There’s something that every worship leader loves.
Without an ounce of disagreement, we all crave of a well prepared band. Worship leaders lead better when the band is awesome.
But what does awesome look like? Well, it’s when musicians:
- Know the songs
- Know their parts
- Balance creativity & simplicity
- Carry a passion
- Have a great attitude
Wouldn’t it be beautiful if our team members were like this? There’s a couple routes we can take.
First, we could moan and complain that our worship team isn’t like Elevation Church – that we don’t have a lot of people, resources, or talent. Or, we could take baby steps towards creating the culture we want to see.
You probably know where I’m going with this. Let’s opt for the second route. Though it’s not easy, it’s way more productive. As the leader, you need to set the tone for the culture of your team. If you hold them to excellence, they will arise to the challenge.
The Purpose Of Rehearsal
So let’s take one step towards that today – teaching your team how to prepare for rehearsal. First of all, I’m assuming you have the following values regarding rehearsal:
1. Rehearsal is a time to perfect songs, not learn them.
2. Rehearsal is a time to connect as a team
3. Rehearsal is a time to hear the vision
One of the greatest decisions I made regarding my worship team culture was to have my musicians show up prepared. I used to mention it in passing, but it rarely happened.
When I decided preparation was going to be a foundational element to our success, I began to see glimpses of awesome. But I failed to cast vision for how to prepare. I noticed a lot of my team members weren’t hitting the mark because I never showed them what effective preparation looked like.
So I decided to get detailed.
How To Prepare For Your Next Rehearsal
Here’s the process for my team. Feel free to use, copy, and adapt as you see fit in your context. There’s even a free chart you can download in the last point.
1. Pray – I encourage my team to pray for the service. Pray for the people. Before you look at or listen to any music, get a passion in your heart for what you’re doing. Every team member should own the service spiritually. They are a worship leader, not just a musician.
2. Know the Flow – I also challenge them to look at the service flow. This helps them see that it’s not just about the worship. Their contribution is part of a whole service, designed specifically to reach lost people and lead people into the presence of God.
3. Listen – The next step is to listen to the songs. But for the first listen, don’t hold your instrument. Don’t try to figure it out. Don’t play along. Close your eyes, listen, and feel it.
Allow the unique colors of the song to wash over you. What is the song about? What is the musical feel? Why does the church need to sing this? How do all the instruments contribute to create one sound?
4. Create Charts – After you’ve listened through each song for Sunday, go back and listen again. This time, you’re going to create song charts – detailed notes on what your instrument is doing. You want to document exactly what you’re hearing.
If you’re a bass player, for example, write down exactly when you come in. Document when you drop out. Are you playing eighth notes, quarter notes or just downbeats? Is the tone clean or gritty? Notice the simplicity or the complexity of your part. Get as close to the original as you can. To make this easy, I’ve created a free song diagram chart you can download and use for your team.
My goal with this post was to give you something practical and empowering for your team members.
But I need your feedback. What do you think of this process? Is there anything you would add? Anything you would take away?
Please share your ideas in the comments. We all benefit from that.
[ois skin=”Beyond Sunday 2″]
Oh!!! Your articles are really nice. You said rehearsing time is not for learning music but for perfecting music.. It really hit me.. One other thing to take note is that rehearsal time is strictly for rehersing. Cos moct times when we come for rehersal we tend to tell jokes and tell stories…
I don’t think there’s a problem with telling jokes or stories. Matter of fact, I think that’s essential for team building. Jokes and stories help people relax, have fun, and feel apart of something.
I appreciate your concern and insight into the purpose and motivation behind having rehearsal. You say some important things here. In discussing the time element, how much time outside of rehearsals do you encourage volunteers to spend? Preparation is essential. What’s the standard for people who are serving in this role? I know that this can be a tricky balance between striving for excellence and caring for volunteers in their processes.
Andrew, a great question. I’d love to hear what others “require” from their volunteers. I don’t personally set a particular amount of time, though I think to do well takes at least an hour of preparation throughout the week. Anyone else?
Just wanted to say thanks for this blog. I’m on the precipice of stepping into the worship leader role at my church which I know is a calling on my life and a role I have been in before but walked away from due to becoming discouraged. This is helpful because it gives me a pracitcal way to help the team to be inspired by God. I want awesome worship for our team that engages and is furfilling for our congregation and for us. I love the song breakdown sheet and will be asking if we can imput that into our practice sessions. I think we have to remember that yes, what we do is voluntary but it is our calling. Extra time/practice should come naturally out of our desire to serve God’s kindom and bring Him the excellent worship that he deserves!
Renee, that’s so exciting! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing 🙂 I am in a team that I’m an alternative now for vocals when they need me. Lead from my part. Practice in advance. Practice when I’m not in that week. So inspired by what is being chosen to be the songs for the congregation to sing I want to learn them. As I am learning guitar,.. I find it hard to sing well as I can without the guitar. Any tips??
Vicki, that’s just something that will come with practice. Find easy chord forms that you can learn to switch without having to think so much. Also, get used to using a capo! It is a worship leader’s best friend 🙂
Great system David. What do you instruct the musicians to prepare for when the song will be in a different key or arranged differently from the recording? I do that all the time.
If it’s a different key, same arrangement, I just upload the proper chart to planning center and have them learn the parts in the new key. If it’s a different arrangement, I usually still have them learn the recording (which I find is good practice for everyone) and just make changes at rehearsal. Sometimes if it’s a very competent musician, I’ll have them arrange their own part.
I LOVE this!!! Hey David, I’m Caleb. I just graduated from Central Bible College and Jordan Kolarik and I became BROS!!! Whenever we would discuss worship he would ALWAYS bring you up! I just started reading your stuff and LOVE it!! I just got a teaching position here in Colorado and will be teaching a Worship Music class in a big church school and would love to get some insight from you and maybe skype you into my class sometime!
Hey Caleb, thanks for commenting and connecting! Jordan is fantastic. Would love to help and assist you in any way I can. Thanks bro!
Great article. I think it’s so crucial for every member of the team to be on the same page, it definitely helps to make the worship leaders job easier. As far as giving team members time to practice the songs before rehearsal, how far in advance do you get the worship set out to your team before rehearsal? We have worship practice on Thursday so at the earliest, I try to get the set list out by Monday night or Tuesday at the latest.
They are very helpful tips..thanks