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…

My First Time as a Worship Consultant, Part One

It was a little more than two years ago, that a worship leader friend of mine, Steve, asked me to do a worship workshop for his worship team. He and I had worked together previous to that, and liked and respected each other. I was a bit nervous, but not overly so. I had led worship many times, in churches large and small. I got my first surprise when I asked him what he wanted me to cover. He laughed and said “everything!” That was when he told me that the worship team he led was…well, not very good. I was surprised, because Steve is a confident and competant guitarist, and a better than average vocalist. I expected that his worship team would be about equal to him, as far as talent and dedication was concerned.

I was SO wrong, but back to the story…

Steve and I arranged a time when I could visit the church and observe a service, and I went home and began to prepare what I thought would be a suitable and appropriate worship team workshop.

“Observation Sunday” rolled around, and my wife Pam and I arrived at the church a few minutes early. We got some friendly nods and a smile or two in the parking lot as we made our way to the building, and I thought to myself “hey, this isn’t so bad”. My confidence continued to rise as we entered the building, and got a warm greeting and handshakes. The next person I met was the Pastor, who Steve had talked to, and who told me he was SO glad I was there. The Pastor, a very nice man named Dave, led me into the sanctuary. He offered to seat me in the audio booth, but I smiled, nodded to Pam, and told him a pew would be just fine. It was at this point that I got my first good look at the stage/platform. 

There was stuff scattered everywhere. What stuff, you ask? Trust me…we’ll get to that. There was so much stuff on the platform, that I began to wonder where the musicians were going to stand, or how they were going to get to their positions. When they filed onto the platform, I had to stifle a chuckle, as the bass player actually tripped over a cord. He caught himself, and the rest of the musicians filed in without mishap.  Folks in the congregation were still milling about, visiting, as the team got themselves squared away.

A ragged shuffle beat from the drums, and they were off. My first thought, as the THREE electric guitars joined in (yes, I said THREE electric guitars), was that I did not see a single person tune their instrument. My second thought was “why is the bass so loud?”. One of the three electric guitars was in tune, but it was hard to tell, because the bass was so loud. The song was “Blessed Be Your Name”, and I noticed that my friend Steve, the worship leader, was not leading the song, but another guy was. A guy that apparently does not play an instrument, as he rushed the lyrics, and threw the bands timing off. The next thing I noticed was that with the exception of the drummer, EVERY person on the platform had a vocal mike. Why do that, I wondered, when only THREE of them are singing?

The congregation enjoyed the music, and I myself enjoyed the song selections, as they were very contemporary. The songs were almost all up tempo, except for the communion song, which was actually a keyboard interlude. I kept expecting the guitarists to attempt to tune their instruments, but they didn’t. I expected the sound tech to adjust the bass volume, but that didn’t happen either. It just went from bad to worse. I was busy writing in my notebook when Pam finally whispered in my ear, “Honey, they are just awful!” She was right. They were just awful.

After the service, I met with Steve for a few minutes. We didn’t discuss anything substantive, but he looked at me after a few minutes and said “I know…we suck”.

It was in my mind to say “yes you do.”, or “My God, you are one hugely pathetic attempt at a worship team”, but I didn’t. I assured him, with much more confidence than I actually felt, that it was just a series of issues to be addressed. I told him that the worship team did a few things right, and a LOT of things wrong, but that all of it could be fixed…if the team WANTED it to be fixed. He assured me that they wanted to be the best they could be, and we let it go at that. I would be back for another observation the following sunday.

Stay tuned for Part Two…

Worship Consulting Pricelist

Here is my updated pricelist. Keep in mind that my prices are negotiable, and the schedule I use is flexible. That said:

Simple Consultation – $100.00

Detailed Consultation – $200.00

One Day Workshop (small to medium team) - $250.00

One Day Workshop (medium to large team) – $250.00

Two Day Workshop (small to medium team) – $325.00

Two Day Workshop (medium to large team) – $375.00

A bit about Worship Consulting

I am a Worship Consultant. What is a Worship Consultant? I thought you’d never ask! A Worship Consultant, friends, is a worship musician, like myself, who has learned through years of trial and error and experimentation, how to create a worship experience that is edifying, thought provoking, and enjoyable. A Worship Consultant acts as a teacher, and a mentor, to help worship leaders and worship teams do what they do, just a little (sometimes a LOT) better than they currently do it.