The Importance of Teaching
Dec 9, 2009 Youth Worship
When working with my youth worship team I often find myself emphasizing rehearsing the songs. After all, we generally have one event or another to prepare for so that means creating a songlist, and working up that music to perform or lead with.
I have realized, however, that there is a huge benefit to teaching, and not just rehearsing. When I first started to teach guitar lessons I told myself that I wanted my students to learn why a chord was what it was, what the names of the notes they were paying etc… Instead of just “play this chord”
I believed by teaching them how to learn to play guitar, then they could continue to learn whether I was teaching them or not.
The same thing should be true for worship teams. We should work with them to teach the basics of chord structures, rhythms, balance, tone, song structure, etc… So that they begin to recognize these things.
What’s cool is that when your group starts to learn these things, they begin to play musically together. You don’t have to explain every part of every song, but they begin to feel it.
For us this has resulted in more productive rehearsals, and more enjoyable ones too.
So what basic lessons would you teach a beginning praise band?
Tags: band, Event, guitar, How To, lessons, Music, praise, rehearsal, sing, song, Songlist, Songs, Team, work, Worship, worship team, worship teams, youth, Youth Worship
Teaching Class Guitar Lessons Week 3
Mar 7, 2009 How To
This week was our 3rd week of guitar lessons and I wanted to get to the point of what most people want to do with their guitar, which is playing chord. I included in their worksheets a basic chord chart. I figured since we learned how to read a chord chart last week that they should do fine and I was right. I started with a basic chord progression of 1 4 5 4 1 and we started in the key of C so they played C F G F C. Then I said I would just add one chord and we would play in a different key. I asked them to learn D. Then I asked what the chord progression would be in the key of G and we figured it out G C D C G. Then I added the A chord and we played the progression in the key of D which was D G A G D. It was a great way to build on a progression having to only learn one new chord at a time.
After that we worked on strumming patterns. Started of just playing down and upstrokes 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &. Then I taught them to keep the same pattern but only actually strum at different times. I had half the class play on down beats only, and the other half play on upbeats only. We will build from that and add different patterns over the next three weeks.
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Tags: fork In the Road, guitar, How To, lessons, work
Teaching Class Guitar Lessons Week 2
Mar 6, 2009 How To
Last Thursday we had our second guitar lesson for the class. I actually gained one student, and everyone else was there as well. I asked the question at the beginning how many practiced and most of them said they spent atleast a little time working on stuff during the week.
I took some time to review and then we talked about tuning. The previous week we tuned using a tuner, but this week we talked about tuning using the 5th fret method. I think they actually took to it easier than the tuner. That may have been because they had been using the tuner for a week and the guitars were already close to being intune.
Afte that we reviewed how to make a scale and we played the G scale two octaves all the way up. Then we went over how to make a chord. I told them that making a chord was like carving a statue of an elephant. To carve a statue of an elephant you take a block of marble and chip away anything that doesn’t look like an elephant. I then said making a chord is the same thing. We wrote down the three notes that make a G chord and then circled all those notes on the guitar fretboard. Then I showed them the fingering for a G chord and it made sense. My goal is to show them why something is not just what it is.
Finally we ended with chord progressions, and talked about what I IV V etc meant.
It was a great class. I had some requests to tape the class and put it up online. There are lots of online guitar classes out there but what do you think?
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Tags: fork In the Road, guitar, How To, lessons, work
Teaching Class Guitar Lessons Week 1
Feb 21, 2009 How To
On many occasions during the past year I have been asked to teach individual guitar lessons. Instead of doing private guitar lessons, like I have done in the past, I decided to try a different approach. I put a small article in our church magazine indicating that I would be teaching a 6 week class for beginning guitar players one hour, once a week. I had never tried teaching a guitar class before but I thought it might be fun, and at least be different.
I advertised for about 3 weeks. I told people if they were interested to email me and let me know. I had a few inquiries on Sundays, a phone call or two and an email. I really was wondering what I should expect. Would anyone come? Who would they be?
Thursday night we had our first class. I had 12 students; 3 kids, 2 youth and 7 adults. As I was warned by a fellow blogger and worship leader, the first 20 minutes we spent on tuning. But we also were able to cover the parts of a guitar, how to hold a pick, alternate picking, the names of the strings, what half steps, whole, steps are, what makes up a major scale, how you get a triad, and how to play a G and C chord.
It was alot for one night and I will be interested to see how much they retain for the next week. I plan on using video to put demonstrations on our church website and using video to answer questions they have during the week. When I get some of those up I will definately show you the links.
So if you have taught or were going to teach a beginner guitar class, what would you cover in your next lesson?
Tags: Church, guitar, How To, lessons, Sunday, video, Worship, Worship Leader, youth
Worship Service Brainstorm #3
Feb 15, 2009 Worship Planning
A few months ago I proposed an idea to help worship leaders brainstorm and give ideas for worship services we were working on. The Worship Service Brainstorm is an opportunity for you to help out, give suggestions and ideas, and to gain some ideas and resources.
This weeks worship service brainstorm comes from John Hagge at oursaviorlcms.org.
Here is the information he is working with so far
Date of Service- 3/29/2009
Possible Scriptures: None as yet however given the thought from below it would be from Proverbs or the lessons of the day – series B Jer. 31:31-34 Heb. 5:1-10 & Mark 10:32-45
Title or Topic- Unkown as of yet
Songs- Unknown
Other Elements- I really had hoped to have more info but I plan to discuss this with our youth on Sunday morning and giving them some assignments. BUT one idea that our youth board had was to have (as the sermon) a skit that is a spin off of the TV are you smarter that a fifth grader; only our “show” would be “Are you smarter that a Confirmand?”
So what’s next? Leave your suggestions. Maybe you have a song that would go well, or you have done a skit that would work. Leave links to items posted on your own blog or others. Just get the dialogue going and lets help each other out.
Tags: Brainstorm, lessons, Resource, resources, Songs, Sunday, work, Worship, Worship Leader, Worship Planning, youth
Lessons Learned from My Dogs- #1 Let It Go
Jan 26, 2009 Devotions and Thoughts
I have 4 dogs and a cat. Each one has their own personality and quirks and I love them all. The amazing thing is that for the most part they all get along, even the cat. What has suprised me though is how, by watching them interact, I have learned some really great lessons.
I thought I would take a chance to break from my usual posts about chords, or music, or worship, to share some of these insights with you from time to time.
This evening we were sitting in the living room watching tv. As usual Jaeda our Cocker Spaniel was on the back of the couch, Ultra had claimed the love seat and Honey, the Lab/Greyhound was laying in the middle of the floor chewing on a nylabone. That’s when Mia, the fourth dog, walked right up to Honey, put her mouth on the nylabone and took it away. Mia walked away about five feet, laid down and began to chew on her recently stolen treasure.
I know if that had happened to me I would have done one of two things. Either gone over and taken it right back, or gone and complained to a higher authority about how something had been taken from me and it wasn’t fair.
So what was Honey’s response? Honey looked at Mia, then got up, walked over to the “toy” box and picked out another chew toy. She did not growl, she did not whine, she just moved on. She could have held on and fought but she just let it go.
What did I learn? Sometimes it’s best to just let it go. I recall this verse from 2 Timothy.
“Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 2 Timothy 2:23″
As I look through my day I can see countless times where I get into a discussion or argument that really doesn’t matter in the end, when the best thing for me to do would be to get up, go find something else, and just let it go. Earlier in the verse 4 it says:
“No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer.”
Before getting involved in one of these discussions, or arguments I really need to ask, “Does getting involved with this have anything to do with what God is wanting me to do? Does it please Him?” This question even cuts out those things that may not be harmful, but just are not relevant to me or my ministry or my calling.
So my question to you. How much of your day is spent in discussions, arguments or quarrels when it would really be best to just walk away and let it go?
Why is this important to do?
Tags: break, Chords, Devotional, dogs, lessons, Music, question, Share, walk, Win, Worship
National Youth Workers Convention- Part 1
Nov 22, 2008 Uncategorized
This weekend I am attending the National Youth Workers Convention in Nashville TN. I have attended many of these events in the past years, especially when I was the youth director, but now since I have moved into a different role, (I am a volunteer and work with the youth band) I am viewing this conference differently. I used to come with my seminars already chosen about being a youth director, or setting up a youth group, or the best games for youth groups. Now I am looking at things like the course I took yesterday on how to be a transformational leader, or spiritual disciplines, and things like that.
The thing that always awesome are the general sessions and times of worship and teaching that occur there. Yesterday they started off with Mercy Me, David Crowder, Joe Castillo (The sand art guy) and Frances Chan.
Well… we are about to head off to lunch and a super seminar. I hope to share some of the lessons learned with you in future posts. Oh.. and for all you twitter folk you can follow what’s going on by searching the tag #nywc.
Tags: band, How To, lessons, National Youth Workers Convention, twitter, work, Worship, youth, Youth Band
Online Lesson- Basic Chord Theory and Nashville Numbering Part 2
Aug 29, 2008 Youth Worship
These are lessons 2 and 3 of an online lesson on Basic Chord Theory and the Nashville Numbering system. This lesson deals with how to put together scales and chords. It is built on lesson one which talked about intervals and whole and half steps.
Part II – Scales
A scale is made up of a combination of intervals sequentially ascending or descending. For our purpose we will be looking at Major scales. Each scale will include one of every letter (A-G) of the musical alphabet.
Major Scales- Major scales pattern of steps is W W H W W W H
To figure out the scale start on any given note. Lets take C for an example. Then just move up the required step to get the next note. Then proceed from there till the end.
C (W) D (W) E (H) F (W) G (W) A (W) B (H) C
Ex. 3. Try creating a scale in the following Keys. The first letter and some of the others have been filled in to help you.
_D_ (W)____ (W)____(H)____(W)____(W)____(W)____(H)____
_G_ (W)____ (W)____(H)____(W)____(W)____(W)____(H)____
_A_ (W)____ (W)____(H)____(W)____(W)____(W)____(H)____
_E_ (W)____ (W)____(H)____(W)____(W)____(W)____(H)____
Part III- Chords
A chord is two or more tones played simultaneously. For the purposes of this lesson we will be dealing with major, minor and diminished tritones. Tri meaning three and tones meaning tones or notes. So a tritone would be three notes played at the same time.
Remember about whole steps and half steps? Well chords use that same concept as intervals. After chords are just combinations of intervals. A major chord consists of two intervals. The first interval is two whole steps, the second is a whole step and a half step. So to make a C Major chord you start with the root note. (The root note or tonic is the note the chord starts on)
and count up from there. Here is an example
Starting note is C two whole steps takes you to E and a half step and whole step take you to G
Note: Two whole steps are called a Major 3rd, A whole step and half step are called a Minor 3rd
Simplified it looks like this; C (W)(W) E (H)(W) G or C (major third) E (minor third) G
You can also find it by writing out the scale you are using and choose every other note:
C D E F G A B C
Ex 3. Try writing out the following major chords in the key of G (Hint use the G scale above)
G major = G B __ D__
C major = C ____ ____
D major = D ____ ____
A minor chord consists of the opposite intervals. The first interval is a half step and whole step, the second interval is two whole steps, or a Minor third and then a Major third.
Use the same C scale but start a chord on D
D (H)(W) F (W)(W) A
Ex 4. Try writing out the following minor chords in the key of G (Hint use the G scale above)
A minor = A C __ E__
B minor = B ____ ____
E minor = B ____ ____
Please feel free to use this with your praise team or for personal study. If you want the answers I can get those to you. If you missed it, view lesson one here.
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Tags: Chords, Free, How To, lessons, Nashville Numbering, Team, Theory
3 Things: Advice for New Worship Leaders
Jul 26, 2008 Worship Planning
One of my goals and passions is to help young worship leaders develop and help to give them the tools and opportunities to do so. With that in mind I thought what would I tell someone who is starting to lead worship? So I am starting this post of “3 Things”.
Three things to keep in mind when leading worship.
1. Have more than you need- You never know when a worship service might run quicker than you expect, or someone who was supposed to sing a song gets sick, or any number of other things happen where you need an extra song. If you think you’ll need 5 songs for a set, plan and rehearse 6 or 7. This way when something unexpected happens you are ready. We always have a few songs that we know we can do with little or no rehearsal to help when unexpected things happen.
2. Timing is Everything-Know how to read the congregation and to feel how the service is flowing. Maybe everything is going well and you can sense that you can keep going with a worship set. Maybe this may not be the best time for a long contemplative repetitive solo chorus. Also in your set know when to do a faster more upbeat song, and when to slow it down and move into the more contemplative song.
3.Know more than songs- Your role as a worship leader is more than just singing songs or leading the band. Therefore you should have more in your repertoire than music and lyrics. You should be able to lead the congregation in prayer, have stories or illustrations to use as a transition between songs, or between worship elements.
Here are the three things I would mention right now. But what would you say? Share three things you would want to tell new worship leaders.
Tags: band, CD, How To, lessons, Prayer, rehearsal, Songs, Worship, Worship Leader
Video Lesson: 4 Easy Chords
Jul 25, 2008 How To
Last year I began a Tuesday night guitar class for some kids in my youth group who wanted to learn to play. Due to sheer time constraints, I had to discontinue my class. Some of the kids kept practicing while others lost the motivation they got from our weekly sessions. I recently began entertaining the idea of using video recording technology to create short guitar lessons for kids in my youth group. So, I tried it. This format will hopefully be good for those kids like me who hate reading tablature and books. This is approximately a 5-minute video that shows a 4-chord pattern in the key of E that can be played with the same finger pattern in several different positions on the neck of the guitar. This makes it an easy pattern to learn for a young guitar player. It is a perfect pattern for songs in E that use the E, A, B, and C#m chords. I use these chords in playing “Hungry”, “In the Secret”, “Better is One Day”, “Open the Eyes of My Heart”, “Let Everything that Has Breath”, and “Alle”, just to name a few. I hope this will be the first of several short lesson videos your young guitar players can play, pause, and rewind until they get it right. Here is the link:
In true Fork in the Road fashion, what online resources do you use in teaching the students in your youth band?
Tags: application, band, CD, Chords, fork In the Road, guitar, jason huffman, lessons, Recording, Resource, resources, Songs, technology, video, youth, Youth Band
