Tag Archives: worship team

Worship Training

Posted on by
1

We’re all born with every skill we will ever need imprinted in our DNA to be called upon at any moment from our endless knowledge database with all the muscle memory to perform said skill at the level of a virtuoso.

…right?

No, I guess not.

In which case an opportunity to learn new skills and be given the tools to develop and grow is something we should jump on, especially as musicians.  And that’s exactly what our worship teams did this past weekend.

I’ve run a few worship team training events and they’re a little different every time.  I feel like this past Saturday was our best yet.  Here’s a rundown of how it went.

I planned it as a 2 hour event (the poster above is a lie).  I figured if we keep it short we’ll have an easier time getting them out to the event and keep them engaged throughout.

There was candy (everyone loves candy) and coffee as people arrived.  We started off with 10 minutes of chatting about stuff that had to do with everyone, some reminders on in ear monitors, reminders about being on time for rehearsal, small stuff like that.

From there we transitioned into an instructional video on stage presence put together by Gateway Worship.  It’s a fantastic video and if you’re looking for something to help teach this important concept to your teams I would highly recommend it.  You can find it here.

The next hour and a half was devoted to individual instrument instruction.  Since I’ve been involved in the Worship Victoria project I’ve gotten to know some incredible musicians from other churches.  I made some phone calls, sent some emails, and asked some of those individuals to come and do some instruction time with our players.  For a few honorarium dollars I had a room full of some of the best musicians in our city ready to spend an intensive hour and a half with our team to help give them some new tools in their tool box.

Leading up to the event I had given the instructors some ideas about what they could spend time focusing on with their instrumentalists.  Every section had different needs.  We covered off electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, vocals, audio, drums, and piano.  They all had a pack of 6 chord charts with a CD of those songs in matching keys to use if they needed some examples.

The sessions were a huge success.  The place was buzzing after the hour and a half and I received a lot of positive feedback from members of the team.

That’s it.  Not really a magic formula but if you’re looking for somewhere to start with your next training event maybe this will point you in the right direction.

My humble advice?

1. If you choose the instructors route then get musicians your players will look up to and respect, not to mention make sure they’re good teachers.

2. Plan something for the whole group.  The stage presence video applied to everyone, not just vocalists and so everyone was engaged with it.

3. Give them something they can put to use right away.  Teach them something new, but make sure you don’t go too far past their capabilities or they might just get discouraged.

4. Have fun.  This is an awesome community building opportunity.  Laugh lots.

Practice Strategy #3

Posted on by
Reply

This is post #3 from a short series on practicing which was originally inspired by this post.

For this series I’ve asked 4 members from our worship teams to write about their own personal practice strategies they use to help them prepare for Sundays. This is going to be some helpful stuff for worship leaders and musicians alike.

enjoy!

_____________________

Chris Boudreau - Electric Guitar

Occupation: Network Analyst, Musician

Years on Worship Team: 15 years

Favourite Band: David Gilmour

 

Hi everyone !

My name is Chris and I am blessed to be involved with the worship ministry at SBC over the last 5 years; my musical background started about 20 years ago, first with trombone then guitar and other instruments.

Well, my routine is quite similar to Troy’s but also a little different too..

As soon as I have the set list, I create a playlist of the songs in iTunes and sync it to my iPhone. Then, I sit down and listen to all the songs in order and just listen to what each song is about, and figure out the basic song structure and progression. After the initial listen, I will follow along with the chord charts while listening and figure out where my parts will come in for each song. When that’s done, my next step is to figure out what I don’t need to play in order to set aside space for the other instruments in the mix.

Once I know what I don’t need to play, I focus in on my parts and learn them as recorded. I will also figure out an alternate part that compliments what was played on the recording. I like to do this for several reasons, but mostly to prepare for the “what if we try this” scenario at practice. For instance, if we decide to start the song off with a short instrumental, or if Caleb asks me to add lib a short instrumental part later in the song; this lets me build on the original melody if needed or just add some different colour to the existing parts.

Going with the format that Troy used on his fantastic post, here are my top 5 tips or observations I’ve learned:

1.) 15-20 minutes a day everyday is the best approach to become comfortable with the material. You are spending 15-20 minutes everyday practicing something on your instrument right ???

2.) Don’t just learn the song, learn the style, the keys, scales and musical influences the song is crafted upon; jam along with the recordings and improvise to find out what works and more importantly what doesn’t work. Spend some time playing each song in different positions on the fingerboard, different pickups, different effects to find what would work best. Experimentation can really help get the creative juices flowing.

3.) Practice your playing and the techniques you are learning with the guitar “unplugged” from your effects and amp; working on your fingering and picking techniques with your guitar all by itself, will help you get a better and more consistent tone down the road.

4.) Keep your instrument well maintained and setup to sound it’s best – you can learn to do the majority of guitar setup work yourself with just a few basic everyday tools and pretty easy to follow instructions; there are dozens of really great tutorials up on Youtube that walk you through the basic stuff.

5.) Most importantly, spend time in the word and in prayer, prepare your heart for service and worship, and remember that we have been blessed with these gifts to be used by God for His glory.

_________________________

How about you? What are some of the things you do in your practice time? Share your ideas.

Thank You

Posted on by
3

This won’t be one of those “popular” posts.  This won’t be something that people get excited about, or convicted about, or inspired by.

But it matters A LOT

Thank You

Thank you to the Dads who take time away from their families mid-week to come to practice.  Who stay up late playing guitar and listening to the practice tracks on headphones.  Who wake up early on a Sunday and miss what might be their only sleep-in opportunity of the week.

Thank you to the students who really don’t have time for worship team, but do it anyway because they love to serve.  To the vocalists who sing alone in the car practicing for Sunday on the way to school.  To the guitar players and drummers who are always pursuing ways to improve their skills.  To the keys players who serve humbly, holding the band together but never asking for the spotlight.

Thank you to the moms who leave their kids at home with dad for the night or the morning, knowing that when they get home they are probably further behind on their to-do list for the week.  Thank you to the empty nesters who have served faithfully for years.  We need you.

Thank you to the sound techs who are the first ones in and the last ones out.  Who have the most important and most thankless job next to the preacher every Sunday.  Thank you to the media operators who are way overqualified to follow a script and click a mouse, but do it because they are projecting words of truth for hundreds of people to engage with and respond to.  Thanks to the camera operators, what you do is important even when you don’t see it.

I know that it’s not always easy.  I know that your families and spouses need you.  I know that you have responsibilities.  I know that life can be crazy.

And so Thank you for serving

Thank you for giving your best

Thank you for your faithfulness to this ministry

Thank you for loving Jesus

Practice Strategy #2

Posted on by
2

This is post #2 from a short series on practicing which was originally inspired by this post.

For this series I’ve asked 4 members from our worship teams to write about their own personal practice strategies they use to help them prepare for Sundays. This is going to be some helpful stuff for worship leaders and musicians alike.

enjoy!

_____________________

Tiffany Anderson - vocalist

Occupation: Student (Teaching)

Years On Worship Team: 7 and a half-ish

Favourite Band: Coldplay (until Christmas music kicked in)

 

On my most organized of weeks I like to create a playlist on iTunes of the songs from planning center, because that way I can put them on repeat and whether I’m focusing on them directly or they’re in the background I’m becoming familiar with the parts.

At least once during the week I sit down and sing through each song a couple times, trying to listen to the different harmonies (and the melody) to find a comfortable part (and a backup if there’s another vocalist).

It’s when songs are in a different key that the challenge appears!  But, like you said in your blog, by practicing we can adapt easier to last minute changes because we have a more solid foundation than we otherwise would.

I think that’s basically it!  Nothing too fancy, just listening to songs over and over and singing to the parts, trying to pick out different ones or add in a new one I don’t hear being sung.  I don’t do this every week, even though I should, I always feel more prepared when I have gone through this routine.

_________________________

How about you? What are some of the things you do in your practice time? Share your ideas.

Practice Strategy #1

Posted on by
6

This is post #1 from a short series on practicing which was originally inspired by this post.

For this series I’ve asked 4 members from our worship teams to write about their own personal practice strategies they use to help them prepare for Sundays. This is going to be some helpful stuff for worship leaders and musicians alike.

enjoy!

_________________

Troy Haws – electric guitar, drums, worship leader

Occupation: Student / Musician

Years on worship Team: 8 years-ish

Favorite Band: …right now…Chet Baker (Jazz Trumpet and crooner)

How do I practice for Sunday? I’ve mainly played drums on a Sunday – what I’ll do there is learn the beats for the song or the general feel; figure out the dynamics of the song and any extra parts I can add and then play some beats and exercises with a metronome to keep my time up.

Guitar is similar: for learning the songs, I’ll listen to it, figure out the arrangement, figure out the dynamics of the song and grab the guitar parts. Then I’ll jam along to the track until I have the parts I want figured out. Then I’ll change things if I have time to make it my own by changing the riffs but keeping with the dynamic feel of the song and in the same style.

If I’m leading worship, I’ll spend more time looking at the message of each song and praying about song choices.

Over the last few years I have basically been trying to figure out the most effective way to practice and how to get things down. Here are a few things I’ve learned:

  1. 15 minutes of concentrated, planned out practice can yield better results than an hour of distracted practice! So take that time to do the hard stuff for a time and then feel good afterwards about accomplishing something.
  2. Learn from the original, then ditch it if possible. You want to gain the ability to make up your own stuff. Try to analyze what is happening in your part, then slowly diverge from it, while keeping the general idea.
  3. Play along with records. Its the best substitute for a live band. Try to learn what they’re doing and then play something similar.
  4. Make music at all times.; even practicing. Find a way to be creative in your practicing (e.g different rhythms for scale patterns) and you’ll always be making music when put on the spot.
  5. 15 minutes of playing on your instrument is better than nothing… just pick it up if you don’t have a lot of time. At least you’ll keep your fingers moving.

_________________________

How about you? What are some of the things you do in your practice time? Share your ideas.