I present to you the worlds greatest tool for a musician…
Everybody’s workin’ for the weekend…
In seventeen years of music ministry, my experience has been that music teams either rehearse on Tuesday or Wednesday nights, or just before mass on Sunday.
What did you have for lunch last Thursday?
I can’t remember either. I eat lunch every day.
We tend to have a set of songs for seasons that we will place in rotation for several weeks. If you rehearsed the song, isn’t it safe to say that you learned something, heard something, or corrected something? Did you write it down?
Just a few weeks ago, on Easter Sunday, our gathering song was “Mighty To Save”. The original key is “A”, but I feel that for my congregation and my voice that it is a little too high to sing so we play it in “G”. Our Easter arrangement was…
Intro
Chorus
Bridge
Chorus, with a modulation up to A
Chorus in A
Ending
Practice Makes Perfect?
We practices this transition four times.
Guess who didn’t write down the modulation to A? This guy.
Guess who went on autopilot and blew right through the keychange? Yep.
In case you’re wondering, the band stayed in G as well. Certainly, they wrote it down but didn’t hear the lift and stayed in G. Opportunity lost (the lift added alot to the prayer in that lyric).
The Good Stuff
For the record, I buy Ticonderoga Pencils. It says on their label that they are “The Worlds BEST PENCIL! I spring for the good stuff. Ergonomically superior, excellent lead (or graphite, or whatever the pencil stuff is), and a fabulous eraser.
Easter is only 9 days away. Now is a great time to talk about what happens when you find yourself in a situation where you’re playing an overflow Mass outside of your normal setup area. It could be that your parish has a fellowship hall or a gymnasium that is utilized for these types of Masses. In addition to being in a new space, you are also faced with being the person in charge of providing the PA, right? Ok, here’s your survival checklist…
First things first – Stage the gear. Gather everything you will need to run the PA into one location (preferably where you will be setup). You’ll need your speakers, mixer, amplifiers (if not using powered mixer or powered speakers), speaker stands, extension cords, and enough XLR and/or Speaker cable to cover the space you are using. Don’t forget mics for your priest, deacon, and lector!
Setup the day before. This will provide you with the peace of mind that if there are any issues with the PA system, you will have time to respond or adjust your day to make a run by guitarget or the shack to replace the broken xyz cable.
Once you are setup, you need to do a full soundcheck. Make sure that your vocal levels are appropriate for mass, that your instrumentation sounds full but not overwhelming. Make sure to check your ambo and priest mics for them during your soundcheck. There is nothing worse than hearing at the beginning of Mass…”In the name o…SKKKREEEEEECCHHHHH[feedback]“. Don’t let this happen to your priest.
Here is a key to a successful soundcheck. Once you get everything dialed in…Don’t change ANYthing without checking it again. e.g. – Don’t soundcheck your vocalists on whatever type of mic your church uses (Shure SM58, etc), and then have one of your vocalists show up the next day with their awesome ‘new’ condenser mic and have them start singing without listening to it. It could be WAY hotter than If they change it, you need to check it. Any change can bring havoc.
Make sure cables are organized, and gaff taped to the floor if possible.
Spend some time just relaxing and getting acclimated in the space.
Gymnasiums and fellowship halls aren’t built for great acoustics. Be sure you’re not overplaying and giving the music some space to breathe so the reflections don’t overpower the spoken word or the music.
Isn’t it wonderful to have so many people showing up for mass that we need overflow spaces? Be sure to greet them and love them with hospitality. Setup early and do a good soundcheck, and you will look like you’ve been anticipating their arrival all year.
This blog and website is a resource for church musicians. It is my hope that it provides useful insight into the practical matters of music ministry, a “how-to” site, if you will. I encourage you to share your thoughts and comments, and if you find the information here useful, that you share it with your teams, twitter tweeple, and facebook friends…
Growing up, we all spent time in front of the family television watching the great Peanuts holiday comics come to life. Classics like “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown”, or, who could forget the loveable Linus van Pelt in “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. He confidently walks out onto the stage, requests “light’s please”, and then delivers my one of my favorite passages of scripture detailing the birth of Jesus. Go ahead and take a minute to relive this great moment…
Last weekend I was serving my parish on their yearly confirmation retreat. We brought a large lighting and audio rig to get the job done in a room of 125 people. There I was, guitar in hand, amps on, with an extremely bright intelligent light in my face. This very cool light completely blinded me and rendered my security blanket absolutely useless. My security blanket? A MUSIC STAND!
How many of us operate with a music stand? Let’s look at what this security blanket does to us as music ministers…
It is a mini wall between you and the people you are serving
It beckons the attention of our eye, thus taking our eyes off the people we are serving, the ministry team, and the room
It causes us to look down while we are singing/playing
It creates a distraction of page turning, and interrupts the flow of spontaneous worship
It looks unprofessional, and…
It’s one more thing to pack and carry (boo!)
In reality, by the time I am ready to lead a group of people with a particular song, I’ve already played the tune a few dozen times. Memorizing modern worship songs isn’t rocket science (I have a friend who is a rocket scientist, and we have discussed such matters). This morning I took a look at the CCLI Top 100 list and wasn’t a bit surprised to see that the first 10 songs are all 4 chord songs that repeat the same pattern over and over again. I wasn’t surprised because repetition is the intended delivery of this style of music. These are songs of prayer, so by repeating a chord structure or lyrical passage you are more easily engaging a group into deep worship. So let’s pick a song and dive in… (we will go right to number 1 – Chris Tomlin’s “How Great Is Our God”)…
The original key is C, but that key is a bit of a stretch for my vocal range! The key that works well for my parish is Bb. If I am leading a small group in adoration etc, I will lower further down to A to make it more welcoming for a small group. That being said, if I am leading the song in Bb the chord progression is [Bb-Gm7-Eb-F] or Capo 3 on the guitar and play [G-Em7-C-D] – over and over again. Repeat!
I can easily remember chord progressions. I just hear them and my hands follow where they need to be, kind of like rain man. Lyrics are tougher for me to remember, so I have developed a method of getting them memorized. I try to embed the first line of every pass into my mind instead of memorizing the entire verse. In other words, when my mind can recall the first line of a verse or chorus, my memory fills in the remainder of the verse as I sing. So, with this song I would commit to memory..
“The splendor of the King……”
“How great is our God…..”
“And age to age He stands……”
“Name above all names…..”
Now, all that being said, those of us that work in liturgy do not have the benefit of a working band that plays the same set of music, every single night, the exact same way. I recognize that if we work in liturgy, the songs on the plan this week are different than the songs from last week. However, your ministry team probably (hopefully) has a seasonal or common group of songs that the entire group knows well, and that your parishioners sing well. In reality, you probably have these songs memorized already. With these types of songs, make a strong effort to not use the chart on the stand, but instead be focused on leading the song and being plugged into what is happening in the liturgical action and engage the room with your eyes and prayer.
So, back to Linus. He walked out on that stage and boldly proclaimed the nativity story. He didn’t need his security blanket, but it was on stage with him. My challenge to you (and to myself), is to ditch the security blanket this year and get rid of the music stand. If your working situation requires you to have one, make a strong effort to spend more time looking over the top of it and less time staring into it. After all, we’re not worshiping the music stand, are we?
For Catholics in North America, this weekend (1st Sunday of Advent), welcomes the 3rd Edition of the Roman Missal after years of prayer, interpretation, and changes. It is now time to pray with the new responses, and sing the new parts.
People in your congregation are going to be looking to you and your pastoral team for assurance. I call this the “Flight Attendant” syndrome (When I fly through rough air, I always look at the flight attendants on my plane to see if they are nervous). When you begin playing your new (or revised) mass settings this weekend, do so with confidence. Lead the parts as if you’ve been singing them since 1974. In addition, I am using familiar hymns and songs this weekend to give the people at Holy Trinity a chance to really focus on the new parts.
Welcome 3rd Edition of the Roman Missal…we are delighted you are here. Lord Jesus, guide your Church through this transition. Maranatha!
10 Essentials to a healthy ministry experience for your team…
Say “Thank you” often. Most ministry teams are formed from people who give freely of their time to serve the Lord. Let them know how much you appreciate them. Say it…write it.
Have a plan. Having a written plan prepared a month at a time so your musicians and team can prepare at home and feel ready to walk in and give their best.
Be open to receive new people. One of the great obstacles in music ministry is to not become “clicky”. Be approachable, and do everything you can to encourage people to participate.
Show up on time. If you are leading a ministry team, you need to be present well ahead of your team. Show them you respect their time by being a good steward of your own time. You should be there first one there and the last one out.
Have charts. You need to prepare charts for your group in whatever format works for them. Some people need only a chord chart, some require lead sheets (chords and melody line), and others just need to know what key signature you plan to do a song in. Get them what they need to be effective. Check out great resources like Songselect from CCLI and Worshiptogether.com.
Delegate. Delegate parts to your group. Look for opportunities for someone in your group to lead a song. You should have an idea of their vocal range and then be able to select them for a particular style or range of song(s).
Coach. Be specific with your expectations of your team. If you need something specific from a musician, vocalist, or tech team member…use your words and let them know.
Communicate. You cannot communicate often enough, in any format. Use email, text, twitter, facebook, planning center, etc. Make sure your team knows what they need to know. They cannot read your mind. It’s a fact that you often need to say or write something several times for everyone to register it.
Encourage. Encourage them to sing. Praise often, and praise specific. Someone nail a part? Praise them for it. Someone obviously did some work on a piece at home? Acknowledge it. Team did an amazing job, tell them before they leave for the day. We all need affirmation. It takes one negative word to tear down, but several to build up.
Pray. If your team isn’t praying together, it’s not a ministry. The most important thing you can do as a team is to gather in prayer each week. Try different prayer experiences as a team. Break open the weekly scriptures before Mass. Offer intercessions for one another to pray for. Try a weekly challenge of having the entire team fast one morning for the intentions of the other team members, etc. Encourage different people to lead each week.
Writing the essentials could easily become an e-book. These are 10 simple suggestions to start with. Peace and blessings to you…
