Visiting other churches, Part One

I make a habit of visiting other churches as often as I can, usually once or twice a month, just to gauge the worship experience I help to craft, against other worship experiences that are happening out there. I think that it is important for worship leaders as well as team members, to experience how worship is done in other churches. This is what helps to keep us, and the worship services we help to craft, fresh and engaging. This is what helps to keep us relevant to the congregations we serve,  and to a world that desperately needs the grace and love that God through Christ has extended to us.

Having said all that, I have to tell you that my experiences, if they are the norm, are very discouraging. I have talked to a lot of other worship leaders, and so I’m reasonably certain that what I’m about to say is accurate, and that deeply saddens me.

Between 60% and 75% of  the churches I have visited, (and this percentage holds true for the other worship leaders I have talked to) just don’t do worship well at all. They do it very poorly. There are many reasons why this is so, but the fact that it is so is very troubling.

I will be sinking my teeth into this topic in the coming days, because I have some ideas that will help to reverse this sad trend. More to follow…

Merry Christmas

I just wanted to take a brief moment out of my day to wish all of you a very merry christmas. I hope that this season finds you well, and happy, and receiving all of the blessings that God has bestowed on His children.

The Three types of Worship Leaders

Having been a worship musician, and worship leader, and worship consultant for more than 20 years now, I came to the conclusion recently that there are really only three different types of worship leaders. I’ll explain.

Worship Leader type 1 – The Micro-Manager. This worship leader oversees every detail – every note! – of every song. Rehearsals often last at least an hour longer than scheduled. The worship team will spend an hour – sometimes nearly an entire rehearsal – playing and re-playing a single chorus, or bridge, or passage, or three notes – until it is exactly right. Every moment of the corporate worship experience is planned out well ahead of time, and there is no room for deviation in his/her carefully conceived plans. No room for the movement of the Spirit, and no room for any light to shine other than that of the worship leader. This worship leader is typically a talented musician and vocalist, and will be aggressively courted by the bigger church down the road.

Worship Leader Type 2 – The Water Treader. This worship leader has minimal or no training/experience. Instead of rehearsing the worship team properly, a rehearsal with this worship leader is really just a wednesday night performance of the songs to be played on Sunday morning. This worship leader won’t take the time to rehearse a difficult transition within a song, or play a chorus over until the vocalists know their parts. This worship leader will rely on the grace of the Holy Spirit to get him/her over the rough spots. Instead of too much thought given to the details, this worship leader will give little or no thought to the details. The congregation at this worship leaders church is shrinking.

Worship Leader type 3 – The Leader. This worship leader has some training, and a lot of experience. This worship leader will typically rise to the position after playing on a worship team, or a number of them, for several years. This worship leader understands how to conduct an effective rehearsal, how to arrange a worship song, and how to craft a worship music experience that is uplifting, edifying, and memorable. This worship leader is active in the lives of his/her team members both at church and away from church. The congregation of this leaders church enjoys the music because they recognize the talent, skill, and sensitivity employed by this worship leader. The congregation at this leaders church is growing, due in no small part to his/her efforts.

I would classify myself as a type 3 worship leader. what type are you?

My First Time as a Worship Consultant, Part Three

I arrived at Steve’s church at a few minutes before 8 on saturday morning. I had stopped at Nina’s on the way and had my 24 ounce white chocolate mocha (with caramel and an extra shot of espresso, of course). I also had a car load (well, a small truck load – I drive a customized ’91 Toyota Pickup) of equipment.

I brought an acoustic/electric guitar, an electric guitar, a multi-effects pedal for each, my favorite combo amp,cables for everything, and four DI boxes. Of course I had some music I had chosen specifically for the workshop, copies of three different musical excercise I had designed, as well as all my notes, and of course, my bible. Steve pulled into the church parking lot just a few minutes after I did, and after he unlocked the doors and disarmed the churches alarm, helped me carry my stuff inside.

The workshop was scheduled to start at 9 am, and I was pleasantly surprised as car after car pulled into the parking lot. I had advised Steve to invite EVERYONE connected with the worship team – Instrumentalists, vocalists, the sound tech, and the video tech. There were 14 people there, not including Steve or myself. I was pretty excited, and we started right on time.

We started off with introductions. I introduced myself, and met each of them in turn. I wanted to get a feel for each of them as soon as possible, so I asked them about their prospective musical experiences. I was more than a little surprised to learn that while there were a few musicians and vocalists fairly new to the “game”, there were some who had quite a bit of experience. Tim, one of the guitar players, had been playing for almost 15 years. Carl, the bass player, had played for almost as long. I knew that Steve was a 20 year veterean. So why, I wondered, did none of them play like it?

Next, I think I stumped them for a minute when I asked them why I was there. There were a few stammers, and a few half-hearted attempts at answers, but it was the bass player who summed it up for them. He told me that he believed that I was there to teach them to do what they loved to do, better than they were doing it. I grinned at him. He got it EXACTLY right!

The next thing I did was to critique their performances on the two sundays that I was present to observe. Before I did, though, I warned them that I was going to be frank, and honest; and while I did not intend to hurt any feelings, it was entirely possible that I might. I laid it out for them, and I did not pull any punches. The room was very quiet, except for when I asked direct questions of the team. I started off by asking one of the sound techs how many channels he had on his board. He had 32. I asked him how many channels he was using. He was using 8 channels. I asked him what the other 24 channels were doing. He sheepishly admitted that he wasn’t sure what they were going to do with the other channels. I told him that I had an idea, and handed him the direct boxes I had brought. I told them that the platform was overcrowded with gear, and with sound, and they they could go a long way toward improving their sound by clearing the stage of all the stuff they weren’t using, or didn’t need to use. I could see that a few of them were catching on, but not enough of them. So I told them we were going to “clean house”.

A little bit less than an hour later, the platform had been transformed. Gone were two mikes, stands, and cables (leaving four). Gone were three music stands (leaving FIVE). Gone was a floor wedge monitor, and a hot spot monitor, it’s stand, and the monitor cables (leaving three floor wedges and two hot spots). Gone was the bass amp (poor Carl looked like a lost puppy). Gone were two guitar amps, and the keyboard amp.

At this point a few of them were looking at me like I had lost my mind, but it was also at this point that Pastor Dave poked his head in. he looked at the platform and said “Now THAT’S different…I LIKE it.” He also informed us that he had made coffee in the kitchen, and the wives of some of the male team members would be making our lunch. Cool! While we had been moving stuff off the platform, I’d had one of the sound techs connect the direct boxes. One for the keyboard, one for the bass, and two for guitars. I told Chris, the sound tech, that I would be playing through my amp during the rest of the workshop, and asked him if he could mike it through the board. I asked him at that point how many mikes the church had, and he surprised me when he answered that they had TWELVE!

It was 10:45 when we finished with the platform. I told them that we would break for lunch at noon, and we spent the rest of the morning learning the concepts that create a successful worship music experience. I taught them the concept of creating “space” in a song arrangement, and talked about how it was done. I taught them what “the pocket” was, and how to find it…everytime. We talked about tempo, and dynamics, and song structure. We just talked, however. I wanted them to focus on theory first, and then application. They asked questions, and I answered them. Just before we broke for lunch, Tim asked when we would play music, and I told him that we would spend the afternoon on the platform, applying the theories we were learning right now. I was excited, because THEY seemed excited. Things seemed to be going very well.

I had the team spend the first 15 minutes after lunch getting used to the “new” platform, and making sure they were all connected and ready to go. I observed them, and noticed that the bass player tuned his instrument, and Tim tuned his guitar, but nobody else used a tuner. Not good. I passed out music for a song I was sure they all had played, “Your Grace is Enough”. I smiled at them, and asked them to play the song for me. I sat in the front pew, and let them dive right in.

I noticed that nobody on the worship team communicated with each other to establish WHAT they were going to play, or HOW they were going to play it. They used their standard shuffle beat four count from the drums to start the song. They dived right in, all three guitarists playing electric guitars, only one of them in tune. Paul, the male vocalist, missed his vocal cue, and rushed the lyrics to catch up. I stopped them just short of the chorus, and asked them if they were in tune. Steve got red faced, and the guitarists quickly got tuned up. I asked them if they had discussed with each other how they would perform the song, and they got further embarassed when they realized that they hadn’t. Next, I asked If any of them had an acoustic/electric guitar. Tim had brought his, so I had him switch to it. Peter, one of the guitarists, had a multi-effects pedal, and so I asked him to dial in some mild distortion. I taught Pete a tasty little guitar intro for the song, and taught Tim the strumming pattern I wanted him to use. Next I asked Steve to use some mild chorus with a bit of delay on his guitar, and told him I wanted him to play “sweep chords” – full open chords on the “1″ of each measure. Pete would play rock chords. I told Paul I wanted him to use a little less vibrato, and put his mike on the stand, instead of holding it in his hand. Tina, the keyboard player who also sang, would sing unison with Paul on the bridge, and then sing harmony with him on the chorus. I told Tina that I wanted her to sit (literally) on her left hand. When I was sure they all understood, I let them go again.

The result was literally 100% better, and I could see on their faces that they knew it. They had created space, and dynamics, and were starting to communicate with each other.

It just got better from there. There were a few rough spots, and a few miscues, but I could see that they were starting to get it. The smiles on their faces as they played, and the enormous grin on Pastor Dave’s face said it all. I was really pleased with them, and I had a sense of vindication, because I had put some of my long held theories into practice, and they had WORKED!

That was a good day. The first of many I have enjoyed as a Worship Consultant.

My First Time as a Worship consultant, Part Two

So, the next Sunday rolled around, and Pam started the day off by letting me know, in a nice way, that she would not be attending services at Steve’s church with me. I understood completely, but had a job to do. I have to tell you, it was with more than a little bit of trepidation that I drove to the church. I couldn’t help but wonder what the day would bring. Maybe I caught them on a bad day. Maybe the songs were new to them. Maybe there were dozens of reasons that they sounded worse than they actually were.

I got to the church, got the greeting, and the handshake, and a friendly smile or two. As i went in to the sanctuary, I stopped by the sound booth, and talked briefly to the sound tech. I asked him how many channels his board had…32…and how many they were using…8. Hmmm… As I sat in one of the comfortably cushioned pews, I looked at the platform. Three guitar amps, a bass amp, and a keyboard amp. Four floor wedge monitors, three hot spot monitors, six microphones on stands, and five or six music stands. The floor was literally covered with cables heading off in every conceivable direction. Talk about an overcrowded platform! Hmmm…

The musicians drifted toward the stage/platform, and I noticed that some were dressed very casually, some a bit more formal, and one, the bass player, was wearing a suit and tie. Very confusing to look at, and more than a bit unprofessional. Hmmm…Cables to instruments were connected, microphone stands and music stands adjusted, and one of the THREE electric guitar players actually tuned his instrument. Another ragged shuffle beat four count, and they were off. No team prayer before the service, Hmmm…

“Forever” was the opener, and while one of the guitars was in tune, the other two definitely weren’t. Again the bass was way too loud. Must be a favorite of the keyboard player, because she really played well on it. One thing I noticed and wondered about was WHY there were three electric guitar players. I thought that three electric guitar player bands were hard drinking rockers from well below the Mason-Dixon Line! Why not TWO electric guitars? Why not ONE electric guitar and TWO acoustic/Electrics? Why THREE? Especially when all three, My friend Steve included, were playing exactly the same chords, in exactly the same position, at exactly the same time! It was a large wall of very muddy sound.

“That’s Why We Praise Him” was next. I really like the song, especially when its done well. It wasn’t. The song has room for some really tasty guitar leads and fills, and the bridge is a killer when you bring it down and have some good vocal harmony. There were three people singing (so why have SIX mics on stage?) and they sang unison for almost the entire song, breaking into two part harmony on the very last “Allelujah”. The rest of the song service went much the same – bad technique, no dynamics, no real energy. I knew these folks needed some help, and I was getting a pretty clear picture of what needed to be done.

After the service was over, I spoke to Steve, and the Pastor, for a few minutes, and then drove home to finish the outline for the workshop I would present to the worship team the following Saturday. Pam was sweet, bringing my coffee into the studio where I was working, and even offering to bring my dinner in.

I finished my outline at about 7 that evening. I looked it over and was pretty pleased with it, and just hoped that Steve’s team was going to be willing to spend most of a day with me to learn the things they needed to learn.

I’ll cover the actual workshop in Part Three…