Jump to content


Please note: You can easily log in to MPN using your Facebook account!

Slightly OT: Difficult decision


Synthoid

Recommended Posts

I've been a member of the worship team at church for over 5 years now, and have experienced a great deal of frustration lately.

 

The worship leader at our church is paid, but the rest of the band are volunteers. Some of us are 20+ years older than he is and have more experience, but our suggestions are often passed over, including: adding new songs or creating fresh arrangements for existing ones. We'd enjoy playing at events outside the church, but despite the fact we've vocalized that request, it's often squelched for no good reason. In the last year we've only played out once.

 

Also, our stage monitors need repair/replacement and the sanctuary needs acoustic treatment--issues we've discussed--but so far, nothing has been done.

 

Right now I'm feeling it's time to "jump ship," but would appreciate input from others with similar experiences.

 

 

When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray.
Link to comment
Share on other sites



  • Replies 11
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Time for a band meeting. Circulate the questions/issues first (email is good for that), then gather round a table, really or virtually. These all sound like issues that could be discussed rationally, and I bet you could come to decisions that would improve the situation.

 

Larry.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Write up your concerns in a nonjudgmental and nonthreatening manner as a 'direction I'd like to see us go' and have it signed by others with the same point of view. Get someone to read it first before passing it around to make sure it's a simple request without attitude or tone.

 

Include some general suggestions for handling the time and expense of upgrades and bookings.

 

 

The decision to escalate is really up to you if the response is negative. Include the relevant decision makers upstream if not resolved favorably and you have support.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I played in several worship groups at my church (I quit a few years ago...)

 

When it comes to equipment like monitors and doing things like acoustic treatment, is there a special fund for stuff like that?

 

Sometimes our music program would receive donations (anonymous or otherwise), and we would put it toward stuff like that.

 

Is there someone in the group who could be designated to go find prices, negotiate deals at local stores, etc for things like monitors? Maybe to get things going a little bit?

 

Otherwise, like any other church, I suppose, money is always an issue, so sometimes equipment purchases get put on the back burner, because of the lack of funds.

 

I quit for a few reasons...

 

I got tired of one of the pastors (an old-school guy, nothing wrong with that...) always mandating that our contemporary groups play at least one traditional hymn during the service. Sorry, they sound good on the Ahlborn-Galanti, not with a 7-piece contemporary band of volunteer musicians/singers. It's not that I don't like hymns; I just think that they should be played on the organ.

 

I would joke with our worship leader that the organist (extremely talented, btw) should play at least one contemporary song on the organ, if we're required to play hymns!

 

Along with the hymn requirement, he "suggested" that we tone down our songs, i.e. not so much "rock and roll". So the music got more and more boring over time.

 

Another reason I quit is that the church added a fourth service on Sunday mornings, which means that the services were all closer together timewise, so I had very limited time to schlep all my gear in and set it up before our service started. (We had a shared space, so I usually couldn't set my gear up in advance; that, and I played in my cover band the night before.

 

So, with the extra service added, each service was shortened to 50 minutes, and of course the number of songs we played was cut.

 

So, in the end, it wasn't worth me lugging my gear, rushing to set it up, only to play 2 or 3 songs, a hymn, and be done. I had to stop.

 

I did tell the worship leader, though, that if the church bought a Hammond or a clone, and a basic synth, I'd continue playing. Well, that never happened...

 

In the end, though, if the powers that be are stubborn (as in my case), some things won't change, and you'll continue to be frustrated.

 

I still wouldn't mind finding another church to play in someday; it can be very enjoyable. I've more or less left this church anyway...

Stuff and things.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

When it comes to equipment like monitors and doing things like acoustic treatment, is there a special fund for stuff like that?

 

Yes, I was told we have a budgeted amount for sound gear.

 

Is there someone in the group who could be designated to go find prices, negotiate deals at local stores, etc for things like monitors? Maybe to get things going a little bit?

 

I already set the wheels in motion. We have a Bose line array system at our church and one of the stage monitors (on the wall) has started to rattle. I contacted Bose and was given a toll-free number for service that I passed along to our worship leader.

 

I got tired of one of the pastors (an old-school guy, nothing wrong with that...) always mandating that our contemporary groups play at least one traditional hymn during the service. Sorry, they sound good on the Ahlborn-Galanti, not with a 7-piece contemporary band of volunteer musicians/singers.

 

We usually play one or two hymns each week as well. Sometimes we'll spice them up a little, but we played 4 hymns last Sunday... too many.

 

In the end, though, if the powers that be are stubborn (as in my case), some things won't change, and you'll continue to be frustrated.

 

That has been my concern, as the acoustic panel issue has been addressed several times, yet no progress has been made. I've finally given up asking if we could play out more often.

 

Our bass player (a good friend of mine) had a long talk with our worship leader last month and I was praying for a few changes, but... :(

 

 

When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've never participated in the music at my church for many of these reasons. Basically, I don't want o get in the middle of it and get frustrated - I'd rather just worship. I DO sit in at my buddy's church from time to time as a favor, and enjoy it. But I have no commitment and have no horse in the race there.

 

In a worship environment, usually you're stuck with what you've got, which is often not acceptable to a pro or semi-pro player. It is what it is. All the musicians may be unhappy, but if the congregation is happy, then nothing's going to change...and why should it?

 

My advice: speak your mind, but if it doesn't fly, accept it and be happy with it. If you can't be happy with it, don't do it. If you jump ship, you'll land someplace where you're unhappy with something else.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've found the way around equipment issues is just to purchase new stuff yourself if you can afford it. The thing about songs and arrangements is another matter. We don't have a problem with that at our church, we're always looking for new songs and arrangements. But like someone else stated, start a discussion via your worship team email list, get a lot of it hashed out, so when you do meet to discuss it in person you arrive at an answer quickly.
Estonia 190, Korg TrinityPlus, Yamaha P90, Roland PK-5a
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Be careful about doing a lot of this discussion via email. You don't want the Worship Leader to feel ganged up on and be naturally defensive. I'd go for asking the guy if you can meet for coffee some morning and have a friendly conversation. Try to get his perspective on things. There's A LOT that one has to deal with, with churches. Budget struggles, other commitments. If he's on staff, he's probably got a very full plate & may spend much of his time putting out fires. If you learn that this is the case, it might put you in a better position to be able to help.

 

Money for equipment is almost always scarce, just as is available time. Now, if he's not utilizing people that want to help to make things better, he's foolish. I'm the Music Director for my church's contemporary worship program & I thrive at having people wanting to help. From his perspective though, it's a fine line between people who genuinely want to help to improve the program and people who want to make things better for their own needs. So be careful & mindful about how & what you approach him with. Make sure everything you offer is something that will serve the "body" as opposed to serving yourself. No accusation intended, merely trying to get you to look at the other side of the equation.

Custom Music, Audio Post Production, Location Audio

www.gmma.biz

https://www.facebook.com/gmmamusic/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Were it me, I'd just try to accept the circumstances. Devote some time (& prayer) as to whether it is time to move on - do not do anything that will make you quit the church - unless you want to. New ministers are a big change and I have found that people in this situation hate change - even good change. Maybe you should start your own praise band and play out yourself?
"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What mcgoo & daviel said.

 

Also depending on church structure - my wife and I are in the praise band of a Baptist church - we are now also on the Music Committee - which gives us more opportunity to help SET policy instead of just reacting to policy.

 

Otherwise - depends on your reason for being there. We are there because we feel that is where we are supposed to be. So, we deal with things. Example: it took a year and a half - but we got it to the point that the choir uses the band instead of canned music. There is an annual associational choir sing - the past several years, we have carried the band. This year the pastor decided he doesn't want the extra hassle, so we will be singing (yes, drafted in to singing - I usually play but don't sing) with canned music. Live music to me was a KEY thing - that set up apart from all the other churches in the association. However, it isn't about ME, so I'm going to be singing for that one event instead of playing. I've already orchestrated chord charts for the band for the songs - when we do them at the home church, won't be using no steeenken CDs!

 

In most cases, things CAN be worked out.

Howard Grand|Hamm SK1-73|Kurz PC2|PC2X|PC3|PC3X|PC361; QSC K10's

HP DAW|Epi Les Paul & LP 5-str bass|iPad mini2

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Jim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...