{"id":6244,"date":"2011-07-12T10:03:59","date_gmt":"2011-07-12T10:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/?p=6244"},"modified":"2019-07-31T12:26:00","modified_gmt":"2019-07-31T12:26:00","slug":"practical-ideas-to-improve-rehearsals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/practical-ideas-to-improve-rehearsals\/","title":{"rendered":"Practical ideas to improve rehearsals (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"
As promised, we\u2019re going to dive into some practical stuff to help us practice our stuff.<\/div>\n
The temptation is to start with the band and vocalists and \u201claundry-list\u201d them with what they should be doing to prepare. But it needs to start with us leaders. As worship pastors, music directors, lay leaders, etc., it is our job to serve the team so they can serve the congregation. The first practical step to helping the team practice their stuff is to give them the right stuff to practice. Here\u2019s how I attempt to serve my team when it comes to charts and music.<\/div>\n
Distributing music well in advance<\/div>\n
Early in my ministry, I planned music the week of. Being a fly-by-the-strap-of-my-guitar kind of guy, it worked for me. But it didn\u2019t allow for any personal prep \u2013 especially since it was the days before e-mailing PDF\u2019s or downloading MP3\u2032s. It took me a year or so to get comfortable planning a month at a time. But now that I\u2019ve done it for several years, I couldn\u2019t imagine going back. (This can be difficult for those of you with ministry philosophies that tie all songs to the sermon topic \u2013 especially if your senior pastor doesn\u2019t work ahead. I\u2019d love for you to chime in on the comments if you\u2019re in that situation \u2013 can you plan ahead? If so, how do you plan ahead, etc.)<\/div>\n
Making distribution as easy as possible<\/div>\n
I\u2019ve got an interesting situation. I serve at a church that has two campuses that reach into both suburban and rural settings (and when I say rural, think AMISH rural \u2013 I literally dodge black buggies on the way there). Some on my team are technically competent and appreciate that they can download pdf charts and mp3s at their convenience. Some on my team still have dial-up because DSL and broadband isn\u2019t offered in their area. [Moment of silent pity.]<\/div>\n
Because of the divergent levels of technology use and the distance between the two campuses, I maintain a simple website to allow team members to download mp3s and pdfs AND I make hard copy charts and CDs for those who don\u2019t have (or can\u2019t figure out) the technology. Would I prefer that everyone just use the website? Sure, but that doesn\u2019t serve the whole team in our current reality.<\/div>\n
Consider the different learning styles and preferences of your team<\/div>\n
There\u2019s a spectrum of musicians you\u2019ll encounter. On one side, you\u2019ll have the person [most often a piano player] who only reads. This player needs fully arranged piano charts. At the far end, you\u2019ll have a player who only plays by ear. The extreme case of this is the player who doesn\u2019t even know what notes or chords he\u2019s playing. Hopefully the bulk of your team lands closer to the center.<\/div>\n
I take a \u201cwide middle\u201d approach and offer leadsheets, chord charts, guitar charts (chord charts with \u201ccapo chords\u201d instead of the original key) and lyric sheets. Sound excessive? Yeah, a little. But 90% of my songs I can get from SongSelect in each of those forms.<\/div>\n
Honestly, I\u2019d love it if I could use only the lead sheet. But my team is made of different types of personalities with diverse musical backgrounds, AND I have an administrative assistant that helps out. If you\u2019re a volunteer leader, or a paid leader in a church with no admin help, you need to draw a line in the sand. In my last church, I had to get myself flowers for Administrative Assistant\u2019s Day, so serving the team in this way wasn\u2019t feasible. I simply used lead sheets and mp3s.<\/div>\n
If you want to find out more about the different \u00a0kinds of charts I use, how I make chord charts\/capo charts, how I transpose mp3s, and why I vehemently hate fully arranged piano accompaniments, check out this supplemental post I created that goes into more detail.<\/div>\n
Find that balance between serving the needs of the team and what you\u2019re realistically able to do. And make sure you communicate why you can\u2019t give the vocalists a score with their part written out or why you\u2019re requiring the guitarist to transcribe his own capo notes. People will have grace (and they just might offer to help out\u2026).<\/div>\n
The last point I want to make about serving my team with charts\/music is this\u2026<\/div>\n
Maintain a manageable repertoire<\/div>\n
If you\u2019re choosing from 100 \u2013 200 songs on any given week, chances are you\u2019ve got a bigger repertoire than your team (and congregation) can handle. There are exceptions, but I know my church isn\u2019t one of those exceptions. So I have a list of about 30 \u2013 40 songs I call my Current Rotation. There are classic hymns and choruses I can add to that, but for the most part, I like to keep the numbers down. If you\u2019re interested in learning more about this, I have a free e-training on this called, \u201cWhat\u2019s in Your Playlist?\u201d at www.worshipteamcoach.com\/resources.html.<\/div>\n
The next post we\u2019ll dive into some practical stuff for rehearsing together as a band.<\/div>\n

As promised, we\u2019re going to dive into some practical stuff to help us practice our stuff.<\/p>\n

The temptation is to start with the band and vocalists and \u201claundry-list\u201d them with what they should be doing to prepare. But it needs to start with us leaders. As worship pastors, music directors, lay leaders, etc., it is our job to serve the team so they can serve the congregation. The first practical step to helping the team practice their stuff is to give them the right stuff to practice. Here\u2019s how I attempt to serve my team when it comes to charts and music.<\/p>\n

Distributing music well in advance<\/strong><\/p>\n

Early in my ministry, I planned music the week of. Being a fly-by-the-strap-of-my-guitar kind of guy, it worked for me. But it didn\u2019t allow for any personal prep \u2013 especially since it was the days before e-mailing PDFs or downloading MP3s. It took me a year or so to get comfortable planning a month at a time. But now that I\u2019ve done it for several years, I couldn\u2019t imagine going back. (This can be difficult for those of you with ministry philosophies that tie all songs to the sermon topic \u2013 especially if your senior pastor doesn\u2019t work ahead. I\u2019d love for you to chime in on the comments if you\u2019re in that situation \u2013 can you plan ahead? If so, how do you plan ahead, etc.)<\/p>\n

Making distribution as easy as possible<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got an interesting situation. I serve at a church that has two campuses that reach into both suburban and rural settings (and when I say rural, think AMISH rural \u2013 I literally dodge black buggies on the way there). Some on my team are technically competent and appreciate that they can download pdf charts and mp3s at their convenience. Some on my team still have dial-up because DSL and broadband isn\u2019t offered in their area. [Moment of silent pity.]<\/p>\n

Because of the divergent levels of technology use and the distance between the two campuses, I maintain a simple website to allow team members to download mp3s and pdfs AND I make hard copy charts and CDs for those who don\u2019t have (or can\u2019t figure out) the technology. Would I prefer that everyone just use the website? Sure, but that doesn\u2019t serve the whole team in our current reality.<\/p>\n

Consider the different learning styles and preferences of your team<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a spectrum of musicians you\u2019ll encounter. On one side, you\u2019ll have the person [most often a piano player] who only reads. This player needs fully arranged piano charts [or Musicademy’s Worship Keyboard DVDs <\/a>to teach them how to play using chords]. At the far end, you\u2019ll have a player who only plays by ear. The extreme case of this is the player who doesn\u2019t even know what notes or chords he\u2019s playing. Hopefully the bulk of your team lands closer to the center.<\/p>\n

I take a \u201cwide middle\u201d approach and offer leadsheets, chord charts, guitar charts (chord charts with \u201ccapo chords\u201d instead of the original key) and lyric sheets. Sound excessive? Yeah, a little. But 90% of my songs I can get from SongSelect in each of those forms.<\/p>\n

Honestly, I\u2019d love it if I could use only the lead sheet. But my team is made of different types of personalities with diverse musical backgrounds, AND I have an administrative assistant that helps out. If you\u2019re a volunteer leader, or a paid leader in a church with no admin help, you need to draw a line in the sand. In my last church, I had to get myself flowers for Administrative Assistant\u2019s Day, so serving the team in this way wasn\u2019t feasible. I simply used lead sheets and mp3s.<\/p>\n

If you want to find out more about the different \u00a0kinds of charts I use, how I make chord charts\/capo charts, how I transpose mp3s, and why I vehemently hate fully arranged piano accompaniments, check out this supplemental post<\/a> I created that goes into more detail.<\/p>\n

Find that balance between serving the needs of the team and what you\u2019re realistically able to do. And make sure you communicate why you can\u2019t give the vocalists a score with their part written out or why you\u2019re requiring the guitarist to transcribe his own capo notes. People will have grace (and they just might offer to help out\u2026).<\/p>\n

The last point I want to make about serving my team with charts\/music is this\u2026<\/p>\n

Maintain a manageable repertoire<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re choosing from 100 \u2013 200 songs on any given week, chances are you\u2019ve got a bigger repertoire than your team (and congregation) can handle. There are exceptions, but I know my church isn\u2019t one of those exceptions. So I have a list of about 30 \u2013 40 songs I call my Current Rotation. There are classic hymns and choruses I can add to that, but for the most part, I like to keep the numbers down. If you\u2019re interested in learning more about this, I have a free e-training on this called, \u201cWhat\u2019s in Your Playlist?\u201d<\/p>\n

The next post we\u2019ll dive into some practical stuff for rehearsing together as a band.<\/p>\n

\n

Guest post by Jon Nicol \u2013 a worship pastor, guitarist, songwriter and all-around-lover of helping people use their gifts and abilities to worship Jesus. This series first appeared at\u00a0WorshipMinistry.com<\/a> and Jon\u2019s site\u00a0worshipteamcoach.com. Thanks for permission to reproduce. Photo of basement worship rehearsal from <\/em>http:\/\/nclchurch.com\/go\/ncl\/photos\/worship-rehearsal\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\n<\/blockquote>\n

Other posts you might like:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The difference between practice and rehearsal (part 1)<\/a><\/p>\n

What to include in a music chart<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

A question of balance – tailoring your feedback to your worship team<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Sustainability \u2013 the reasons we blow it<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ask the Expert \u2013 How do I tell someone in the worship team that we won\u2019t be using her any more?<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Worship Team Dynamics \u2013 the phases a new team must go through<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As promised, we\u2019re going to dive into some practical stuff to help us practice our stuff. The temptation is to start with the band and vocalists and \u201claundry-list\u201d them with what they should be doing to prepare. But it needs to start with us leaders. As worship pastors, music directors, lay leaders, etc., it is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5303,"featured_media":6269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14,98],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPractical ideas to improve rehearsals (part 2) | Musicademy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, nofollow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/practical-ideas-to-improve-rehearsals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Practical ideas to improve rehearsals (part 2) | Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As promised, we\u2019re going to dive into some practical stuff to help us practice our stuff. 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