Hey everyone, Gutie and I are out representing at the Saddleback Worship Conference in sunny Cali this week. The conference opened tonight with Leeland. Wow! Did I say "Wow!"?
It was a worship experience. So Leeland is 19 years old?!!! For those of you who have not seen (or should I say experienced) Leeland live, pack the van, hop a plane, gas up the scooter. I promise that you will be blessed.
Wow, Leeland. Go boy!
Have you heard Tomlin's new song "Jesus Messiah"? It's like butter!
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=282160267&id=282160244&s=143441
We're out at the East Coast Worship Summit in Wayne (Philidelphia), PA having a great time with worship leaders Brenton Brown, Fee and Vicky Beeching.
This is the first event of it's kind here in the northeast, and it's a refreshing sight to see these worship leaders being fed and poured into. Be praying for these worship leaders and that they will leave refreshed.
If you are involved with youth worship or are starting a youth worship team, this podcast from Jeff Deyo will be really helpful.
Have you ever took a look at your worship team members and said to yourself, "Only God could assemble such an interesting and diverse group of musicians!"
A few weeks ago, I was setting up my guitar rig on a Sunday morning. As I was positioning my amp to hit me right in the left ear, I realized that it was also going to blast several female singers. Now usually in a band, I wouldn't care who got blasted, but I felt bad. So bad that I felt the need to apologize, in advance, for the ear ringing that I was about to give them.
Church band dynamics are always interesting. It's blue jeans and Sunday dresses. Pink Flying V guitars and a tambourine. Double kick drum kits and a grandma pianist. It's U2 meets choral ensemble!
Tell us about your unique worship team dynamics.
David G. posted a great blog on worship band rotation last week which received a lot of feedback. One comment on the blog from Paul J. sparked an idea to share some pros and cons of rotating musicians versus using a set band.
My church has two worship venues. Venue 1 uses one worship leader and a set band which never changes unless someone is out. Venue 2 uses one worship leader and multiple rotating singers and instrumentalists. I thought it would be helpful to contrast the two and point out positives and negatives of both.
First, let me start by saying my church has a lot of musicians. This makes a huge difference and is important to know up front. However, I've also led worship at a start up church where we started with a couple of guitars and grew from there. Both situations pose challenges.
Let me start with Venue 1. The style of music is contemporary with a large choir. Some of the songs are "4 chords and the truth", while others are very detailed choir arrangements that require the ability to read sheet music. This limits the type of musician that can participate. For example, I play by ear and from chord charts, so I would struggle playing in that band.
Using a set band has several benefits for them:
-The band has played together for years and are very tight
-There's a close bond in the group, not unlike a small group
-There's no confusion each week as to who is playing!
However, there are negatives as well:
-There are many highly skilled musicians setting in the congregation who have no opportunity to serve. Many are better players than are currently in the band. Often these folks leave for opportunities to serve at another church.
-Over the years, the band has become the identity of each player, "Hi, I'm the bass player in the band". This is not healthy.
-There is a tendency to become stale. Each player brings his/her own style and riffs. So every week you pretty much get the same sound.
-There's no easy way to deal with a bad attitude. To remove anyone from the band would be tantamount to impeachment!
Venue 2 uses a variety of musicians who rotate every other week. The style of worship is modern, using chord charts and improvising.
Using a rotating band has several benefits:
-There are many more opportunities for musicians to serve. I really appreciate this since I'm not currently leading. I can still play guitar with the band and use my gifts.
-No one person owns the position. It keeps everyone's attitude in check when they know they are not the only drummer. Playing in the band is not a right, it's a privilege.
-It's easier for players to move in and out based on circumstances without upsetting the chemistry.
-There's plenty of variety because every musicians brings his/her own flair and interpretation of the music.
But there are a few negatives:
-Maintaining a rotation of creative people can be like herding cats. It takes a good amount of time and patience. Be prepared for a "no show" every now and then. I would recommend a good worship planning software to manage your players.
-Rehearsals become very important because each team plays a little differently together.
-You must be careful to not get too many players involved. It's hard to develop any tightness if you are only playing once a month.
In the end, I lean toward rotating players. I think the benefits outweigh the risks. I also think the worship leader role should be rotated, but that's a different posting all together!
The Passion World Tour is underway. Follow all the amazing things that are happening at the Passion blog. www.268blog.blogspot.com
Here's a few pics from the New Song Cafe Live! seminar at the CMS in Buffalo last week.
Have you ever had your pastor or a church leader approach you after a service asking why you have the same people up there every week? Little do they know, the reason everything has been flowing so well lately is because the band finally starting to gel. We all know that leading becomes a whole lot easier when your band knows what it means when you are stomping your foot for a build or throwing your guitar neck up to signal the end of a song.
I've led worship at a wide variety of churches over the years. At some it was consistently the same group, and at others there was an entirely different band and LEADER week-in and week-out. Most of the time though this was dictated by church size, how many players we had and if the pastor wanted the same person on the platform each week.
We'd like to see how you're handling rotating your team, so here's a few questions for you...
Okay, I admit it. I'm a gear-head! I love guitar pedals. All the shapes and colors and fun sounds they make. All in pursuit of that perfect tone!
So everytime I'm around other guitar players, I love to check out what they've got strapped to their pedalboard.
Here is Kenny's board who plays for Matt Maher. Kenny's backline is usually a Vox AC-30 or a Fender Twin:
He's got the Line 6 delay, Boss Giga-Delay, Boss Compressor-Sustainer, Boss Tuner (the best). I don't recognize a few of his pedals, so I'll have to get Kenny to clue me in unless someone knows what they are.
And here is Maher's board. He is currently running direct (without an amp):
Matt is using the Vox Tone-Lab for his SG with a Fulltone distortion. I'm not sure what the blob of gaff tape on the left is all about. :) He routes his acoustic separately, thus the 2 Boss Tuners. He is using a tubed pre-amp for his SG as well, but I can't remember what it's called. I'll find out.
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