Man of Depravity - Tyler Braun's posts on Church Ministry, Worship, Seminary, and Theology.

Music in Church

2008 June 09

by Tyler

Sunday afternoon we had a band workshop for the worship team musicians. We watched some of the LeadWorship Band Workshop put together by Paul Baloche, then Jill and I shared some thoughts, and then we had a great discussion about how to play music in church effectively. After we watched the dvd, here was one of the things I touched on:

Simplicity.

The music of Coldplay and Death Cab for Cutie are great examples of modern music that is both electric guitar and piano driven, and also music that thrives on space. Only during the biggest parts of each song is each instrument playing. They both do a near perfect job of playing around one another. I think their music is a good reflection for how we can be effective as a worship band as well. Often the sheet music does a great job of showing you where your part begins and ends. But the ability to be a thinking, feeling, musician takes more than just reading sheet music.

Worship bands at many churches ruin the atmosphere of a time of musical worship by overplaying. I don’t think it is necessarily lack of skill or lack of passion. It is simply lack of preparation and listening. Lack of preparation makes you feel like you need to play more because you aren’t sure of when not to play. Lack of listening to the other players puts you in the situation of being unable to know where the band is going with a song.

How to learn to be simplistic:

Listen to the music several times before you play to pick out your key role in each song.
Play with the cd for a bit, and then turn off the cd and play with a metronome.
During rehearsal, play with everyone. The eye contact will allow you to see when a song is taking off and coming down.

I know a lot of musical people read this blog…

What is the one piece of advice you would give a worship band?

Filed under: the rest... Tags: worship

http://www.ash-nits.blogspot.com ash

You mentioned space…..let there be space in the music. Worship leaders fill it with words, stop/change chords, go to the next one…play the music for awhile and let the people’s prayers be the words, let them form the words from their hearts and minds. Lead in with the song, yes, give it structure: but leave the space…don’t be in a rush to do a certain NUMBER of songs in the time alotted.
http://www.amoslanka.com amoslanka

1. Ditch the chimes. And for that matter, the vast majority of the drums. Go with a 3 or 4 peice kit. And don’t use any additional “percussion” things like chimes or cowbells or etc. They only distract. Nothing is more distracting to me than a drummer who runs his drumstick down the chimes every time the mood of a song slows down. Go with a small kit so that excited, performance minded drummers won’t be tempted to “rock the house” at every chance to get. All you really really need is a kick, snare, hihat and symbol. My opinion, anyway.

2. Electric guitarist- learn how to tone. If you’re in a church that is ok with distortion, that doesn’t mean you should play fuzz. Be tasteful. In the recording industry they often cut the gain in half to start with. It may sound particularly clean to you, but noone wants to hear your buzz-sawed Ibanez. And for those super clean players- the twangers, don’t be afraid to muddy your sound a bit. Doesn’t have to be a ton, just don’t be opposed to it. After all, we’re not here and worshipping to hear your choice of tones and be all impressed at your picking ability, we’re here to worship.

3. Extra singers – There’s always 1 or 3 or 10 extra singers on stage with a mic. In my opinion, they’re unneeded and distracting. Often they look either too into it or not enough. I’d strongly prefer to be led by one single well spoken worship leader who also happens to be playing a guitar or piano. My two cents.
http://ash-nits.blogspot.com ash

tyler/amos-
The extra singers I think it can go either way. Depending on the size of the church- a choir can be a beautiful addition. I was in choirs all through hs and the sound- the beautiful harmonies that can come out it can really add to the worship in the room.
Wayne

Invite your sound guys to things like this. They are another member of your band . Seriously, if they have a better of what you are trying to do, they can do a better job for you. Your band may understand your vision, but if your sound guy is not on the same page, things may not come out like you want.

- One of your sound guys
http://manofdepravity.com Tyler

I tend to agree with Ash, Amos. I think if you are going for a really modern sound then yeah you probably don’t want as many vocals, but in a more traditional service I think you need more vocals but it is a more vocally driven style.
http://manofdepravity.com Tyler

Thanks for your thoughts Wayne. I totally agree with you. It is the sound crew that take the sound being given and make it nice to listen to. I totally appreciate what you and the rest of the sound team do at Sunset. Thanks.
http://www.aworshipfulheart.typepad.com Jan Owen

Two pieces of advice – is that allowed? (I am a worship leader!)
1) For goodness sake – and all of ours – look up and watch the leader, the other band members and FEEL the piece of music. We are producing it together, even with the congregation, so enter into it in community. Don’t play in your own little world. Enjoy doing this together.

2) Worship God. Practice enough that this is easy for you to do. You will lead more through your own engagement with God than in any other way, but you will distract people if you haven’t prepared in order to be able to do this.
http://manofdepravity.com Tyler

i totally agree with your 2 pieces of advice jan. thanks for your thoughts as a fellow worship leader.
Yonas

My comments to worship band:

1. Don’t look too much at the music…eye contact with each other.
2. Listen to what others are playing.
3. More is NOT necessarily better.
4. Louder is NOT necessarily better.

I know that Sunset is REALLY blessed to have an awesome group of talented musicians. Dare I say, many play at the skill level of people in Paul Baloche’s DVD. The question is not the skills, it’s your mindset and how you connect with your band member.

Also to add Wayne’s comment- vocalists need to watch this too…not just the worship band.

So much more to say, but..it’s getting pretty late, and I’m getting pretty scared up here…somebody please get me a sturdier soapbox next time

Yonas
http://manofdepravity.com Tyler

thanks for the thoughts yonas. soapboxes are awesome!