Worship group practices

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Rick Cogbill on February 22, 2009 at 12:48am

Wow, sounds strange to me...if they know all the songs well enough already, does that mean you aren't doing any new songs? Surely the team could at least be learning some new stuff during these sessions, and then still have time for fellowship.

I've never come to the place where I felt my team didn't ever have to practice, and I've worked with both kinds of teams - strong and weak. Sure, maybe we could skip a well-known song during practice (other than to 'talk it through' so that we knew what to expect) so that we could spend time on the newer songs that we hadn't nailed yet. But I guess I'm always looking at new songs for the team, so there was never a time when we "knew them all."

If your team is so good, how about taking some time to write your own music? It stretches the group, and your congregation will benefit from having a "home-grown" song.

Hope things resolve themselves soon...I'd be concerned if it continued too long this way, for the reasons already mentioned.

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Permalink Reply by Junjie on February 22, 2009 at 1:30am

Fellowship, chat and prayer? Well, the prayer part sounds good. If you are not adding new songs, as Rick suggests, then take things up a notch further. Bible study. Take everyone through the book of Psalms as a team.

I have mixed feelings about not practicing that much. On one hand, worship music isn't that difficult, and if you practice too much you face the temptation of adding in more stuff that would entertain the musicians and distract the congregation. On the flip side, practice times are great for building the unity within the team, so you can 'read' each other better when unexpected things happen.

But if you are not the team leader I don't think your voice will count for much in this. So you might want to just suggest the Bible study and see how it goes. Warning: The leader might say "Jane, that's a GREAT idea! Totally Fantastic! We'll put YOU in charge!" Now that might be a little inconvenient... :)

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Permalink Reply by Amy Dare on February 22, 2009 at 4:21am

We were approaching the same feeling...like we didn't need weekly rehearsals, because we had our repertoire down pretty well. The catch: 3 new singers, who knew most of the songs, but not all. SO...I decided that all the advice I'd heard at worship conferences about how our repertoire should be limited to 30 or so songs was not going to fit us, and started adding in some "old" songs, and new ones. We have more than enough to practice, now.
I've notice that when we have had to cancel practice for whatever reason, even though we felt we knew the songs well, Sunday mornings were rough...we ended up feeling like we were stumbling through our songs, and it was a distraction to worship.

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Permalink Reply by Rick Cogbill on February 22, 2009 at 5:17am

I heard of a church in England that won't sing any songs older than one year. I guess their target group is such that this is something that works for them - I don't think it would in our church! But the 30 song thing...that's a new one for me; I've never heard that rule before.

I tend to teach a new song (new to us) about once a month. Maybe that seems like a lot, but would you want the same sermon illustrations used over and over?

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Permalink Reply by Jane Robinson on February 22, 2009 at 9:24am

Thanks for the comments so far - we do introduce new songs but quite often its a case of giving them a 5 minute bash through, on the basis that we can 'go through' the song again pre-service on a Sunday (when our time is actually far more taken up with working with the PA team on sound issues so its usually a 5 minute blast through the song again).

I think the end result leans towards mediocrity and, as I don't think many of the musicians practice at home, I can't see how we can ever really develop/grow in our musicianship. There is a real heart for worship in the group, but this - as mega-important as it is - is causing us to remain on the plateau we have found ourselves on. I suspect that there are people within our group who are not as confident as the other musicians, and who need time to go through songs properly so that they can feel comfortable with them (which I believe will, in turn, enable them to worship during the playing of that song as they are not stressing about what chord comes next)! However,k there are so many confident musicians in the group, they perhaps feel a little guilty about asking us to practice a song properly.

I guess what I need is some sort of strategy as the worship team leader is very much on the side of not practising. I do write songs and will suggest introducing some, or perhaps tackling a new arrangement for a song which, if I am introducing it, I can take a lead on in terms of working through the song with the band.

However, it seems that this is still somehow avoiding the big issue so I guess I may have an uncomfortable conversation coming up! I'd really appreciate your prayers.

Jane

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Permalink Reply by Junjie on February 22, 2009 at 3:48pm

Based on what you say I think it's take to go all the way and take the most drastic step - record the worship and play it back during the next rehearsal. Be warned, you may not have any friends left after that... :)

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Permalink Reply by Jane Robinson on February 22, 2009 at 4:53pm

Hey CS - that rings so many bells with me!! I've been at this church for over 15 years and have been in that 'troublemaker' place before. Its very sad when that desire to be the best we can for God gets mis-labelled as causing trouble.... I've toyed with changing churches of late but God has definitely told me to stay where I am for the time being - I'm juts hoping that it doesn't come to a trainwreck!
Junjie - thanks for the idea - our services are already recorded and I might well take up that idea as I suspect it will shock a few people.
Jane =)

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Permalink Reply by Rick Cogbill on February 22, 2009 at 7:40pm

"I suspect that there are people within our group who are not as confident as the other musicians, and who need time to go through songs properly so that they can feel comfortable with them (which I believe will, in turn, enable them to worship during the playing of that song as they are not stressing about what chord comes next)! "

Jane, if others are being affected by this, then you might consider making the bold step of breaching the topic with the group and/or worship leader. You could do it a couple of ways.

First you could meet with others who feel the same way and clarify your concerns and then approach the worship leader as a group so that he knows it's not just you (the "troublemaker"!! just kidding:)) But there is a danger in this approach. If not handled correctly, it can be seen as an "us vs them" situation, and the leader might think you're spreading discord behind the scenes in secret meetings, etc. You can see where this would go.

Perhaps a better way, though more risky for you personally, is to just humbly bring it up at one of your sharing times. Make it non-threatening and don't let it be a personal thing aimed at the worship leader. You could say, "I don't know if it's just me, but I'm finding that because we don't practice our songs, I'm just not ready on Sunday morning. This makes it hard for me to freely enter into worship, since I'm worried about how my part in the song will go. Does anyone else feel that way?"

Hopefully it will be enough to make a difference. If not, then you'll need to decide if you can live with it (and maybe practice on your own time) or if you need to make room for someone else who is okay with this approach.

My prayers are with you.

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Permalink Reply by David Smith on March 8, 2009 at 6:41am

This might sound a bit harsh, but I take Psalm 33:3 seriously. On my team, if you don't rehearse...you don't play...period.

Smitty

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Permalink Reply by Jane Robinson on March 8, 2009 at 8:21am

If were in charge of the group, I think this would have been in place ... many other churches have the same view, and its a little disheartening! Unfortunately ... or not ..., we have now also been told that the band's set-up (which has been put together so that we all have a line of sight and can communicate mid-song if needs be) has to be changed, with a number of musicians having to stand behind others. When this point was put to the leaders, they said that the band should know their songs well enough to be able to play without having to watch others! On one side, I agree that this might encourage the band to learn songs more thoroughly, which is good, but it will be very hard to then communicate that the end of a song will need to be extended, or that we are repeating a chorus ... which seems to me to detract totally from any spontaneity or moving of the Spirit. One step forward ... two steps back ...

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Permalink Reply by Rick Cogbill on March 9, 2009 at 2:37am

Jane, having just finished a Sunday service, I recall specifically moving my bass player slightly over during practice so the pianist could see me. I don't care how good you are, you need to be able to follow cues from the leader...even for something as basic as counting in the song.

Unfortunately it sounds like corporate decisions are being made and handed down without inviting feedback from the rank and file. It's a common mistake that leadership makes, and I've seen it tear apart many ministries. The sad part is, there' s not much you can do about it. You'll have to work hard at not having a bitter spirit over this and the other things that are no doubt coming down the pipe.

I know others here talk about hanging in and never giving up, etc. but I also know from life's experience that sometimes God uses difficult circumstances to initiate a change. Could that be what is happening with you? I'm not recommending it, but if you have to leave something, it's better to do it on a good note rather than a sour one.

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Permalink Reply by Junjie on March 9, 2009 at 2:26pm

I am not too concerned about the positioning of the musicians, Because if there are any spontaneous changes to be made, the worship leader WILL have to cue the congregation anyway. So it shouldn't be a problem for the musicians to pick up that cue and play accordingly. :) And if the worship leader isn't cuing the congregation, whether the band gets it is a moot issue.

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