set for this weeks service with me playing keys/synth.

 

Sounds ranged from percussion stuff on one song; traditional pipe organ on another (abnormal for our typical music); basic pad type synth stuff; orchestral string parts, organ/leslie stuff. None of this is overly tough but was more sound/patch changing than usual and all in a pretty tight set. It's all good.

 

Get a text at 9 PM Saturday night. Piano player is sick. Three of the songs have signature piano intro parts. WL asks "Do you want to play from the keys station or from the piano. I'm going to strike what you're not using." Easy answer. "I'll cover it all from the keys rig." After getting the text, to the piano to make sure I'm good with the necessary piano stuff. Good to go.

 

Now the puzzle begins. I was already playing parts with both hands on most of the songs. "Which keyboard to use for acoustic piano?" "How does that affect what I was already planning to do?" "What part do I leave out?"

 

Show up on Sunday and am told one of the songs (with a signature intro) was changing keys. Nice. :taz: We run the set. A bit stressful for me but it all goes well.

 

Afterwards one of the singers says "I heard the piano but knew Bubba (made up name) was sick. Where you doing piano and key parts?" Me: "Yes." Singer: "Wow, you were rockin'!" :keys2: Me: "This is the only band I've ever been in that had two keyboard players."

 

Was any of this a big deal? No, not really. Yes, I could do it.

 

Church bands.........you gotta be flexible.

 

Incidentally, I did get a "thank you" text from the WL acknowledging the impact saying that I "handled everything masterfully" and that he appreciated how I always keep things flowing. :)

 

 

An anxious KC awaits ... transpose button? Retune? Wing it live on the fly?
The baiting I do is purely for entertainment value. Please feel free to ignore it.
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An anxious KC awaits ... transpose button? Retune? Wing it live on the fly?

 

Transpose?? No, that would have been one more thing to keep up with.

 

Winged it, baby!! :keynana:

 

 

 

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I'm a religious person. I lean towards Baptist but not currently a member of any church. I've visited too many churches that were more entertainment and almost nothing on teaching of Scripture. Large P&W groups just bore me - that kind of music is just not for me, I prefer playing more progressive and aggressive stuff instead of the infinite refrains. P&W is OK, but not at the expense of Scripture teaching which is why I attend church.
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  • 3 years later...

At my church we have had issues with getting players that can handle it. We have a few, but most of them cannot play that often. So, we will have bass players that are completely new to the instrument. Right now, one of the best we have is our Pastor.

 

We have a few guitar players that are competent, and well as a couple drummers.

 

Keys, well, that is another story. We have one lady that plays most services, who is also the Worship Leader's assistant. She plays OK, but because she has no real world experience, there's no real feeling in the playing. The Worship leader is a good piano player, but he is always up front leading the singers and congregation.

 

The only time that there is really any musical spark is when I am at the keys. While I'm no reader, I bring 40+ years of real world experience, and insist on playing the acoustic grand. But, due to my gig schedule, I can only play once every couple months.

 

The praise band could be better, but the WL concentrates on the singers, and not so much what is behind them. He is quite busy, though. He's a music teacher at a private school by day, and he is also very involved with the local community theater. He was the Musical Director for a recent performance of Rogers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella".

 

 

"In the beginning, Adam had the blues, 'cause he was lonesome.

So God helped him and created woman.

 

Now everybody's got the blues."

 

Willie Dixon

 

 

 

 

 

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The church I worked at had an incredible band of musicians revolving musicians depending on their outside work commitments and also making sure they all get a chance to play regularly. All the players were pro R&B, Funk, and Jazz musicians as well as the Choir Director was a Jazz singer and keyboardist in her past. The band and choir was a big part of the churches popularity as well as the Rev's message.

 

We had acoustic piano on the stage and digital workstation in the band box. There were about five pianists in the regular rotation not counting the choir director who sang and played at every service. The band all had amazing ears and good sight reader with an occasional exception whose ears more that made up for not reading. The band for most part never rehearsed they would show up to service about 45 minutes early and do a quick soundcheck would run down whatever tunes the guest artist of the service. Sometimes the guest was ill prepared and the band would go to a back room with a piano and talk down the tunes before their part of service started (our service started with a meditation so gave time to talk down the tunes). For special events they would do a rehearsal if a lot of guest artists. The band had a lot of fans in the church and after services would usually have a jam many of the congregation would hang out for.

 

The church I was a member of before the one I worked at was a huge church two to three thousand people at a Sunday service. Like many Black churches the Bishop started in the music ministry and understand the importance of music in the service and that it has is telling a message to the congregation as much as the preaching is. There was one week the congregation was so moved and into the music the Bishop just let it continued and the service ended up being two hours of music and no lesson from the Bishop. A number of services I attended the P&W would get extended, the value of having a Bishop that was a music director for the church before becoming a minister. The church had two sometimes three keyboardists plus rhythm section, a large choir. They had a weekly choir rehearsal that occasionally the band would join the rehearsal. Most weeks the band would would just do a sound check because they rarely had a guest artist at service.

 

The church I worked at was looking into expanding it's PA and those of us on the media audio team were invited to tour the Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral. Quite an interesting setup most of which is underground beneight the Crystal Cathedral. The band is in a studio underground with video feed to the MD. Their is a mixing room with separate production booth for both audio and video producers/director to sit together and so they can watch and talk as service goes on. Quite an impressive computer and storage system for capturing the services. A big as it was under the church their post production facilities was in another building a couple blocks away, we ran out of time and didn't get to tour that location, plus is was more for video editing than audio. Crystal Cathedral had quite a huge production facility and tight schedule to get the services captured, edited, and prepared for distribution in to multiple countries around the world.

 

A whole lot involved in church music these days even small churches. Issues in small churches everyone thinks they are in charge and want to tell everyone else what to do.

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We are blessed with an astonishing salaried worship leader who also leads the traditional service. He's way better than me on keys, so I play bass. One of our three singers is a really gifted guitar player. We have been playing together for eight years, have a large repertoire and typically break in one new song every Sunday. Our sound system is all Bose and we play through the house so there's no time wasted trying to get a good mix.It's great to come to practice with the music all selected and everybody on the same page. Major challenges have been: (1) When we first began a number of parishioners viewed us as playing "the devil's music." They left, but there are still a number of folks who keep urging us to turn down. (2) We've had a difficult time attracting and keeping drummers. One of our goals was to involve younger church members and visitors in the service. Unfortunately, they didn't have the chops or the inclination, so we are left with a bunch of grizzled rock veterans in our 60s and 70s. Oh well.

 

My church praise band situation is somewhat similar to esfusion"s. Our church of approx. 600 members has a paid part Contemporary Music Director. She plays bass and sings. She also selects all the songs, leads rehearsals and places all music and rehearsal dates, team member assignments on Planning Center. We have built a large repertoire of songs over the years. All musicians and singers on the praise team are volunteers, except her. She bases her song selections on the Pastor"s message, theme, for that weekend. The praise team has seasoned musicians and singers (like me) but also less experienced ( and less talented) members. We also have a hard time finding drummers ( for some reason). We have a person play a Cajon in place of drums sometimes and that really helps keep an adequate beat. We play contemporary Christian music, adding a new song every few weeks.

 

I , just like another forum member mentioned, also almost posted on this subject a few weeks ago. My subject was going to be regarding how much to 'coach' one of the less experienced, less talented praise team members. Even though we have our part time, paid Contemporary Music Director leading rehearsal, I sometimes find myself correcting incorrect harmonies being sung by one or two of the other singers. Our music director either doesn"t hear the incorrect harmony, or, more likely, is overlooking it for the sake of keeping the praise team a welcoming place to (almost) all who have a desire to serve on the team. This latest incident took place during our Christmas service rehearsal. I don"t have to tell this forum how important the Christmas service is for a church and I felt I needed to speak up to correct this vocalist"s harmony notes. I felt the Contemporary Music Director should have, but she didn"t. The vocalist became embarrassed ( I think she was already having a bad day) and left the rehearsal. I felt bad about it. I plan to discuss this with our CMD next rehearsal. Yes, I can tend to be a perfectionist. No, I don"t have an abundance of patience. Yes, I pray about it.

 

 

 

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1) congregation are the performers (offering their worship)

2) God is the audience

3) worship team is sort of a cheerleader to compel, motivate, make it easier for #1 to offer genuine worship

 

Tim

 

We have a similar concept but we distilled it down (Probably stole it from somewhere) to "We are not Worship Leaders, we are Lead Worshippers" Also we ask people in the worship team to be fully present and leading worship in the congregation even when they're not rota-ed on to play that Sunday.

 

Also regarding the couple who are amateur guitar players, maybe ask the church to pay for them to have lessons. Our church have paid our leaders who were better instrumentalists than singers to have singing lessons. Also we've had people who lead worship who are not even musical. They lead the song choice and the meeting but didn't sing great or play. They were great leaders of worship though.

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Also regarding the couple who are amateur guitar players, maybe ask the church to pay for them to have lessons.

 

If you are referring to my original post, that couple only plays once a month now as they have a new baby. Not sure if they will continue leading next year.

 

 

 

 

When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray.
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Also regarding the couple who are amateur guitar players, maybe ask the church to pay for them to have lessons.

 

If you are referring to my original post, that couple only plays once a month now as they have a new baby. Not sure if they will continue leading next year.

 

 

 

Get the baby some lessons!

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