Lift up your eyes and look.
See the 80s rock & roll guitarist at the altar checking out your pedal board. He wants to talk to you about the good ole days.
Right beside him is the 14 year old, punk rock drummer twirling his sticks.
He doesn’t want to talk as much as he wants to sit behind your drum kit and show you how it’s done. But he’ll just want a few more toms and a double bass pedal before he does.
It’s the new guys.
Worship leaders go through seasons of musician drought and seasons of musician harvest. Both present their own unique challenges. Today we want to discuss what to do when new musicians want to get connected.
Just like our example, you may have a skilled player burned out on the world or a confused kid looking for his or her place.
How do you assimilate them into your team? How do you get them engaged? How do you know if they’re good enough or even a good fit for what you’re called to do? I’m glad you asked.
7 Tips For Connecting the “New Guys”
Welcome to this brief post on working new players into your worship team. I’ve entitled this the Ultimate Guide because I’d love to hear your take, tips, and techniques in the comments on how you connect new musicians.
Here we go:
1. Don’t over-promise
If there are musicians interested in joining the team, keep it very informal. Don’t invite them to join the team next weekend. Invite them to hang out at rehearsal. Get to know them. See where there skill is at. See who they are first. It’s more important to build your team slowly with the right people than to fill it up and create a mess.
2. Know what you can handle
Before you invite new members on the worship team, are you prepared to even handle them? It can be more frustrating for people if you invite them to join and you fail to use them. It’s better to say ‘no’ up front or create space for their gift.
3. Share your vision
Before a new player gets plugged in, make sure they know what you’re all about. Your vision needs to be shared. Communicate that this is more than a weekend gig. A good team member will rise to the level of your vision. But if it’s unclear, they’ll just show up and play music. Challenge them.
4. State Expectations
Do you have a dress code? Do you expect your musicians to show up on time and prepared? Don’t just assume your new players will know what is important to you. Communicate this to them. Have a heart to heart. Give them an initiation packet. I would suggest you take the time to write down what you’re looking for.
5. Look for Attitude
Attitude isn’t enough, but it’s essential. A musician who is argumentative, critical, and disengaged will bring your team down in a second. A good attitude is evidence of a servant’s heart. I would rather have a great attitude with mediocre skill than a proficient player who stirs up trouble.
6. Foster Appreciation
Especially if you work with volunteers, make sure they know how much you appreciate them. It’s really easy to get into a routine of “use and abuse” – managing volunteers to get work done. But we all know it’s more than that. Remind yourself and foster an atmosphere of appreciation. Also, don’t just throw out general “we appreciate all of you” comments. Get specific with individuals.
7. Provide Feedback
It’s important when new players get connected that they know how they’re doing. Something we’ve recently started doing is worship team evaluations. Basically it’s a one-on-one touch point with each of your musicians. Then they know what they’re doing right, what needs improvement, and it gives you a chance to pray with them.
When connecting musicians, don’t just use them to fill a worship team schedule. Pastor and pour into their lives so they mature into fully devoted Christ followers. Great opportunity awaits you.
Question: What are your struggles and victories when it comes to connecting new musicians? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
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Thanks for all your tips and info – I´m finding it all very helpful . We are all volunteers in our worship band at our church and always grateful for any help but how do you tell someone tactfully that they are out of tune or that their guitar playing ( etc..) needs a bit more practice before they play up front ?
As for tuning, I would just kindly ask them to tune. Typically, people don’t get offended at that.
But if they’re not ready to play up front, I would give them specific things to work on and tell them you’ll re-assess them in a few months. That way you can tell if they’re serious about it. Does that make sense?
for the tuning I meant the singing not the guitar – but thanks – it does make sense –
For an out-of-tune singer it depends. If they sing well but can’t hear themselves, they may be off key and just need a better monitor mix. If they’re consistently off key, you need to have a hard conversation and ask them not to sing. It’s tough but necessary. Maybe channel them into a new ministry direction.
Great post! Everybody knows you gotta have at least some chops to join the band. IMO I would rather have someone with limited skill but who is teachable and humble. If you come to the table with those two you are right for my team.
Keep it up!
Thanks Paul! I’m with you – teachability and humility are so essential to a healthy team.
#1 is so important. You definitely don’t want to lead people on and give them false hope. But inviting them to a rehearsal so they can see how things are run can be a great opportunity for them to observe what happens outside of Sunday mornings.
Some things I consider that weren’t on this list:
I make sure that whoever is interested in joining my team is teachable. I’d take a sloppy, aspiring teachable musician over an extremely talented and arrogant know-it-all any day of the week.
I also have a minimum 3-months of consistent attendance policy before bringing anyone new onto the team. This ensures that they know who we are as a church and that I know who they are as an attendee. If they’re not committed enough to come to church every week, they won’t be committed enough to practice at home or show up on time to rehearsal.
Lastly, I have a handbook that I give to people that are interested in joining. It includes my vision for the worship team, requirements for team members, and expectations for each role on the team (sound/media/camera/vocals/instruments).
Sorry for the long post, but hopefully that helps someone.
Ryan, I like what you have set up. Very organized and challenging. Has the 3 month policy ever turned people away?
It hasn’t turned anyone away, but it has caught some people off guard. I feel an obligation to be as familiar as possible with the people I allow to lead worship over our congregation.
I’m sure it’s not perfect, but it has worked well so far.
This is the process I’m working on at the moment…so people don’t join the team and expect to automatically get rostered on for Sundays.
1. Apply to join the team (or get roped into it by me!).
2. Informal audition & interview – new team members will be allowed to move on to the next stage at the Music Director’s discretion.
3. Start attending team meetings & rehearsals to meet other team members, become familiar with songs and band dynamics.
(Lots of our musicians have not come into the team with experience playing in a band. This is the biggest learning curve for them. Knowing when to play, when not to. Matching your style to fit with the rest of the team etc. Some people can be perfectly fine when playing solo but when it comes to integrating with a group of other musicians, they need a bit of direction.)
4. New team members will only be rostered for Sunday services when both the individual team member and the Music Director agree that it is appropriate.
In terms of connecting on a relational level, this is an area I’m still working on! On a Sunday or at rehearsal, I always check in with them to see how they’re going. It’s important to encourage the new ones to speak up if they can’t hear themselves (this will often reduce pitch issues) or ask questions if they’re not sure what the worship leader wants.
I also try to meet up with individual members of the band for coffee & a chat (probably once every 6 months) to see how they feel everything is going and if I can help them with a particular area. I worry that it isn’t enough though. I have a team which ranges in age from 16 – 50 yr olds. As I’m on the younger end of that spectrum, I find it easier to hang out and connect with the younger ones as it tends to happen more naturally.
Another long post…Ryan you started a trend.
Very nice organization, Rachel. How do you guys train your new musicians? Since they haven’t had experience working with a band, what is the process of teaching them how? Just curious 🙂
They usually play unplugged alongside other musicians during rehearsals and the more experienced musicians can help them. This works best with guitarists & vocalists. Often bass players, keyboardists & drummers get chucked in the deep end a bit. This strategy is still developing. I think we need to do some instrument workshops when I just work with one group as well though.
Lol Rachel, Long posts aren’t always hateful 🙂
I’m with you on the audition/interview. I do that also and it’s a great opportunity to get to know people on a more personal level.
How many rehearsals do you have prospective members attend?
In terms of how many rehearsals – it depends how quick they are at learning the stuff and also how confident they are. For some people it will be a short period of time (say about 4 rehearsals) but for others it might be up to 6 months of rehearsals. The key here is that “BOTH the individual team member and the Music Director agree” that they are ready.
Wow this post resonated with me.
Living in the ‘megaworld’ we always have people wanting to connect. It is only after they realize the intense time commitment that the dross burns away and the true silver rises to the surface.
We usually let people self-select out at the beginning by letting them take a look at the covenant and giving them an opportunity to spy on our rehearsals.
That being said, there is ALWAYS ROOM FOR MORE and we have lots of opportunities for musicians of all levels. It just doesn’t have to be main platform. We have multisites, alpha, spanish ministry, prayer meetings, women’s retreats, etc. etc. etc. where people can connect and are needed.
So letting people know about all the opportunities is a good first step in our ministry.
Be blessed!
I love the idea of providing options. While someone may not be ready for the main service, there could be a place elsewhere to get started. How many multisites do you run?
Yeah! Having options has been a huge help. Instead of telling people a flat NO we can say no for our main worship center but maybe for one of our other ministries.
Nothing says “I want this!” more than a person being willing to serve in another ministry and then grow in skill and passion as a result, not to mention there are other ministries who are thrilled to get musicians to serve.
I believe we are at the drought season praying in the harvest.
Regardless this post has helped me to be prepared when it comes.
I have a question. I would love to bring the new people into rehearsals, but I also want to make sure I am focusing on the band and making sure we are doing what we need for that next Sunday. I don’t mind working with the new members but I don’t want to spend to much time on them and not get the band up to par with what we are doing. Especially with one night of rehearsal before we play on Sunday. Any tips and suggestions?
Steve, I would allow musicians just to come observe and hang out. You could also encourage your scheduled, seasoned musicians to work with the new guys. That way it’s not all on you to entertain them.