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
The Right Key is One Key to Stong Vocals
Nov 30, 2009 Worship Planning, Youth Worship
There are many ways you can help your worship team vocalists sing strong with confidence. One thing I discovered this past year is that the right key is the key!
Last year I would introduce a song usually by listening to the cd then having the band try it and vocals sing. Many times they would like the song, however the vocalist would be struggling trying to sing out of their range, or flipping octaves between verse and chorus. Since the music was printed and we had already worked on learning in the original key, it was hard to change keys and we usually just struggled through.
This year we tried something different. This year every new song we introduced to the vocals first. After they learned the basic tune we found the key that best suited their voices. I made a note of the key and then during the next week would print music accordingly.
I have really noticed a difference in a few key areas:
1. They enjoy it more- When they are comfortable with the key they don’t have to worry about how they will hit the notes, and less worry means more fun.
2. They are stronger- Since we chose a key that fits their range they are more confident and sing out.
3. They get more done- Since we no longer take time out in rehearsal searching for keys with the whole band, and transposing music 2-3 times we get more done, learn more music and get better as a band.
What tips do you have for developing vocalists?
Tags: band, CD, Difference, help, listen, Music, New Song, rehearsal, sing, song, Team, tips, vocals, voices, work, Worship, worship team, youth, Youth Worship
Moving Day Approaches
Nov 11, 2009 Me
The last few weeks have been an exciing time for my wife and I. We are now in the final stages of purchasing our first house. Please continue to pray for us as closing day approaches.
I know that owning a home will come with many challenges. I know moving will have it’s share too. This is why I am asking for your help.
What are the things you wish you knew when you were moving into your first home? What are some tips you discovered that you could share? What would you do differently?
Hopefully your comments will not only help us but also others who are approaching this same point in their lives soon. I look forward to your responses. Thank you!
Before You Create Your Webpage
Nov 11, 2009 Uncategorized
“Do you want people to spend time visiting your church website or visiting your church?” This is the question a wise person asked me when I was talking about upgrading our church website. The question caused me to rethink some of the things I was planning for our site. I am not arguing against having a quality website, however I think there are some questions to be asked, and things to seriously be considered when you are starting a website for your church or non profit organization. Here is a list of questions I came up with:
1. What is your goal? You need to decide what your website will provide. Maybe it will have basic information like dates, times and forms. What ever your reason make sure that you are using the appropriate tool, or site, for the job.
2. How much are you going to spend- You can easily spend $2500 or more to have a beautiful website designed for your group or church. You need to ask yourself whether that money should be spent on your web presence or if it could be put to use in your organization in a better way.
3. What do you need to get your message across? Wait.. first figure out what your message is. Then what do you need to get that message out. Will flash slideshow with pictures be the best format? Would video updates be effective? Do you need to be able to create podcasts?
4. Who is your audience and how do they like to be reached? Don’t just think about who you are communicating with but also consider what ways they communicate. I recently had a member of our church tell me she does not go to our website. When I asked why, she said that she gets our email updates and facebook messages and they all came to her phone. She has no idea what the website looks like, how many hours I spent choosing the right photo or how much money we spent designing it. She gets the information she wants in the best format for her. That’s what’s important.
5. Consider other forms of communication- In this artcile by Fred Zimny he proposes that with services like facebook and twitter, that websites are becoming less important and are being forced to change:
“Over the next few years, we’re going to see official institutional websites become less important. They will cease functioning as the only point of web interaction between businesses and customers and will become merely the official storefront. The main “conversion goal” of these retooled portal sites will be to drive interactions onto the third-party social networking sites.”
It used to be that your goal was to get people to come to your website for interaction with your company. It seems more and more that websites are directing their visitors to their presence on social networking sites like facebook and twitter. Consider the thought that a website cannot be the only online presence your organization has.
6. Will your web presence be mobile?- Look at the number of iphones, blackberry’s, droids and other smartphones that are out there. More and more we access the web on the go. Are you considering how your site will be accessed by these devices?
What questions do you think should be considered before starting a website for your organization?
Tags: Church, Communication, email, facebook, people, photo, Pictures, podcast, question, Service, sing, twitter, video, websites, work
Instrumental Reflections #10- Bridal Entrance and Podcast Test
Oct 28, 2009 Free Stuff, Instrumental Reflections, podcast
This past weekend I had the privilege of providing music for the wedding of one of my former youth. The really cool part is that I was given the challenge of providing original music for the ceremony. This is the original recording of what was chosen for the Bride’s Entrance.
Also, I am using this post to test out the podcasting of Instrumental Reflections. The podcast will include not only these instrumental reflections but also other items, thoughts, videos, interviews etc that I can capture and put up here. What do you think?
Oh.. and I haven’t forgotten about the Christmas Instrumental Reflections.. I promise they are coming soon.
To listen click play!
Click here for the feed for the podcast or here to subscribe in itunes
Tags: bride, capture, Christmas, Click, Instrumental, mp3, Music, piano, podcast, Recording, reflections, sing, song, Songs, subscribe, Thoughts, video, wedding entrance, youth
Creative Artists or Praise and Worship Cover Band?
Oct 28, 2009 How To, Worship Planning
I was reading through various friends facebook updates when this one by Chuck Harris caught my attention:
“The church does not prize originality, but rather cloning, it does not prize freedom, but control.” Leonard Sweet.
It got me to thinking about how we approach worship music in the church. Do we foster an atmosphere of creativity and unleash our members to use their talent in unique and creative ways, or do we throttle creativity by insisting on playing a piece just as it was recorded by the latest worship band? I admit it is much easier to do the second. I also think that we are encouraged to do so by artists and publishing companies because they make it so easy. You can find now an extensive library of resources where the worship tunes have been charted out to mimic their recording. It is easier to learn the music when CD’s can be listened to and are available for easy reference. I wonder though if it has not just made us a praise and worship cover band. Although it is easier, is it best?
I had been thinking on this topic even before I read the quote above. One of our band members, who had been thinking along the same lines, asked if we could try an experiment. He said that we should pass out a chord chart to a song, and let us come up with the arrangement before listening to it on the CD.
I really want to get your thoughts.
What are the benefits of using CDs and pre-written charts?
What are the benefits of doing your own thing?
Which do you use more often? Why?
What are other ways you can foster creativity with your band?
Tags: band, CD, charts, chord chart, Church, facebook, Free, late, listen, Music, praise, praise and worship, Reading, Recording, Resource, resources, sing, song, Thoughts, Worship
Help Me Choose Christmas Instrumental Reflection
Oct 15, 2009 Free Stuff, Instrumental Reflections
I have very much enjoyed composing and posting the first 9 instrumental reflections I have shared with you. If you have been listening you know that some of the songs are original compositions, and some are original takes on old hymns. Most were chosen because they are my favorites, or say something to me, as I hope they have to you.
I thought it might be a good change though, to give you a chance to choose the instrumental reflections for Christmas. Over the next 6 weeks I plan to record 8-10 Christmas Hymn variations. I plan on writing them on Friday, so each week, from Monday-Thursday I’ll be taking suggestions. I will write a post on Monday asking for your ideas. Leave a comment on that post as to which hymn you think should be that weeks reflection and why. On Friday I’ll choose two and record them. If your’s is not chosen the first week be sure and suggest it the second week and so forth.
Each week I will also draw one name at random from those who entered. At the end of the recordings I will make a CD with the recordings and send them out to those winners.
Rule: Only one suggestion per person, per week. That way one person doesn’t just list all the Christmas songs ever written.
Ok.. sound good?
Tags: asking, Carols, CD, choose, Christmas, Free CD, help, Hymn, Instrumental, listen, Recording, reflections, Share, sing, song, Songs, Win
Video Tips- One Way to Capture Audio
Oct 7, 2009 Communication, Media and Technology
Video is something I have just started doing at our church. Even though it is new to us as a way to communicate, we are already seeing some awesome results. We started out doing all of our youth updates as a video and have had some fun with that.
To start off with though, all the videos have been kind of funny and light. That changed this past week when our pastor wanted me to video the testimony of one of our members. When doing the funny, light videos it was good to hear what was being said, but with background music and other elements in the video sound quality could be compromised a bit. With the testimony, however, I knew that we had to get the best sound possible.
First you should know we are using two Everio Hard Disk cameras, set up in two locations with different angles. Its a good consumer level camera with a decent microphone. We have not invested in higher quality equipment, extra microphones or any thing else up to this point because we are just getting started and want to build slowly. But I did need to find a way to capture good audio. When telling a testimony, we really need to hear the story.
This is when I got the idea to just use the church sound system. We used the wireless lapel mic as our input. I then captured the audio three different ways. First it was captured by one of the two cameras I had set up; Second it was captured by sending it from the board, to a wireless earphone pack, to the second camera’s microphone input; and third it was captured by a CD recorder running on the sound board. We recorded the interview and I used my computer later to sync up the video, and audio from the different sources.
The best thing would be to purchase a good microphone for the video camera, and I hope that is in our future. However, this way gave great results and did not cost us anything.
Do you use video in your church? If so how? Is it effective? What is your setup?
Tags: audio, Background, Camera, capture, CD, Church, computer, Everio, Funny, late, Music, sing, tips, video, youth
Instrumental Reflection #7
Sep 19, 2009 Free Stuff, Instrumental Reflections
I have to admit it has been much harder than I originally thought to produce one of these reflections per week. I won’t get caught up but will try to be more reliable in the future.
This week I sat down in my office and flipped through the hymnal. I came across one of my favorite hymns “My Jesus I Love Thee.” I love leading contemporary worship but definitely miss some of the hymns I grew up singing week after week. I decided to just sit down and play what came to mind. This recording is pretty close to my original thoughts. Enjoy.
Click to listen. Right click and choose “Save as” or “save target as” to save to your computer.
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Did you enjoy this Instrumental Reflection? Check out the other instrumental reflections in the suggested sites below. To get them delivered to your inbox Subscribe to forkintheroad by Email
To listen click play!
Tags: choose, computer, contemporary worship, email, favorite hymns, hymnal, Instrumental, mp3, Music, Recording, reflections, sing, song, Songs, subscribe, Thoughts, Worship
What Should I Sing?
Jul 10, 2009 How To, Worship Planning, Youth Worship
When I am a guest worship leader at a camp, or retreat, one of the hardest things I deal with is figuring out what songs I should sing. This seems like a small thing, but I can’t help but think, “Are they going to know these songs?” or “What songs mean the most to them?”
Here are three ideas about how to choose songs in that situation:
1. Talk to leaders and participants ahead of time if possible. When you first are contacted about leading worship, ask about what songs they use. Find out if they use hymns or worship songs, gospel, cutting edge, emerging? Ask what the worship service is like at their church or churches? Do they have a band, or is it more acoustic? This doesn’t mean you have to change your style, but this information can help you to choose songs that are more representative for the group.
2. Have a suggestion box- The first time I tried this I was skeptical about it. I was leading worship for a college work camp and the program director put out a suggestion box in the back. She told the group that if they had any suggestions for worship to put them in and we would try to accommodate them. It turned out working great. The song suggestions they had let me know what they were familiar with, and by their choices told me what they were needing to hear. We were able to use most of the songs, many of which I was already planning on anyway. Some of them were ones I did not know, but learned, and not only used there, but have used many times since and have become a regular part of my repertoire.
3. Well I don’t have a third one.. what would you suggest?
Tags: band, camp, choose, Church, College, guest, help, How To, Music, question, retreat, Service, sing, song, Songs, work, Worship, Worship Leader
