WORSHIP LEADER SIGNALS TO TEAM

[jodiejojo]

Would like to know if there are any signals that are easy to use to inform the worship team of changing songs, or repeating tags at the end of a song, or to cut out the music (sing acapalla) and other signals that would help keep the flow going smoothly? Thank you in advance for any help on this. jodiejojo

[Bill H.]

I'm just starting to do this. It's an interesting contrast to say the least to get in from a bar at 3:30 and play praise music at the church at 9.

 

For us it works pretty much like it does in bars and clubs. We have a good idea of where things will proceed, and where things might get extended, and in those places we keep an eye on the praise leader for a head shake (stay put) or nod (onward).

 

Some bands will use finger counts with the music having a one, two, or three next to each section on the page and the leader discreetly giving a signal wigh the hand on a leg, but we haven't found that necessary.

 

For the largest megachurch groups everything is choreographed down to the last detail in advance, I've heard.

[bluesdisciple]

Practice, practice, practice. As you all know, a very tight band can instinctively tell what the lead singer or other instrumentalists are going to do either by feeling it in the music or through a mere meeting of the eyes. Practice the songs that may go long so that everyone knows to pay double attention during certain parts.

 

When I was in a P/W band, we played songs the same way from beginning to end all the time...not much variation to lead folks to worship through music, but the music was very good. In my present Christian rock band, we designate a few songs that lend themselves to extending through testimony or "preaching" and we know what the parts of the songs are and keep in constant visual contact during those parts. I think you're drummer is the key person at times like these as he is the one who will kick the beat back in, do a roll or whatever to transition back to the rest of the song and so on. Keep your eyes on the drummer.

 

The key is to designate which songs will be flexible and which parts and to practice them repeatedly. Think like a jam band like the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers or Widespread Panic. You can't necessarily practice the inspiration and the moving of the Spirit, but you can practice flexibility.

 

That being said, I assume you are talking about a well-practiced serious Praise band, not the kind that exist at places around here where the band learns the song halfway decent and goes out to perform it thinking "God will get us through it." I have seen this a few times where the leader is shouting out the chords to people, or the band stops and then restarts, or worse and it sounds like a train wreck. Our band's philosophy with regard to performance and practice is that God gave His best to us, why should we knowingly give any less of ourselves to Him.

 

Hope this helps,

 

BD

[Byrdman]

The point is to be able to improvise as a choir.

 

I've done a little of this up at the Blues Workshops in Port Townsend. Some things the choir leaders did there were to use a small set of easy to see hand signals (remember in a large choir some people will have difficulty seeing) plus a set of phrases that the lead can sing that either have standard responses or else signal a transition (like back to the chorus for example)

 

 

The key is to practice following the lead, of course.

[dp2]

Originally posted by bluesdisciple:

Practice, practice, practice. As you all know, a very tight band can instinctively tell what the lead singer or other instrumentalists are going to do either by feeling it in the music or through a mere meeting of the eyes. Practice the songs that may go long so that everyone knows to pay double attention during certain parts.

 

When I was in a P/W band, we played songs the same way from beginning to end all the time...not much variation to lead folks to worship through music, but the music was very good. In my present Christian rock band, we designate a few songs that lend themselves to extending through testimony or "preaching" and we know what the parts of the songs are and keep in constant visual contact during those parts. I think you're drummer is the key person at times like these as he is the one who will kick the beat back in, do a roll or whatever to transition back to the rest of the song and so on. Keep your eyes on the drummer.

 

The key is to designate which songs will be flexible and which parts and to practice them repeatedly. Think like a jam band like the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers or Widespread Panic. You can't necessarily practice the inspiration and the moving of the Spirit, but you can practice flexibility.

 

That being said, I assume you are talking about a well-practiced serious Praise band, not the kind that exist at places around here where the band learns the song halfway decent and goes out to perform it thinking "God will get us through it." I have seen this a few times where the leader is shouting out the chords to people, or the band stops and then restarts, or worse and it sounds like a train wreck. Our band's philosophy with regard to performance and practice is that God gave His best to us, why should we knowingly give any less of ourselves to Him.

 

Hope this helps,

 

BD

Amen! While I believe that God will get us through it, I also recognize that the Lord commanded a few of His disciples to roll away the stone, before He raised Lazarus.

 

Stated another way, I believe that every member on a praise team needs to strive for excellence in performing both individually and corporately.

 

Part of that practice--at least corporately--will involve the following: listening to one another, learning to make adjustments on the fly, directing everyone to keep all eyes on the leader (to watch for any changes), etc.

 

You can come up with a list non-verbal gestures and a few licks or phrases (that you practice in all 12 keys) to trigger various changes.

[AUSSIEKEYS]

interesting

 

i remember an interdenominational band prepared for an important christian festival...the band leader/worship leader had planned a variety of signs with his hands to be read as he faced in front of the band,as the festival was a relaxed affair it was changes to verse,chorus, etc that these signs made changes to.

 

Well at the last minute the leader was taken ill,and a standin was quickly found from the catholic congregation.He was unaware of the signals the previous leader had for the band.

 

Well the catholic bandleader walks to the front of the band and instantly makes the "sign of the cross" in front of his body...

 

Well that was it within seconds the band started, but all members started on the wrong foot...

 

you see each could not decide from his "sign of the cross" whether they were to start on the intro,the chorus,the verse or what.

 

It was rather amusing :

[jsaras]

I've been fortunate to play with Tommy Walker at Christian Assembly for a number of years. One thing that I've observed is that being a good worship leader is very similar to being a good aerobics class instructor. You have to forecast where you are going so as to allow the rest of the group to follow you. The cues can be verbal (singing or saying the first couple of words of the section that you want to go to) or a physical or musical gesture.

[Reverend Rhythm]

Well I can tell you one thing! No Worship Band appreciates any hand signal involving raising only the middle finger!

 

Wow! I didn't think they'd be that sensitive!

 

And I don't even want to talk about what they wanted to do with my keyboard!

 

 

[Bobadohshe]

Originally posted by jsaras:

I've been fortunate to play with Tommy Walker at Christian Assembly for a number of years.

jsaras, do you know Michael Alvarado the guitar player? I play with him on a church gig in L.A. also.

 

A strong leader should be able to lead the band wherever he or she wants it to go. This is especially true if he or she is also playing an instrument. You will hear a lot of worship leaders cue the next part of the song by quickly singing the first line of the next section. Kirk Franklin, the dudes at Lakewood; a ton of people do that. The audience thinks it's for their benefit which it is, but it also is a leaders way of telling the band where to go.

 

Having said that, here are a great set of signals that I have seen work in different groups.

 

One finger behind the back: go back to verse 1

Two fingers behind the back: move on to verse 2

Index finger gesturing forward: go to the next part, whatever it is. The chorus, the bridge. Just don't repeat the part you're in.

Index finger or whole hand moving around in circles: Take the chorus or whatever section you're in again. This is ususally at the height of some intense religious frenzy when everyone is feeling it and you want to extend that.

Three fingers behind the back: Tag the end 3 times. Don't worry, you won't confuse this with take 'verse 3', because you'll only see this at the end of the tune when things are winding down.

 

Hope this helps!

[Eric Iverson]

I've never been in a P&W band where any complicated set of hand signals was necessary. We knew each other and could communicate pretty easily.

 

One band leader used to give me the thumbs up, not to indicate to me that I was playing magnificently, but to remind me that a modulation was right around the corner.

 

Then in another church, the main problem was communicating with the sound crew in the English service. Nice people, but not overly gifted... they'd turn mikes off on singers and the sax player on a fairly regular basis, etc, and never could be made to understand "balanced sound" as in "everybody should be clearly heard". They even managed to destroy equipment on occasion, though I was safe enough - I never let them touch my guitar or amp, or even get close. There wasn't much point in hand signals. Maybe smoke signals, if they managed to burn up something!

 

The current coffeehouse band I'm in is composed of experienced people and we communicate fine just by hearing the music and eye contact 99% of the time, and we set up the sound ourselves. The guy at the board at the actual performance would only have to turn something up or down if we asked him to, and doesn't seem to have any destructive tendencies.

[Hammodel AV]

Have toncur with the practice suggestion, as my 'regular' gig is church worship team. The weeks where we don't practice mid-week and only practice Sunday morning are the weeks where we are most likely to mess up a song transition, closing or starting of a song. I have also observed 'spirit-filled' worship teams, and I would attribute the ability to play well in a free-form time (like during prayer) to team closeness.

[Hammodel AV]

Have to concur with the practice suggestion, as my 'regular' gig is church worship team. The weeks where we don't practice mid-week and only practice Sunday morning are the weeks where we are most likely to mess up a song transition, closing or starting of a song. I have also observed 'spirit-filled' worship teams, and I would attribute the ability to play well in a free-form time (like during prayer) to team closeness.

[Eric Iverson]

It's great when you can get in that practice time. Even songs you've played a lot of times, you can forget, and if there's a particular arrangement, it's great to all learn it together. Good musicians can hear it even without practice if the whole band suddenly stops or modulates, but still it's not as pristine as it could be.

 

Ideally, it's nice to get there early and run through a couple of things, take care of any snags and just get warmed up.. have time to set sound levels, go the bathroom, go get a cup of coffee etc.

Then when the service starts you've dotted the i's and crossed the t's, or vice versa, I forget which....

 

Sometimes it's not available though. (Snafus can happen even in the best of places...)

[jsaras]

Originally posted by Bobadohshe:

jsaras, do you know Michael Alvarado the guitar player? I play with him on a church gig in L.A. also.

Yes. I think he'll be coming over here pretty soon to record some more guitar tracks for a friend's project. If you see him, tell him Jonas says hi.

[Bobadohshe]

and if YOU see him, tell him Bobby from Fellowship of the South Bay in Lomita says hi!!

[Tusker]

Originally posted by Bobadohshe:

Having said that, here are a great set of signals that I have seen work in different groups.

 

One finger behind the back: go back to verse 1

Two fingers behind the back: move on to verse 2

Index finger gesturing forward: go to the next part, whatever it is. The chorus, the bridge. Just don't repeat the part you're in.

Index finger or whole hand moving around in circles: Take the chorus or whatever section you're in again. This is ususally at the height of some intense religious frenzy when everyone is feeling it and you want to extend that.

Three fingers behind the back: Tag the end 3 times. Don't worry, you won't confuse this with take 'verse 3', because you'll only see this at the end of the tune when things are winding down.

 

 

Thank you. Very useful discussion. I've worked with some worship leaders who use an instrument to foreshadow where they are going (if the bridge is in Am in a C major tune, you'll hear a g# as you finish the previous section). I like the idea of hand signals, because it reduces this kind of sonic distraction.

 

Jerry