{"id":6247,"date":"2011-07-18T13:14:27","date_gmt":"2011-07-18T13:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/?p=6247"},"modified":"2019-07-31T12:16:16","modified_gmt":"2019-07-31T12:16:16","slug":"practical-help-for-band-rehearsals-standard-song-forms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/practical-help-for-band-rehearsals-standard-song-forms\/","title":{"rendered":"Practical help for band rehearsals part 3 – Standard song forms"},"content":{"rendered":"
Practical Stuff for Practicing Our Stuff: Standard Song Forms<\/div>\n
The problem with some of us worship leaders (read:me) is that we use our artistic\/free spirits \u00a0as an excuse to \u201cjust flow with it.\u201d Sometimes we\u2019ll even say we\u2019re moved by the Spirit. I\u2019m all for moving with the Holy Spirit. But often, said \u201cspirit\u201d is my own unprepared meandering. If you\u2019ve got those tendencies, too, I\u2019m going to tell you a secret: it drives other people nuts. Especially our more \u201cstructured\u201d brothers and sisters. (I know, I don\u2019t really get left-brain people either, but it\u2019s good that God made them. I mean, imagine tax season without them).<\/div>\n
So one of the ways we make life easier for everyone is to adopt a standard arrangement for each song we do. Find a workable form and stick with it (more often than not). It frees you up as the leader to NOT reinvent the song every time you play it, and it takes the guesswork out of it for your players. Bottom line: less time spent in practice and rehearsals.<\/div>\n
Each song in my team\u2019s repertoire has lyric sheet. And each lyric sheet has a text box with the order of the song (listed vertically, because it\u2019s easy to visualize the song, IMO). For example, the song form for \u201cI Will Follow\u201d looks like this:<\/div>\n
Intro 1 ( \u00bd \u00a0ch, sung)<\/div>\n
Intro 2<\/div>\n
V1<\/div>\n
Ch<\/div>\n
V2<\/div>\n
Ch<\/div>\n
Brdg<\/div>\n
Ch<\/div>\n
Ch<\/div>\n
Tag<\/div>\n
As a recovering \u201cfly-by-the-seat\u2013of-my-pants-oholic\u201d, I am finding the preset structure somewhat liberating, believe it or not. Each week as I prepare, I create a rehearsal sheet (more on that in another article) and simply refer to the standard form. And when I do make intentional changes, it\u2019s easier to communicate, because we\u2019re all starting from the same place: our stock form. Those unplanned left turns still occur. Sometimes they\u2019re Spirit led; other times, just my ADD. But since I don\u2019t do it all the time, my team has grace for me.<\/div>\n
Even those left-brainers.<\/div>\n

The problem with some of us worship leaders (read:me) is that we use our artistic\/free spirits \u00a0as an excuse to \u201cjust flow with it.\u201d Sometimes we\u2019ll even say we\u2019re moved by the Spirit. I\u2019m all for moving with the Holy Spirit. But often, said \u201cspirit\u201d is my own unprepared meandering. If you\u2019ve got those tendencies, too, I\u2019m going to tell you a secret: it drives other people nuts. Especially our more \u201cstructured\u201d brothers and sisters. (I know, I don\u2019t really get left-brain people either, but it\u2019s good that God made them. I mean, imagine tax season without them).<\/p>\n

So one of the ways we make life easier for everyone is to adopt a standard arrangement for each song we do. Find a workable form and stick with it (more often than not). It frees you up as the leader to NOT reinvent the song every time you play it, and it takes the guesswork out of it for your players. Bottom line: less time spent in practice and rehearsals.<\/p>\n

Each song in my team\u2019s repertoire has lyric sheet. And each lyric sheet has a text box with the order of the song (listed vertically, because it\u2019s easy to visualize the song, IMO). For example, the song form for \u201cI Will Follow\u201d looks like this:<\/p>\n

Intro 1 ( \u00bd \u00a0ch, sung)
\nIntro 2
\nV1
\nCh
\nV2
\nCh
\nBrdg
\nCh
\nCh
\nTag<\/p>\n

As a recovering \u201cfly-by-the-seat\u2013of-my-pants-oholic\u201d, I am finding the preset structure somewhat liberating, believe it or not. Each week as I prepare, I create a rehearsal sheet (more on that in another article) and simply refer to the standard form. And when I do make intentional changes, it\u2019s easier to communicate, because we\u2019re all starting from the same place: our stock form. Those unplanned left turns still occur. Sometimes they\u2019re Spirit led; other times, just my ADD. But since I don\u2019t do it all the time, my team has grace for me.<\/p>\n

Even those left-brainers.<\/p>\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 worshipteamcoach.com. Thanks for permission to reproduce.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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

Practical help for band rehearsals – part 1 <\/a>and part 2<\/a><\/p>\n

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

Nick Langley on Nashville numbering and charts – part 1<\/a> and part 2<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Playing by ear part 1<\/a><\/p>\n

Playing by ear part 2 \u2013 Nashville Numbering explained<\/a><\/p>\n

The failsafe method of working out which chords fit in a key<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Practical Stuff for Practicing Our Stuff: Standard Song Forms The problem with some of us worship leaders (read:me) is that we use our artistic\/free spirits \u00a0as an excuse to \u201cjust flow with it.\u201d Sometimes we\u2019ll even say we\u2019re moved by the Spirit. I\u2019m all for moving with the Holy Spirit. But often, said \u201cspirit\u201d is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5303,"featured_media":8979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14,98],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPractical help for band rehearsals part 3 - Standard song forms | 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-help-for-band-rehearsals-standard-song-forms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Practical help for band rehearsals part 3 - Standard song forms | Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Practical Stuff for Practicing Our Stuff: Standard Song Forms The problem with some of us worship leaders (read:me) is that we use our artistic\/free spirits \u00a0as an excuse to \u201cjust flow with it.\u201d Sometimes we\u2019ll even say we\u2019re moved by the Spirit. I\u2019m all for moving with the Holy Spirit. But often, said \u201cspirit\u201d is […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/practical-help-for-band-rehearsals-standard-song-forms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-18T13:14:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-07-31T12:16:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/drc0fhsrp02et.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/08122656\/youth-band-worship.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"443\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"266\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Blogger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@musicademy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@musicademy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Blogger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/practical-help-for-band-rehearsals-standard-song-forms\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/practical-help-for-band-rehearsals-standard-song-forms\/\",\"name\":\"Practical help for band rehearsals part 3 - Standard song forms | Musicademy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-18T13:14:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-07-31T12:16:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2e11130a6d8cefd1340009119102a557\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/practical-help-for-band-rehearsals-standard-song-forms\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Musicademy\",\"description\":\"Award-winning training resources for church based musicians\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2e11130a6d8cefd1340009119102a557\",\"name\":\"Guest Blogger\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.musicademy.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Practical help for band rehearsals part 3 - Standard song forms | Musicademy","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"nofollow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/practical-help-for-band-rehearsals-standard-song-forms\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Practical help for band rehearsals part 3 - Standard song forms | Musicademy","og_description":"Practical Stuff for Practicing Our Stuff: Standard Song Forms The problem with some of us worship leaders (read:me) is that we use our artistic\/free spirits \u00a0as an excuse to \u201cjust flow with it.\u201d Sometimes we\u2019ll even say we\u2019re moved by the Spirit. I\u2019m all for moving with the Holy Spirit. But often, said \u201cspirit\u201d is […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/practical-help-for-band-rehearsals-standard-song-forms\/","og_site_name":"Musicademy","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Musicademy","article_published_time":"2011-07-18T13:14:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-07-31T12:16:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"443","height":"266","url":"https:\/\/drc0fhsrp02et.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/08122656\/youth-band-worship.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Guest Blogger","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@musicademy","twitter_site":"@musicademy","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Blogger","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/practical-help-for-band-rehearsals-standard-song-forms\/","url":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/practical-help-for-band-rehearsals-standard-song-forms\/","name":"Practical help for band rehearsals part 3 - Standard song forms | Musicademy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-07-18T13:14:27+00:00","dateModified":"2019-07-31T12:16:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2e11130a6d8cefd1340009119102a557"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/practical-help-for-band-rehearsals-standard-song-forms\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/","name":"Musicademy","description":"Award-winning training resources for church based musicians","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2e11130a6d8cefd1340009119102a557","name":"Guest Blogger","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.musicademy.com"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6247"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22253,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6247\/revisions\/22253"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}