• Ask The Expert – what to say when you lead worship, how to choose a set list
• Worship Bass Song Learner DVDs now available
• New website and blog – sneak preview
• Top 10 mistakes churches make when recording their first worship album
• Workbooks for drums DVDs
• Musicademy Live workshop – 8 November
• Sign up friends to our newsletter and get a free online lesson

Ask The Expert - what to say when you lead worship

Flo Benton from Alaska emailed with an emergency request as she was leading worship for the first time.

“Could you share with me how one would typically share at the beginning of leading worship from the keyboard? I’m pretty comfortable with the mechanics of the music, and would like some ideas/suggestions as to what you have done or heard others do or say.” Tim Martin, presenter of the Musicademy worship keyboard DVDs replies:

Many people struggle with exactly what and how much to say when they’re leading worship. The first thing to remember is that it’s more about quality than quantity. A few well placed words will do much more to help people to focus on God than the (all too common) second sermon from behind a guitar or keyboard! That said, it can be equally unhelpful when worship leaders fail to give any verbal encouragement or guidance to a congregation. Whilst a lot depends on the particular tradition and ethos of your church most of the ideas below will probably be appropriate at some time or other:

• Simple (and short) prayers which may link the songs and focus on a aspect of God’s character
• Use of short passages of scripture (best prepared in advance). I find the Psalms and some of Paul’s prayers in the New Testament very helpful.
• Brief encouragement to join with others in corporate worship.
• Simple, down to earth explanations of what’s going on (especially if it’s unusual or likely to freak people out).
• Giving permission for people to engage in worship in a way that’s appropriate for them.

I can’t emphasise enough that all of these should be generally short and the temptation is usually to speak for too long. We must always remember that worship meetings are a time when we hope to encounter the living God and we need to leave space for Him and usher people’s attention away from ourselves. Try to avoid too many benign phrases (like, “We’re just going to sing another song”) which add so little and really don’t need to be said. Be positive in your communication and equally confident in your silence – don’t just talk to cover up a gap. Trust your preparation and ask God to give you wisdom in all that you say.

Flo got back to us to say that the service had gone well, helped too by the beautiful overheads her husband had prepared. She also said “I watched the Intermediate Worship Keyboard DVD’s again yesterday and listened to the interviews with the worship leaders and the first person (Leeland Moring) nailed it for me. He suggested making time for prayer and getting into the Word so one would be speaking from God’s heart not one’s own. That was the answer to my question about what to say to the congregation before starting worship. So, to answer my own question: one needs to be pra]ed up and have the Word fresh in your heart and be willing to step out in faith as the Lord leads, being sensitive to the Holy Spirit.”

Ask The Expert – how to compile a set list

Flo Benton also asked for advice on compiling a set list. This is covered extensively in the Musicademy Worship Vocals DVDs but here are a few thoughts:

• Consider the journey of your congregation. You may well have already spent time in prayer and worship – they may have had a stressful day and be far from ready for worship. So think about songs that can engage them and draw them in
• Try to reflect where your church community is at right now. What is God saying to you? What are you struggling with/celebrating about? Choose songs that reflect those things.
• What is the theme of the service? What is going to be preached on? Again, try to find songs with words that dovetail well into the overall theme
• Something for everyone – that may be kids songs, rock songs, traditional hymns, reflections etc. We are engaging in community worship so make sure (at least some of the time) that the sung worship reflects what your entire community like
• New songs and old songs – how about flicking through some old song books and reviving an old classic? Maybe just use the chorus? And if you have new songs to introduce maybe just limit to one per set. Remember to return to that song in future weeks as well so that the congregation really get to be comfortable and familiar with it
• Think about songs of proclamation, repentance, revelation, tenderness. Perhaps use these in the order of the journey you are taking your congregation
• Consider tempo and keys – we covered that in quite a lot of detail in the last newsletter. Don’t be afraid to transpose a song into a key that is comfortable for you and the congregation to sing. And consider the impact of changing keys when changing from one song to another.

Finally, don’t be afraid to change the set list on the fly if you feel that something else is more appropriate. Obviously you’ll need to make sure that your musicians can cope with the change. I normally prepare a “long list” to begin with and select from it on the day. Like that I have plenty of options available depending on what actually happens during the worship time.

Flo said that she had been trying to discern a sense of what people were seeking God about and tie that into the worship set. She spent time during the church early morning prayer meeting listening to what people were praying, She said “It was like petitioning and thanking God in our worship services - like…”Hear My Cry O God, Attend Unto My Prayer…” and made a note of songs that came to mind as they were praying.

Worship Bass Song Learner DVDs now available

We have expanded the DVDs in our popular Song Learner Series to a set of three for Worship Bass. These compliment the teaching on the Musicademy Worship Bass Course DVDs by developing your bass playing style with tasteful creative bass parts to well known songs. Each song section is broken down step-by-step so you don’t miss a note and culminates in a full play through that you can use again and again as a practice tool.

Songs used include In Christ Alone, Indescribable, Everlasting God, a beautiful rendition of Paul Baloche’s Offering and a fantastic but challenging gospel version of Oh Happy Day.

The Song Learners are available as individual online downloads and on three new DVDs. Volume 1 is suitable for newish players – perhaps at our beginners volume 2 or 3 level. The 3rd volume includes some intermediate level songs which will really stretch even quite competent players.

New website and blog – sneak preview

We’ll be launching our fabulous new website and blog later this month. The blog is going to feature loads of free video content as well as articles by a panel of great bloggers who all have lots to say in their respective fields. To give you a sneak preview here is a fun article written by Scott Bartlett. Scott is from Canada and has worked with us at Musicademy on various projects. He runs a recording studio and music store, and in the past has been a youth leader, worship leader AND started a church. All crammed into 35 sleep deprived years! So he has a lot to say. This is a kinda fun one to start with so enjoy!

Top 10 Mistakes Most Churches Make When Recording Their First Worship Album

10. Raising $150,000 and hiring the Hillsong production team only to end up with the best-sounding, worst-written, worship CD to sell 211 copies in the history of churchianity

9. Raising $300 to contract Young Johnny Boskers and his 2-channel M-Audio interface to “complete a full recording within six months” only to realize Little Johnny has no chance of completing said-project under said-conditions with said-budget in under 8 years… The church, nearly one-decade hence, ends up with the worst-sounding, worst-written, worship CD to sell 211 copies in the history of churchianity

8. Raising no money whatsoever, but contracting a professional, secular engineer “by faith”… This pretty much has “is going to go sour” written all over it right from the get-go

7. Including “that one singer we never put in the monitors or mains” because “she’s faithful” and “we should all be involved” — unless, of course, the whole point of doing a recording project is actually to facilitate community and involvement — this in itself can be an excellent reason to record, but one that should not be confused with “…and also have a great-sounding, big-selling project at the end of the day”

6. Concluding a pre-production meeting with phrases like “yeah, who needs a metronome anyway?” and “that kind of stuff just makes things sound ‘clinical’ and ‘stale’” and “because in our church we want that natural, spontaneous, LIVE feel” (unless of course you drummer’s meter is actually so good that click tracks literally run and hide inside their dual-cores from the sheer terror of his or her presence)

5. Listening to the takes as a group and agreeing together “that stuff can all be fixed in the mix”

4. Not stoning “that guy” who kept publicly sharing his vision of twelve stars (who ironically had names like Tim, Matt, Martin, Chris and Darlene) bowing down to an even bigger star (which ironically was named after your home church) .. The day God tells you to do a CD because “you’re the next big thing on the worship scene” should be a huge warning sign *8)

3. Calling Kingsway’s A/R reps to inform them that you’ve finally capture “The New Sound” on tape… To be honest, the greatest concern here is that they’ve never EVER heard that before, and they’ll be so socked / filled with joy it could lead to heart issues.

2. Getting the “Word of the Lord” that it’s time to record on Thursday and figuring things should be ready to commence the following Sunday, thus provoking an exciting pastoral announcement *this* Sunday that “We’re recording a CD! Don’t worry, this won’t take long at all - in fact, we should have copies for sale in the bookstore by month’s end!” Insult to injury can be added by announcing pre-pays / pre-orders will be taken starting immediately.

1. When the music pastor confuses the phrase “The Church is making a worship album” with “This is the congregation’s opportunity to blessedly and lovingly fund my future ministry career, which will undoubtedly involve touring, guest appearances on the 700 Club, and me getting out of this dead-end, unpaid job as fast as possible”

Workbooks for Drum DVDs

Our student workbooks for our Beginner Worship Drums DVDs are now available on our webstore. Each workbook breaks each DVD into a 10 session course incorporating all the lessons, click tracks, worship leader interviews and play throughs. As well as all the drum notation graphics from the DVDs, there are also lots of new exercises for practise.

Musicademy Live Workshop – 8 November

We are running a day of worship training in Cheam, Surrey UK on Saturday 8th November. The church hosting the event is very happy for others to join – please call 020 8642 5070 for more information and to book (price £25).

There will be vocals workshops throughout the day as well as hands-on band skills sessions and input for guitarist, bassists, keyboardists, drummers and orchestral instruments.

Sign up friends to our newsletter and get a free online lesson

Do you have people in your worship team that would like to receive our newsletter each month?

Send us their email addresses and we’ll send you a coupon for a free online vocals, guitar, keys, drums or bass lesson.

Competition result

Heather Moorman from Chattanooga, TN in the US won our last competition and one five online Song Learner lessons