How do you make the most out of your practice times?

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Permalink Reply by Julie Halitzka on November 7, 2009 at 8:04pm

Here are a few things that may be helpful:
1) Go in with a plan.
2) Don't feel pressure to run every song from start to finish, hit a few of the harder spots first, then go back and do the entire song once you've worked those out.
3) Send people any new music ahead of time - not everyone will spend time with it, but chances are, some will, which can speed up the learning proccess.

What do you think are your biggest obstacles to being more productive during your practices?

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Permalink Reply by Tina Lundy on November 7, 2009 at 8:56pm

Distractions. I have a lot of people who like to talk, converse waste time. I don't want to be rude but we are there to practice.

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Permalink Reply by bet nich on November 8, 2009 at 12:00am

We may want to be well-liked, but sometimes a worship leader has to be the disciplinarian, the 'bad guy'.

Tell them - "Focus. We are here to prepare to glorify God in our worship. Interruptions and fooling around will just make practice that much longer."

If it is the singers who are messing around while the musicians go over chords and such, tell them to take a 5-minute break. In fact, when learning new songs it may be a good idea to sometimes have a separate 'musicians only rehearsal' for the first 30 min. of practice, then give the band a 5-10 min. break while the singers go over their parts....then have the two groups come together for the last part of practice.

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Permalink Reply by Junjie on November 8, 2009 at 3:45pm

When you get more experienced you can tell what are the areas that the musicians will have trouble. That will focus your practice times even more.

To minimize wasted time, the singers and musicians should work out their parts separately, as Bet Nich advised. Do you have someone to help you run the practice with whatever group you are not working with at that moment? :)

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Permalink Reply by Tina Lundy on November 8, 2009 at 7:21pm

No I don't. I could probably get my keyboard player to work with the musicians while I work with the singers.

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Permalink Reply by Rick Cogbill on November 8, 2009 at 12:23am

Set the tone early with your band, that the evening is a time to work on the songs so that you are ready for Sunday. The visiting can wait until practice is over. It's good to let everyone know (in a nice way) that you want to respect the time people have set aside for music practice, so they need to focus on the reason they are there.

However, that means you have to be ready so that they're not standing around waiting for you (to hand out music, to figure out what you're doing, etc). If there is nothing happening for a few minutes, then it's just human nature to start visiting with your neighbour!

I also agree with the comment about sending out the music ahead of time. I have a webpage set up on the church site that has the music and sound files on it. When I send out the song set list, the band knows they are to go and listen to any songs they aren't familiar with. In my mind, practice night is mainly for working on the arrangement, not for learning the song cold.

Another fun thing to do is pick an upbeat song or chord progression and let the band jam for a few minutes at the beginning. It gets the blood flowing, the fingers limbered up, and generally puts everyone in a good mood! It's also a great time to practice improvising.

At the end of practice we take time to talk for a few minutes and pray for each other.

Hope these suggestions help!

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Permalink Reply by bet nich on November 8, 2009 at 5:28am

Thanks, Rick - good advice!

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Permalink Reply by Tina Lundy on November 8, 2009 at 1:41am

Thanks for the great suggestions. You guys are helping me out a lot!

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Permalink Reply by Freddy Ahn on November 17, 2009 at 6:47am

I normally send out the song list days before our actual rehearsal day. My idea of rehearsal is different practiced parts coming together and fine tuning it.

So at rehearsal, I run through the set once, fixing anything and fine tuning each song.

Then I run through it one more time, only this time, run it straight through and just worship as if it's Sunday worship or Friday worship.

And during that run through, I always try to add in a time of prayer for the team.

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Permalink Reply by Tina Lundy on November 17, 2009 at 2:44pm

That's awesome Freddy. I would love to be able to practice like that. I guess it helps to have people who are dedicated to practice at home. You are truly blessed :)

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Permalink Reply by Naomi Soh on November 17, 2009 at 3:35pm

The First thing i feel is to always commit the time to God in prayer. Gather all your musicians and pray that the Lord will unite the team and just lead the worship. Which is what i always do, before the worship practice starts, its really effective and important.

Secondly, do a rough run through with the team on how the worship is going to flow before you get to the actual practicing.
Thirdly, get the whole team to play through the songs together, going through all the song transitions etc. Wait for the end of the whole run through, or that particular song before you iron out the kinks; such as the vocals or the individual instruments. It also always helps when everyone knows what is going on, and not just the worship leader! =D

God Bless

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Permalink Reply by Junjie on November 19, 2009 at 7:12am

Forgot to mention something: if you are trying something that takes a long time for the musicians and vocalists to catch on, you may have bitten off more than you can chew. If the worship team is having difficulty with something, odds are the congregation is going to be totally lost when you try that during the worship set. :)

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