Wouldn’t it be nice to sit down for coffee with Matt Redman?
Grab a bite to eat with Joel Houston, Israel Houghton, or Darlene Zchsech? Having the opportunity to pick their brains about worship over a nice dark roast would be so helpful, right?
That isn’t always possible. But that’s how I feel when I sit down to read Advice for the Modern Worship Musician by Jayme Lewis.
Well thought out, engaging, useful advice for anyone involved in the art and ministry of worship music. It’s a small book, but a book packed cover to cover with useful tips for you and your team members to discuss together.
(Matter of fact, Jayme has agreed to give away two copies to two people who leave a comment on this post.)
But before I talk more about the book, imagine something with me.
How to [Not] Go Pro: A Musician Story
Imagine…you had reached the pinnacle of personal musical achievement. You were just about to graduate from a prestigious music school.
Your understanding of music theory was fully refined. Your chops on numerous instruments were top notch. Your bass playing, in particular, was ready for professional work. The world was now yours for the taking.
Matter of fact, you were then contacted by a big name producer in the industry who wanted to hire you for a project. “Here it is!” you say. “The beginning of my career in music is about to take off!”
This is wonderful, except for the fact that you get fired. The producer deemed you “not good enough” and moved on.
Devastating, right? Well this is the story of Jayme Lewis, author of Advice for the Modern Worship Musician. Jayme is a Los Angeles bass player, producer, author, and educator.
I want to an overview of the book because I believe this to be a fantastic resource for your team (notice I don’t recommend products all that often here on the blog. Only ones I really believe in).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEC0tyxxMRc&feature=youtu.be
An Overview of the Book
As a worship pastor, I’m always looking for resources that I can use to help my team. Resources that are practical, helpful, and sensitive to the struggles we face as local church worship pastors.
This, my friends, is a tremendous resource. My father in law, also a worship pastor, was over the other day and picked up the book from our side table. After a few minutes, he said “I need to get these for my musicians.”
Here’s a list of what the book covers:
- Knowing your role as a musician
- How to move your worship songs forward
- Playing as an ensemble
- Serving the song
- Comfort and confidence as a musician
- Appropriate stage presence
- Practice tips
- Music theory essentials (and how to apply it)
- Playing for an audience of one
As a leader of worship teams for years, I can say without reservation that this book will help your team. It’s not a book about rocking out or learning how to play the riffs from your favorite songs.
It goes deeper. It’s about being a smarter musician. It’s about serving your congregation well in worship. It’s about doing what the pros do.
My only complaint is that I noticed a couple typos in the text. A small criticism for such a massive resource.
Where Can You Get It? [Plus a Giveaway]
There are a few places you can pick up the book.
- modernworshipmusician.com (official book website)
- iTunes
- Barnes & Noble
And if you have any questions, Jayme and myself will hang around in the comments section to answer and discuss. Matter of fact, Jayme will be giving away two FREE copies to two commenters here. Simply answer the question below and you’ll be eligible to win!
As always, thanks for reading for allowing me to bring you great resources such as this.
Question: What is a musician tip you had to learn the hard way? What is your best advice as a worship musician? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
Thanks David for sharing this resource. It sounds great! Just ordered a copy for myself and plan on ordering copies for the whole team if its as worthwhile as it sounds.
There’s definitely a need for just good, solid, practical advice about being a worship musician. I’d love learn about any other good resources too!
Thanks so much Travis! I’ll be sending you two copies actually, since you were the first one to comment 🙂 Thanks so much for your support and I truly hope that this book will bless your worship team as much as it has blessed ours! Let me know if you’re interested in ordering multiple copies for the whole team as well, because I do offer a group rate for worship ministries. Thanks again!!!
Jayme – I didn’t realize you were going to give them away for the first two commenters 🙂 What if we gave away two more in addition to these you already mentioned. We’ll announce them in a couple days. That way more people can have a chance. What do you say, friends?
I love it!
Hey Dave, I’d like a copy for correctly answering the progression question in key of E, at arts gallery 🙂 what say you?
We can make that happen!
Thanks Travis! I think this book will serve you well.
The more musicians that are on the platform, the less each one has to play.
My best advice would be to never push your congregation to the place YOU want to go. You should lead them where God wants them to go.
“The more musicians that are on the platform, the less each one has to play.” I LOVE THIS! Man, I wish more people that I played with understood this phrase! Solid Gold Brandon! Really, it comes back to my days of orchestral playing in college where I’d be sitting around counting to 4 for 85 measures of rest haha. Most people just don’t realize that playing nothing is still playing something, and if it’s appropriate then it’s the “right” thing to do. That’s essentially the type of stuff this book covers and I love that you’re already on the right page! Take care and God bless!
haha and I totally forgot to let you know that you’ll be receiving a free copy since you’re the second one to post a comment!
David as always, I’m so grateful for your leadership as a pastor, mentor and friend.
I’ve probably learned many things the hard way, but one I’ve learned as a musician is that even though I think I KNOW a song, that’s no reason to not take a few minutes to practice & review songs. It’s good to feel confident, but if you don’t take time to review, you might just find yourself in an awkward moment during full band rehearsal.
David, I appreciate you my friend! I agree – the longer you’re a musician (especially if you’re the best in your circle) the more of a tendency you have to fake it. The pros make charts and know their stuff inside and out!
Thanks for recommending this book. It sounds like a great resource. I’ve learned a lot of things the hard way as a worship leader but one that always surfaces again and again is the importance of communication among musicians. This is especially important as the worship leader. There have been numerous occasions where I thought it was obvious the direction I was leading a song only to hear my band members going in a different direction.
My best advice as a worship musician, is to never cease growing and stretching yourself musically. It will keep you engaged and impact the quality of your musicianship and what you bring to worship.
Hi Corey – that’s fantastic advice and is exactly the reason why I put this book together. There’s just so much that goes unsaid between a worship pastor and his team or amongst the individual players themselves. And it’s SO IMPORTANT that each member of the team is reading off the “same page,” so to speak. I wanted to give worship leaders a way to draw a line, or set a standard, or use a common language to communicate with everyone on the team. There’s even a church out here that has made it required reading for anyone who came onboard the worship ministry. Thanks for sharing!!!!
This seems like an interesting book. I might just have to pick it up. Thanks for posting this!
Thank you Jeremey! I’m glad you’re interested! Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have, either directly here or via email. I’d love to connect with you and help in any way that I can. Thanks and God bless!!!
Playing AND singing is harder than I realized…..memorizing is the only way for me to freely worship. I don’t want to be a distraction by constantly looking down at music (we don’t have the gift of screens in the back). We are a new church plant, so our worship team and style is not fully developed….this book would be a great gift for our volunteers!
I agree Becky, one of the hardest things I’ve yet to achieve is to comfortably sing and play bass at the same time, not only because I’m a rough vocalist but also because I JUST ALWAYS FORGET THE WORDS!!!!! But I absolutely hate the distraction of a music stand on stage, not only when I’m playing but also when I’m watching from the audience. When you’re glued to the page you’re disconnected from the congregation, and I think the best way to show everyone that you “mean it” is to know it. I totally agree with you that memorization is the only way for me to freely worship, and it also encourages the congregation to do so. Let me know if you’re interested in ordering multiple copies for the whole team as well, because I do offer a group rate for worship ministries. Thanks so much for reaching out and please let me know if there’s anything you need help with. Take care and God bless!!!
Really appreciate the broad range of topics you cover, David. Thanks for the heads-up on a helpful resource for worship teams. Latest lesson learned is more technical than spiritual…walk in humility and start the song over again in the RIGHT key 🙂 Was leading a Will Reagan song, ‘Set a Fire’, and started it way too high for my church to sing. This time I tried to get it back to the right place in the moment and it ended up being, uhh, an interesting transition. Be humble. Stop the song. Start in the right place and continue the worship journey.
Hi Jess – It’s even better when the worship leader puts his capo in the wrong place, so 1/5 of the band is a half step off, and then he tries to sing in the key the rest of the band is playing while the rest of the band tries to switch to the key that he’s capoed in… Ahhh, good times… Thanks for sharing! Take care and God bless!!!
It happens to all of us, Jess 🙂 Haha – one time we launched a song with a loop, got off tempo, and decided to stop and start over. Talk about embarrassing!
I’m always on the lookout for resources that can help our worship team move forward together and this may just be the next thing! Thanks for putting out material like this that will help growth on worship teams from any size.
Thanks Armando, that’s the exact reason that I authored this book; I wanted to give worship leaders a way to set a standard for their team, or to establish a common language that everyone understood. There’s even a church out here that has made it required reading for anyone who comes onboard the worship ministry. Let me know if you’re interested in ordering multiple copies for the whole team as well, because I do offer a group rate for worship ministries. Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have, either directly here or via email. I’d love to connect with you and help in any way that I can. Thanks and God bless!!!
Something I learned the hard way was that congregations learn songs way slower than musicians, and also don’t get tired of them nearly as fast. It’s fun to do new songs every week, but not always helpful.
This book seems perfect for us to go through as a team. Looking to establish good habits as a new church plant.
Hi Jonathan, you’re absolutely right! It’s hard, but as worship leaders we have to find a medium between keeping it fresh and keeping it familiar, and it is a fine line indeed! I’m glad you’re interested in the book, a let me know if you’re interested in ordering multiple copies for the whole team as well, because I do offer a group rate for worship ministries. And please feel free to ask me any questions you may have, either directly here or via email. I’d love to connect with you and help in any way that I can. Thanks Jonathan and God bless!!!
Modify your style of playing to compliment the band that is currently in place and to line up with the current style of the church.
I went from gigging out playing bossa nova and playing drums at a church that was starting to do gospel stuff while I was in highschool to playing in a church that was, at the time, mostly playing worship choruses from the beginning of the contemporary worship movement (this was my first year of college). At first I was planning on bringing in the flair from what I was doing before into what I was doing now in a calculated way. But then, during a conversation with my dad I said “you know what? I’ve never done this style of music before. I’m going to try to play it the way they envision it, and not bring in these outside influences.” I’m not sure I did a great job at it (since it was outside of my comfort zone), but I surely did try. And learned a lesson in the process. It’s not only okay, it is desireable that you have your own musical flavor when you play with a band. However, musicians are there to bring to life the vision of their band leaders. As a drummer, I not only had to simplify, but also I had to focus on where I was on the beat. Meaning, does this band play dead on the beat, ahead of the beat or behind the beat. Is the band laid back in sound or is it very precise-like. Very dynamic or more steady in volume. I started listening to the original recordings and was paying attention to the approach of their drummers. I realized that my style of drumming will come out no matter what since I’m the one drumming. However, it served the band and the congregation a lot more when I molded to be more like them when ministering to them.
It was a rewarding endeavor. I went from arrogantly thinking that they should probably update their repertoire to enjoing playing with them to the point where I spent a good portion of my summer playing with them instead of going home for summer break. I stayed at the worship pastor’s house.
That’s so awesome Ramon! I always tell students that the best way to learn new things is to listen and practice styles of music you don’t listen to and/or don’t understand (which is really the reason most people choose to not “like” a style of music). We grow more when we step out of that comfort zone, and I love playing in ensembles that are COMPLETELY different from the way that I interpret music. It’s both fun AND rewarding at the same time, and is certainly the first thing I ask myself when stepping into a worship team, “How do I need to adapt in order to fit in?” It’s certainly not, “What cool thing can I do to make this cool?” I love referring to the recordings as well, because those players aren’t ME; they don’t think like me, they don’t play like me, and there’s a TON of information to learn. I love seeing that other people, especially in the realm of worship music, understand this too!!! Thanks for reaching out Ramon and God bless!!
Wow! I am super excited for this. I am making plans to get it ASAP! Much needed for our team! Thank You!
Thanks Chris – I’m glad that you’re interested in checking it out! Please let me know if there’s anything you need, and please feel free to ask me any questions you may have (either directly here or via email). I’d love to connect with you and help in any way that I can! And Let me know if you’re interested in ordering multiple copies for the whole team as well, because I do offer a group rate for worship ministries.Thanks Jonathan and God bless!!!
So sorry! I was mixed up on which comment I was replying to haha!!! You’re Chris, not Jonathan 😉
Great review! Thanks for posting it! I’ve been following Jamie through his podcast and twitter for a while now. I’ve just recently learned about this book, however. I too play bass on my worship arts team so I’ll definitely be picking this up ASAP!
Thanks Scott, glad to see ya here!
One of the hardest lessons I have learned as a Lead Worshipper is that not everyone on my team is at the same place that I am in preparation for worship. Not everyone thinks like I do. Not everyone is at the same place in their worship— do they get beyond the music stuff like “are we repeating the chorus or going back to the verse?” and truly sing or play to the King of kings. I have learned to try to give them the tools that they need to get beyond the music stuff and worship.
Definitely Doug! Some of my favorite leaders to work with have been the guys and girls that really “get” this idea. Thanks for sharing!
I hadn’t heard of this book. Would love to have a copy!
Don’t let prayer be something that you simply start and end a rehearsal with because that’s what “feels right and people will get upset if you don’t.” Let prayer be the time where the entire team is refocused on who God is and why we are here together. It takes distracted, worried, judgmental hearts and turns them into ready to glorify God with all I’ve got hearts. Let prayer be more than 30 seconds.
Amen Dan!
Sounds like a really cool book!! A lesson I learned is to accept everyone where they’re at & work on my end to disciple & nurture growth. I take ministry really seriously, but in my experience it’s best to lead by example. Showing the team how important worship is to me by my actions; like truly worshiping, getting there early, being organized/having everything they need on time, knowing the various instrument parts, knowing the harmonies, memorizing my music, knowing the tempos, and fostering an environment of a team rather than a dictatorship has worked wonders!
Totally Shantel – I think that nurturing growth is one of the most important aspects of a worship ministry, beyond what they do on stage on a Sunday morning. That’s one of the hardest parts of playing in a worship team, because everyone is coming from somewhere else; different ages, different levels of expertise, different levels of comfort, styles, attitudes…. Worship pastors have their hands full! That’s one of the reasons I authored this book to begin with, just to make things easier on the technical side what what they need to do. Thanks for sharing! Take care and God bless!
Sounds really wonderful and helpful! Our church is in process of establishing what worship style will look like and we have very few team members that are very skilled. A very awkward time. But, I pray God will be glorified in and through us, and that we will learn during this time. Thanks for providing resources and help for us!
Hi Darcy, I know exactly what you’re going through, as I’ve been there before with churches in the past, and even though it is awkward, finding a direction it’s also very exciting! Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have, either directly here or via email. I’d love to connect with you and help in any way that I can. Thanks and God bless!
Im greatful for all the resources David shares with us, learned allot from his blog and thankful for his encouragemet. I spent the last 15 years playing guitar and bass but recently stepped up front to take on the worship leader position at our church. Its been a challange and a blessing. Having experience leading on my own helped but working with a team is new to me so im interested in anything that will bring unity. We have a great team from various backgrounds and im excited about our talent and mixture of styles but getting everyone on the page can be rough. When do get together, im blown away. Patience and openess to the teams ideas have helped take some songs to places we cant go alone.Looks very interesting and I’ll have to check it out. God bless you guys and thank you again.
Thanks Chris, I’m glad you’re interested and congrats on the new position as worship leader! It’s one of the most fulfilling experiences I know. I wrote this book for that specific reason alone; your team comes from a mixture of backgrounds and talents and styles and getting on the same page IS rough, so a common ground and language to communicate with is vital for making some productive headway with your team. Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have, either directly here or via email. I’d love to connect with you and help in any way that I can. Thanks and God bless!
Chris, thanks for the kind words. I love writing for this blog and thank YOU for reading! Way to go on stepping up to the new position!
Hey awesome blog! I’ve been your site and haven’t commented but these really help and encourage me to be a better worship leader and worshipper in general. So I’ve been a musician all my life and played for the world and got saved and started playing for the Lord and it changed everything. Just recently became a worshipleader and its been a challenge but some advice is just to press on, pray, read and just love God and He will take care of the rest. Worship is a calling and Just ask for all your prayers. Be blessed. 🙂
Hey Ruben, welcome! You should comment more often 🙂 It just makes all the posts way more interesting. I love how you say worship is a calling. God calls us to know Him, see Him, and stand in awe of Him. The best thing there is to do!
Hey guys, having become a worship team leader recently, am finding it hard to bring in changes but still maintain our core values as a team.Striking the balance betwee gracious with people yet at the same time expect excellence is really tough. For instance, having my team practice a song by themselves before we meet to rehearse isn’t working. I love my guys very much, but at times its seems as though putting in extra effort is a challenge. We are an awesome team zealous for God. How do we make it personal initiative for everyone?
Gloria,
If the team believes in the vision of the leadership then they must commit to such. You as a leader can’t make it happen you have to surround yourself with like minded participants, that is how you “make” it happen. If they are not willing to submit to the leadership then they need to move on. That has to be articulated in love of course, or in other words it should be a natural occurrence to submit or step down when confronted. That doesn’t mean there is never any discussion from the members however someone is in charge and the rest follow in submission. That needs to be a firm foundation. You have been put in a position by someone with authority above you, they have delegated the authority to you to organize the worship team. Go to that person and explain your vision for the team and get feedback from them. If they are indifferent you may have a challenge because the entire staff has to be on board with the vision for worship, and yes all the members need to see it as such. It is a church effort and we all our in total submission to the King of Kings period. Hope this makes sense, David your input please?
Hi Gloria – nice to meet you! Here’s my insight, if you’d like it: If you really think about it, a worship team is a temporary “band” for the weekend, and though it’s a complete HONOR to be a part of something so big in name of God’s kingdom, it’s a “band” with many drawbacks – members come and go every week with rotation (so it never really feels completely comfortable, like a band normally gets after playing together over and over again), members of the team are at different levels of interest and experience and age and style (again, very uncommon for a “band”) and also different levels of friendship and community with each other (you get over this as a band after a few gigs, but since the people change all the time it’s hard to get there). Throw in the fact that everyone is usually volunteering their spare time away from families, after work, often early in the morning at late on a Thursday night… It almost feels like asking them to just show up is enough already! It also feels like asking more of them is inappropriate, as well. Let me also state that these problems you face are not unique at all; in fact, I’ve experienced them at almost every church I’ve ever played at!!!
The personal initiative you speak of, I believe, is a biblical one. In my book I mention a strive for excellence, which is something I truly believe in. Because it’s biblical. God never says, “Just give me your spare time,” or “Pursue me with as much mediocrity as you’d like,” or “I’ll take what I ever I can get.” An example early on of God’s expectation for our best fruits comes in Genesis 4 when Cain and Abel are asked to make sacrifices: Cain “brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel [who kept flocks, by the way] brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.”
There’s a difference between the words “some of the fruits” and “fat portions” from the “firstborn.” Excellence. Your very best, and then some! Hard work and dedication. That’s what I believe God wants from us when we serve him, so I challenge every worship ministry to do just that. You’re not just donating your spare time to do something you’re already good at – you’re making time (perhaps even sacrificing time that you feel could be “better spent” elsewhere) to grow in your craft so that God can use you in a big and effective way.
Sorry this post took so much more room than I thought it would! But I really do get fired up on this subject; if we spend hours and hours and years and years honing our craft just for the love of music and the fun of it, how much more should we put in for our loving God? We’ll spend years perfecting that Skynard solo but we won’t take the time to learn that Hillsong part? It’s just kind of silly to me.
I hope you’re not seeing this in a harsh way at all! It’s something that I think all worship pastors and leaders struggle with inside their teams, and dealing with it is part of the job description. You are, in a sense, a shepherd to this flock known as a worship team and guiding and directing them (both spiritually and musically) is what they need and want. This was truly my heart behind authoring this book and I’m glad you brought it up! I wanted to give worship leaders a way to set a standard for their team, or to establish a common language that everyone understood. There’s even a church out here that has made it required reading for anyone who comes onboard the worship ministry (let me know if you’re interested in ordering multiple copies for the whole team, because I do offer a group rate for worship ministries). Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have, either directly here or via email. I’d love to connect with you and help in any way that I can. Thanks Gloria and God bless!!!
Wow, Jayme, if I can coin your phrase spot on! Appreciate you taking my words to the ultimate and providing much needed in depth insight to the whole process of the DNA of a Worship team, because that is it exactly! Gloria, it’s a process, and I’ll admit I did not simply dive-in, it took me a bit to ‘see the light’ and make a conscience decision to participate. Dave and Kate ministered the process in a very loving but firm way and gave people a time frame to grow in to it. You can do it Gloria! There are many awesome mentors you can lay hold of to assist along the way. The Lord’s richest blessings to you always!
I can’t wait to look up this book. I just started on our worship team and I’m being stretched for sure.
Hi Mary – I’m glad that you’re interested in the book! Please let me know if there’s anything you need, and please feel free to ask me any questions you may have (either directly here or via email). I’d love to connect with you and help in any way that I can!
Jayme and Phil, thanks guys! I feel refreshed by your perspective on the whole matter. Firmness in grace! It reminds me that leadership is all about taking people where they need to be, not where they want to be. By God’s grace, we will make it! You guys are such a blessing that you should come to Kenya 😉
You’re very welcome Gloria. I’ve always wanted to visit Kenya. Maybe 2014 is the year 🙂
Sounds like a solid read. Any resource I can give my team is a win for everyone. Thanks for the recommendation, David.
Something I tell my team over and over again is to listen better than you play.
That’s EXCELLENT advice Ryan! I was told by a Bass-Legend that the “Good Lord gave you two ears: one of them is for you and the other one is for everyone else.” Thanks for sharing and please feel free to ask me any questions you may have, either directly here or via email. I’d love to connect with you and help in any way that I can. Thanks and God bless!!!
The lesson that everyone needs to know — and it is important to all musicians in every musical medium — “Be Prepared.” The Boy Scouts knew this a long time ago.
A tip I had to learn the hard way was this: “anything that can be prepared ahead of time should be done by Saturday night (even if it’s late), not left to early Sunday morning.” We use EasyWorship with its connection to CCLI SongSelect, which normally is pretty rock solid. I was going to stop by church on Saturday and put the songs in for the next day, but I got busy and lazy, and decided I could wait ’til Sunday morning. I’m always the first one in on Sunday morning, anyway.
Well, I got in early Sunday morning, and wouldn’t you know … the link to CCLI’s Song Select refused to connect. We were doing two new songs that day, so after much frustration, I had to input them manually. The whole process took a lot of time, which took time away time from our Sunday morning warmup and practice, which got everyone edgy, which meant I was totally focused on making the songs work, which meant I wasn’t really focused on worship. And it showed. Worst worship ever … but I learned my lesson.
Hi David! Love your podcast and blog, it has been a great inspiration to me and I have used several of the tips and lessons from your posts and interviews with our team. The best tips I have had to learn the hard way: a great attitude coupled with medium talent and a willingness to improve outweigh the greatest talent with a terrible attitude; preparation is key not only for leading worship services but also for leading rehearsals and meetings, it communicates to your team that you respect and value their time and by your example they will reciprocate.
I cannot stress how important this is Matt! Spot on dude. For me one of the most important times of leadership comes at the rehearsal and practice; nothing tells your staff and volunteers that you appreciate them more than being respectful of their time.