Worship Band Rehearsal - Part 2

Continued from prior post...

4. Make sure your rehearsal is at least 3 hours. Seriously people, unless your worship band is going on tour, this is ridiculous. The last thing your volunteer musicians want is to spend an entire evening away from their famliies for a worship rehearsal that should have ended after the first hour. If you are only introducing 1 new song (see point 2), then you should be able to run through that song 2 or 3 times, practice your known songs once, spend some time in prayer, and still be done within an hour!

5. Consistantly show up late and allow others to do the same. It's amazing how much this is just expected and tolerated among musicians. When people are consistantly late, it says to everyone else "my time is more important that yours". As the leader, if you refuse to deal with this, eventually everyone will begin showing up late. Then your rehearsals will run long (see point 4).

6. Give everyone only words with chords. It's amazing how many worship leaders bring only lyric chord charts to rehearsal. Playing a new song with a chord chart is like fumbling around for the light switch in a dark room. Companies like www.praisecharts.com or www.ccli.com/songselect/ can help you with charts. If you are committed to only using chord charts, at least allow your band to hear the song in advance.

These are not a sure fire formula for success, but if you follow these suggestions, you will navigate safely through the dangerous field and avoid many pitfalls that others (including myself) have painfully experienced!

Blessings on your ministry!

Comments

[Jim Cox]

I'm gonna agree 99%. Our leader often gets us charts from praisecharts.com, and I don't really believe them to be accurate. Some of their arrangements are overcomplicated as well, and I've seen repeats placed half and half on two different pages more times than I can remember. IMO only

Play for HIM
Jim Cox
II Chronicles 5:13

[Jim Cox]

I'm gonna agree 99%. Our leader often gets us charts from praisecharts.com, and I don't really believe them to be accurate. Some of their arrangements are overcomplicated as well, and I've seen repeats placed half and half on two different pages more times than I can remember. IMO only

Play for HIM
Jim Cox
II Chronicles 5:13

[Keith]

Wow, This list of things must have really made him angry... he said he'd list 10... and stopped after only 6!!! Where's my other 4? You know what irritates me? A person who promises a top ten list that he will finish next week... and then only gives you a total of six! (ha ha)

[Martin Sanders]

I appreciate how the context of the song Enter This Temple is explained under Bible Study. Many seem to jump in quickly and discredit a new song because of the lyrics saying they are not scriptural. It was nice to see the lyrics explained. I believe it is important to know where the song writer is coming from. Also like how the music is written in that song. Blessings to you and your ministry.

[Kevin Sisson]

I'm very encouraged to see that I only violated one of those (3 hour rehearsal).

Great advice, keep up the good work.

[Andrea]

Teams really do appreciate a leader who is prepared and has a solid - but flexible - plan.

I only disagree with the 1-hour rehearsal suggestion. Our team's main goal is excellence - not only because God deserves it, but so that the congregation can focus on Him and not on our mistakes. *Sometimes* that means practicing for 2 hours so that everyone is comfortable with their parts.

I would hate to send the team home after one hour, only to provide the congregation with a mediocre worship experience full of avoidable distractions. We've been given a great privilege to usher people into God's presence, and that kind of service requires sacrifice.

Then again, if we could get started a little quicker, we'd knock off 15 minutes of that. :-p

[Mike Albin]

I'd have to disagree with the comment about the three hour rehearsals. I myself hold 2 1/2 hour rehearsals and would make them longer if I could. I'm not looking for perfection, but excellence. I've known from experience that if you just practice a little, it sounds like you've practiced a little. I believe in this day and age of the bar being raised high as far as the singing part of the worship service, even volunteers should want to bring the best to the worship service, and this won't come with a quick run through of each song. When I was in a band we would practice 4-5 nights a week, 3-5 hours a night. And sometimes we would practice a single song 10 times in one night. I can't say that this is possible for all worship teams, but I do believe that it should be a time that all members of the team should be looking forward to. If it seems a chore, maybe they should be serving in some other area.

[Tom Cottrell]

Rehearsal should be both meaningful and efficient - about building community as much as the quality of the sound. So how about planning ahead? Like giving out the music a few weeks before the service so that members have time to learn their parts. Then when you get together to rehearse, you can focus on balance, and how it all fits together, instead of playing the same sequence over and over and over. More than once in a rehearsal, I've heard that cool lead guitar riff into a new song played so many times that it burned itself into my brain. And how is it, I ask myself, that the lead guitar has the riff down, and the rest of us are just seeing this for the first time?

[bill58]

Just a minor comment about worship practice. For about 15 years I used two programs to help with worship. One being band in a box and the other noteworthy composer. For leaders that don't have the luxery of having people with musical abilities this worked very well for me. Also for learning new songs it worked great for musician and vocals to learn new music. (Amazing how close band in a box can make the song sound like the real thing).

[jsw_9499]

Hey there...I have a question what is band in a box and noteworthy composer?
Love the blog info by the way. thanks in advance.