Music/Worship Leaders
 

A few questions for music/worship leaders:

• How many here are music/worship leaders for your church?
• How many are in the band and praise team?
• What style of music or which artists do you use?
• How do you conduct practices? Split with band and singers separate or combined?
• What do you struggle with the most?

To begin:
There are 4 band members (keys, drums, bass, guitar) and 5 singers.

We vary in style and artists, from Chris Tomlin, Hillsong and Planetshakers to Israel, Donnie McClurkin and Fred Hammond.

Our practices at this time are combined. I've had split practices in the past for new songs, then a combined practice at the end - and I like that. But unfortunately where I'm currently at, most of the songs are either lower or higher than the original version, which means the singers aren't able to sing with the cd while the musicians practice.

A friend has a home studio and found a way to take the original cd and change keys without distorting the sound or tempo - hopefully that will work.

The thing(s) we struggle with the most are:
Transitions during the worship service. Moving from one song to another has been difficult for the band and singers. Most of the time, I like transitioning without a delay, but it seems there's always a pause as the band gets their music ready, the keyboard player transposes if needed. It's definitely something to work on.

Songs. It seems we're recycling the same songs every couple weeks, over and over again. There are 3 songs I would love to retire and never do again - they've been played out, and I really don't like the chorus': Friend of God, I Know Who I Am and Trading My Sorrows. The verses are cool, nice groove, but the chorus' are ridiculously repetitive.

Anyone else?

Re: Music/Worship Leaders
 

I play guitar in our worship band and sing some. When our youth band plays or we are out at other churches I co-lead. I would recommend getting Paul Balouche's worship band instructional DVDs. They are very helpful and teach things like flowing and transitioning between songs and playing with others.

I am not sure your experience level but usually it is not technical ability that most bands suffer with but with learning how to play together and as a team. The truth is that it doesn't take a lot of talent to be a pretty good band as long as folks stick to the basics. Good intros, transitions, and overall tightness of the band will allow the congregation to relax.

One thing that we need to get better at is our music interludes. If I do a guitar solo I want to at least have a basic plan ahead of time so that we sound professional. At our old UPC church there was a lot of that but we didn't have good intros then.

Our band usually receives the songs through email and we practice separately and then come together with the vocals for practice.

There are times when we have to work the music out but our band leaders usually have the music worked out ahead of time so if their are any questions we can usually take care of it with the vocalist there. We have lead sheets because we don't spend a lot of time practicing and we have a book that we keep all our music in. Our band leaders are very organized so they keep my book for me and add songs as needed.

Our service starts at 10:30 so the band tries to practice from about 9:40 to 10:15. If we learn new songs sometimes we will practice on a friday night or after Wednesday night bible study.

We have been playing together for two years and those first few months were rough because as a new church we didn't have our set list well developed. Now we can choose from many different songs.

We do a lot of the same music you do, usually the top songs by Tomlin, Israel, Planetshakers, and several from Paul Balouche. We don't do much black gospel or pentecostal style music because we are mostly rockers but we do a few every now and then.

Our keyboard player/worship leader is a member here. I will let him know about this thread.

Overall, I think our band is pretty good and I am not embarrassed when we play out. We are all experienced musicians. Our drummer and bass player are asked frequently to help other church groups at times because of their experience and they are both in their early 20s. Of course every baptist church has like 25 guitarist so they never need me so I don't get asked that much. Our keyboardist rocks out on the organ in a very rock/bluesy way.

Re: Music/Worship Leaders
 

As a former sound guy, I can answer this question for some worship leaders: the sound guy! :toofunny

Re: Music/Worship Leaders
 

A good soundman is huge. To have someone who you trust to mix well takes a lot off the band. We have had our soundman for a long time and he understands the whole scope of things. From having an inexperienced singer ask for more monitor or the pastor claiming that it isn't loud enough, a good soundman has to be able to read people and understand what they are trying to say and not necessarily what they are saying. A good soundman can also help when a singer or musician is having a bad day and just turn them down.

How many times have we set a monitor unpluged on the stage or got some new toy that wasn't even plugged up yet it fooled someone into saying how awesome the new equipment was sounding. We have a rule at our church, people listen with their eyes and if they see a change they will also hear a change.

Re: Music/Worship Leaders
 

I wasn't that good. ;)

Re: Music/Worship Leaders
 

Shame Shame no country gospel in the mix.What you don't do The Great Speckled Bird shame shame.

Re: Music/Worship Leaders
 

Now if you guys learn this number ,you'll really be playing some great music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2BrwgvqGA8

Re: Music/Worship Leaders
 

:lol

It is true that the worship team needs a good sound tech. Bad leveling, tone mixes, etc can have a negative effect on the worship service.

A little over a month ago, we were in the middle of worship and I don't generally like to talk or disrupt the flow, but I felt something to say, so I had the band keep playing low and I was talking my heart out to the people there, and saw NO response. It felt horrible. I thought I felt the word needed to be said, but there was no response.

After service several people came up to me and said, bro you looked like you were really into what you were saying, but we could barely hear you and couldn't understand a word you were saying ...

Re: Music/Worship Leaders
 

Oh, the power in the hands of the sound guy! Too bad he used it for evil, instead of good. :toofunny

Re: Music/Worship Leaders
 

Thanks for the input. The band has played together less than a year, so they're still learning. It's sounding a lot better ... just need to work on transitions.

My wife and I have a 2 month old girl, and since she's been born it's been hard for me to adapt my schedule with her ... consequently, I've been behind in getting set lists out to the band and singers. My beautiful baby girl has definitely changed things!