It started out with an email and ended in heartbreak.
You know what I’m talking about. A beautiful soul with total confidence wants to join your worship team as a vocalist. The only problem is, they can’t sing.
And it’s not always that they cannot sing. It may be that their vocal tone just isn’t of a pleasing quality. In this case, there was no sense of pitch.
I was really hoping they were amazing so I could smile, affirm them, and offer them a spot on our worship team.
But I couldn’t do that. I had to be honest. Right there at the audition.
And this person left mad. In their mind, they were the cat’s pajamas of church vocalists.
If you’re a worship leader, you’ve been in this situation. If you haven’t, expect to in the near future. How do you handle a conversation like this? What is the best way to speak the truth without breaking hearts?
The truth is, you will never avoid offending people but your kindness and up-front honesty will create the best possible situation.
It’s my opinion that I need to be honest with musicians and singers right away. And I can usually tell if a musician is
A) Ready to play
B) Not ready but could improve
C) Not ready and couldn’t improve
That’s the goal of an assessment. You probably already know the answer when you first hear them, so there’s no need to “get back to them” or “pray about it” or “let them know” this week. You just need to tell them. But “how” you do that makes all the difference.
6 Tips For Better Auditions
Here’s my best advice. It includes some action steps you should take pre-assessment and also some tips for how to handle the assessment on the spot.
Here we go:
1. Know Your Standards – Before you enter into an assessment, it’s important that you know your standards for joining the worship team. Even better, it’s great if you have this documented before it happens and people can be prepared.
For example, requiring drummers to play a song with a click track would be a great way to do an assessment. Having a lead guitar player prepare a worship song that is popular in your congregation is also helpful. That way you can listen for their tone, technique, effects knowledge, and see their equipment.
This is helpful so you have some leverage for the difficult conversation and you know where to direct them – how they could improve on their own.
2. Create a Policy for Unique Instruments – What would you say to a young man who is a tuba major at a local university? Or the 13 year old flute player? Or the man with a harmonica? You will have these conversations so you need to be prepared with how you respond.
Do you have a place for those kind of instruments? If you do, great. Do the assessment. If you don’t, be honest up front. Don’t promise them an opportunity at a “special service in the future”. We all know that never happens.
3. Find a Quiet Place – If you’re doing an assessment (or having a difficult conversation) find a place where there won’t be a lot of noise, people, or distraction. No need for complete hiding, particularly if you’re having a conversation with someone of the opposite sex. Just a quiet, peaceful place where you both can hear each other and be comfortable.
4. Get to Know Them – Before you have them sing or play, get to know them. Make them feel comfortable. Believe it or not, they will be incredibly nervous and self-conscious. The more you can go out of your way to make them feel comfortable, the better. Express genuine interest in their life.
5. Prepare Them for “No”Ā – Before I hear a musician or a singer, I prepare them for a “no” answer. Even if they are amazing and I eventually say “yes”, I don’t want to lead anyone on. Make sure you do this before you hear them. I don’t want to promise people a spot if they aren’t ready.
I tell them that there are very experienced musicians whom we turn away because their style isn’t the best fit. I explain that we have very high standards for musicians and the commitment level is intense.
6. Give Them a Chance to Be Heard – If you’re like me, I can usually tell instantly whether someone will be a good fit or not. But that can really get the assessment off to a rough start if you instantly say, “Sorry, not good enough.” Even though you may know the answer, give them a chance to be heard. Listen intently.
7. Tell Them Why – If they are not good enough to join the team, you need to tell them why. I’ve found it’s important to be honest about it, but in a kind, pastoral way. Never laugh at them, spit in their face, and say, “Well that sucked!” Tell them – “You did great, but you’re not quite ready. Here’s what you could work on.”
I’d love to hear about your experience with this. How do you say “no” to musicians who aren’t ready?
Let us know in the comments. You can leave a comment by clicking HERE.
Hey David,
Thanks for this post. I always find your thoughts helpful and encouraging. š
My one follow up is the tension between finding musicians that fit into the church/ministry’s style and allowing the musicians of the church shape the style of the ministry. Of course, you won’t have space for every weird instrument every weekend, but I think we have a responsibility to equip people for ministry. Sometimes that means finding a way to use talented and passionate musicians even when they don’t fit the style.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
Thanks!
Ely
Hey Ely, this is a great point. I’m totally for equipping God’s people for ministry. That’s our job. But I don’t think that means making way for every musician and every instrument. There needs to be a certain degree of quality control and vision. For example, you may not have space for a tuba player on your team, but there is still other areas of ministry (and gifting) for them to get involved in throughout the church. Make sense? On the other side, if you’re church is filled with super talented people who play unique instruments, maybe you could get another team going with a different sound?
Thanks David!
I really appreciate your point about vision. We don’t wander around aimlessly. We move forward with purpose.
This is a good post and the 6 tips are excellent and should be applied immediately to any audition process.
I do disagree with the “immediate answer” aspect, however. I think in a case as sensitive as auditions, there must be steps taken to avoid “all appearance of evil.” Therefore, in our situation, the audition process is done by an audition team (to avoid it seeming like it’s just “one guy” deciding who can “sing to Jesus”); and the decision is made as a team over a period of time (as to avoid the claim of “knee-jerk reaction”). It is also crucial to make sure that any decision and reasons given for that decision is made by the team and not just one person (as to avoid “he-said, she-said” situations).
I’ve seen more many auditions-gone-wrong then I care to share, but these team- and time-based tips have avoided much potential contention and strife.
Thanks for bringing another perspective, Anthony. I’m interested to know – does it help waiting “a period of time” to make a decision? Or is that simply delaying the inevitable? What happens if your panel all disagrees? Who makes the call then? Super interested to see how this works for you guys. Thanks!
You know, it has helped us immensely to have a waiting period. It allows the audition team to fully discuss and come to a consensual conclusion. I, as the worship director, have had my mind changed in both “yes” and “no” directions because of ideas and repercussions that I had not fully thought out on my own. It also allows us to think through ministry options for the person in question. We make a commitment to each auditioner that we will never just give a simple no, but always give alternatives, since we believe that God calls all to service.
We have a team of four (2 girls; 2 boys; 2 vocal specialists and 2 instrumentalist specialists). In the case of a “tie,” I become the “fifth vote.” However, that has never had to happen before. In the three years we’ve done auditions this way, we’ve always made unanimous decisions–praise God!
I think Anthony has the right idea. Anyone who studied music formally has endured auditions and juries. It is part of the growth process and helps you prepare for public performing. A team decision offers mitigation to possible bias, and a greater defense against criticism of the final decision. I would ask up front if a prospective team member has studied formally. Have they ever recorded themselves, and evaluated the results ? How many times have they been through the audition or jury process? You will begin to get an idea, so will they. Having a good voice is only part of the overall set of “tools”. Some pretty talented musicians have no ensemble skills. Does God use rejection to shape us and correct our direction?
Great post David!
I think in the past I’ve hesitated to turn people away for not wanting to hurt feelings but now I realize I should’ve had them hold off until they were ready. :/
In regards to auditions, do you conduct the audition as a “calling all” process or as they come? I usually wait until someone comes up to me who shows an interest in joining before inviting them to an audition, but lately I’ve thought about doing a “calling all” sign up sheet and just see where that goes.
We do it as they come, or if I approach someone. “Calling all” hasn’t worked well for us, although I know other big churches that do them (like Elevation church). I don’t think there’s a “one size fits all” answer. I think you need to experiment and see what works for you.
Great post. I too have found that immediate feedback is better. I also work to have coaches or teachers in place to reference. For example, “your tone would go to a new level if you learned some tricks on how to voice these chords. I can connect you with a teacher I trust If that is something you’d like to work on.”
YES – love this, Chris. Having some recommended teachers, books, or online resources that you can point people to is a great way to say – “I believe you can do this with some work. Are you willing to work hard? If so, we’d love to have you.” I’ve also allowed potential players to attend rehearsal for a while to get a feel for how we run things.
Good post- and here’s another heartfelt vote for immediate, first-person feedback. Loving and authentic feedback from the person who is, in fact, making the decision on who helps lead worship on a particular worship team is much better than drawing out the process to simply avoid the ‘appearance of evil’. If your team does, in fact, choose new members by way of a sequestered democratic process and subsequent vote, best of luck, but in my experience you open the door to all sorts of unhealthy post-audition speculation: at worse, the “well, I wanted to vote you in, but Bob and Sandy blahblahblah…” conversations. On my team, the audition process remains precisely what it is: one man’s entirely subjective, tactful, well-considered judgement call as to what combination of musicianship, heart, reliability, and teachability will fit in with –even enhance!– our vision for Sunday morning corporate worship at this particular church. Not who is allowed to worship Jesus, just who is going to be on this worship team. It is a healthy thing to accept this mantle of responsibility – it is a necessary part of leadership, and unless you are prepares to have group votes on song choices, setlists and arrangements, this is a job in which you will need to become comfortable in making judgement calls that you alone take responsibility for.
Enjoy these posts very much, David- thank you for your insight and perspective.
Alex, thanks for your thoughts. I agree that in either a team-based or individual-based decision-making-process you open up the possibility for conflict. We came to the conclusion to go with team-based auditions for multiple reasons. 1) It’s the most common way for any selection process to happen. Job interviews, college applications, adding pastoral staff…these happen typically from a team, not just a single individual. 2) A team offers multiple perspectives and talents, and thus is better equipped to make a decision than one single person. 3) This appears, to us, to harmonize best with the biblical model of leadership. In Scripture, we see leaders chosen by and within community, typically not just individuals.
This is why that although I agree with your thoughts on accepting the mantle of responsibility, I disagree that that means doing things by one’s self. Leadership should necessarily include collaboration. This does not necessarily mean democratically-chosen decision making; nor does it mean offloading responsibility. I ultimately take responsibility for all decisions made by the worship curation team, the tech, vocal, and instrumental teams. But this does not reduce the need to collaborate together. So, yes, a team actually does help on song choices, setlists, and arrangements, but no it is not done by voting. Does that make sense?
Totally! And I completely agree that Collaboration is indeed essential and healthy. I obviously don’t know your church situation and culture, and would not presume to make pronouncements on what you should do. Reading my initial comment, i think i presumed too much, and i apologize. Music is an inherently collaborative endeavor – like church! – and missing out on that part of preparing corporate worship would be a mistake. I would not speak against looking to your team for input on matters that will affect them in ministry. I did want to make a general statement against the false lure of Consensus, and its evil cousin, Vote On Everything. When worship teams or committees, in efforts to Not Offend Anyone, elevate Consensus as the main goal in decision-making above staying true to their initial vision, things go haywire in the blandest and most stagnant way imaginable. I started doing consulting for churches in our conference a few years back, and I was amazed at how often the goal for the worship ministry at so many churches seemed to be simply to Make It Less Divisive. Committees would form, debates would rage, vision would be torpedoed, hymn counts would be mandated, decibel meters would be dispensed, compromises that left everyone feeling invalidated and cold would be reached, and volunteers would leave. This isn’t my blog, so I’ll pipe down now š Blessings to you as you pursue and steward a thriving worship ministry- thanks for taking the time to respond and elaborate on your perspective.
I get the feeling this isn’t a “right or wrong” answer. For some local churches, having a committee may be impossible maybe due to size or the professionalism of people you have. For others, it may be a great idea. I think as long as you’re prompt in getting back to people and are pastoral in your answer, that’s what is most important.
This has been one of the most difficult things for me as worship leader. It seems no matter how gently honest I am, the person walks away defeated and angry: from the woman who cannot sing on key, to the soulful singer who can’t sing with a group, to the teenage guitarist who will not come prepared, to the drummer who cannot keep time even with a metronome. It’s a constant prayerful situation, especially when they are good friends of yours who feel God is calling them to serve on the praise band. I think worship leaders just have to approach it as you’ve said, pray a whole lot and develop a thick skin.
It’s true, Jill. We musicians can be so wrapped up in our craft that the slightest negative feedback can derail us. It’s funny – sometimes the worst musicians can be the most arrogant š
Unfortunately, that’s part of it sometimes. In talking how we operate, I had to tell a drummer a while back that it would be a waste of their time to audition and that they need to buy a metronome and spend a lot of time getting really familiar with it then come see me. He was pretty bummed out about it, but being honest isn’t a bad thing, just follow through with “why” not just “what”. When you give vision people grab on and go, when you give a task people just do it with no ownership.
Hey Dan…love your stuff! Quick question: how do you handle a situation where you have say a bassist already, but an insanely amazing one joins your church and loves The Lord, checks out personally, etc…but the current bassist (not nearly as gifted but committed) isn’t excited about allowing anyone else an opportunity.
Please help thanks!
Ken – I would use this as an opportunity to pastor, grow, and disciple your current bass player. Cast the vision that it’s not about keeping your spot but creating space for more people to find their place. This is a great way for you to invest in this musician – to see him grow.
At my church, unless there are special circumstances (aka my family) I generally have the say so. I tell people up front that we have an audition process because we believe excellence honors God and inspires people so excellence is our target with everything we do at our church. I let them know the game – click tracks, loops, IEMs, then give them two songs to learn. It’s been pretty effective, thus far. I have them come in at rehearsal call time. When they get there I set them up with an in-ears rig and let them know what we’re going to do is record them singing with the band and go on with rehearsal. So, they’ll do their audition, I thank them for coming and set a time to talk with them the following day (Sunday). This gives them time to reflect what they could’ve done better and gives me time to think about either how to bring them in or to give them a course of action. It also keeps me from telling someone what they’re not doing well in a big group setting. I don’t want to have that culture starting our weekend. So they go on and we do our rehearsal.
After rehearsal, I play it back and make some notes. The next morning we talk, good or bad, if it’s good I’ll talk a plan to phase them in slowly so there’s not a holy crap moment of having to learn out library in two weeks. One week on a month, really focus on four songs that month, the next two, the next three, then if they’re ready at that point, becoming a regularly. If it’s bad I, first, ask what they thought and if they have any feedback for me on improving the audition process on the end of an auditioned. Then we talk about what I heard that needed work and agree to come back after a certain period of time. So this is where I build influence as a leader. I’m not just gonna let you bomb and throw you away. I’m going to give you another chance to work hard and improve. If they can do that, then well get a plan to involve them. I don’t expect people to be perfect, just reasonably competent.
That’s my process. This isn’t a one-size-fits-all thing. What works at my church may not work at your church. For the most part, just having the audition process weeds out a lot of those people who come sing and everyone says “aww bless his little heart”.
I enjoy the conversation here and seeing different peoples’ takes on this delicate subject.
we have a drummer who doesn’t want to commit to practice w us. I let him join the team, after hearing him (good player), but now realize he won’t come out and practice. I am very frustrated and ready to tell him no practice no play, but afraid we will lose him
Steve, I was just reading this thread through as I prepare my own application/audition process and noticed your post. I don’t know if anything has been resolved but, from personal experience, if the musician is not coming as prepared as the rest of your team, then you aren’t the only one frustrated and that frustration will pull people out of worship faster than anything else and if we, as leaders, aren’t worshiping, then we can bet our congregation is going to find it much harder. I would definitely have a honest conversation with him, but I would avoid making it about “No practice, no play”. Share the vision and why it’s so important for him to come prepared. Explain why he is such a vital part of the team. Explain that if he doesn’t, he simply can’t be a part of what your team is trying to accomplish. Hopefully he’ll get the picture. And then if he doesn’t, let him know he can’t be a part of the team and help him find another way to serve in the church. Not having a good drummer who is frustrating the team will always be better than having one that is making worship harder.
Hey David, how would you apply the “no” answer in a youth worship team setting?
Sometimes students who ask to be on the team are going through “the change” and the truly as the old saying goes “Can’t hold a tune in a bucket”. Students are already particularly difficult to explain certain things to, I’m just curious, do you have any other points?
I have not used this yet, but We have a music council at my church and the head of it is not musically inclined at all. He told a member before speaking to me the praise and worship leader, who is a trained singer and musician, that this person could just come up and sing praise & worship. I sing with this individual in our regular mass gospel choir. she cannot hold her notes. if it gets too high she jumps from alto to tenor in a heartbeat. She argues with the choir director when he is trying to get her on her note. She got offended when she came up that Sunday before praise & worship because I told her she could not sing that morning. I called the director of the music council and he said all you guys do is get up there and sing. So I guess that tells you how much experience he has with praise & worship team or choirs. I told him she does not know all our songs and that there is more to praise & worship then just singing. Praise & worship team right now is three of us. Soprano, Alto & tenor. Sometimes just two. We all know how to blend. We sing together all the time and have sang in groups so we know how to sing in harmony and even switch parts depending on the song. So we do not always rehearse because we are together so much we learn songs and minister beautifully. Now he wants to open praise & worship up to every body. I do not have time to teach untrained people how to sing or sing in harmony. Can you give me some advice? Praise & worship team is usually an ensemble and not an entire choir. My youth choir made up of 5-18 year old’s sing in tight harmony. Our Mass Choir who never sang acapella recently sang somewhere and our musician could not come. The person in charge did not rehearse the choir. When we got up to sing How Excellent I thought she would ask the musician there if he would accompany us. She didnt. It was a train wreck. I was so embarrassed. Please help me to explain to my Pastor and the Non music council director that we need someone to be in charge with experience. I can read, write, score, direct, as well as sing and play clarinet, sax and oboe. Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m not the worship leader, but a person who auditioned for a singing role in a gospel stageplay, and I have a suggestion. Let me preface this by saying, I’ve sang all my life. Not everyone who knows me, knows that I sing, but those who do, can vouch for me. I CAN sing, but I bombed miserably in what was my first “singing” audition. The judges asked me if I was comfortable… I wasn’t, but I said yes. They had waited weeks to hear me and we finally got an open slot, so there was a build-up to that moment. It was an open space, people were shuffling papers, getting their things and preparing to leave, the judges had their coats on and were ready to go, but had stopped short to hear me right before leaving. I felt rushed and nervous and yes, uncomfortable, but it had been 3 weeks. I needed to get it overwith. I started to sing and instantly forgot part of the first line. That threw me. I got nervous and had a literal panic attack in the beginning of the song. My throat dried up completely, my breathing got labored and I lost all pitch. It was like a train wreck that just couldn’t be stopped. After the initial stumble on the lyrics, the rest of the song was destined to topple over. Totally my fault. But the way it was handled left a very awkward uncomfortable air between myself and the producers/directors. They said nothing…. did nothing. I couldn’t sleep that night. I texted and said “Hey, thanks for giving me a chance to sing… it didn’t go for me as planned…. I was nervous and tried to play it off… didn’t work. Tell me what you think..” No one responded at all. When someone auditions their voice for the first time, they are bearing something very personal and for even the best songstress, it is horrifying to experience the failure that comes when you’re trying desperately to break through that massive fear of screwing up or even stepping up to be judged. ALWAYS, always give immediate feedback:
“In your audition we did not quite hear the sound we were looking for… It didn’t seem to go as we expected.” “Were you nervous? “Would you like to try it again… Maybe use a different choice of song?” “Tell us what you are comfortable with moving forward…?”
That would have made me feel much better if they at least responded to my text. But I got nothing. Now, its something of an uncomfortable situation for me because I do have a role, but they had to adjust it so that I would not sing. So I am around them often, and anytime I think of it, I feel extremely ashamed, embarrassed and very awkward.