Fork In The Road Music » songlists

How We Create our Songlists

Russell Martin — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 17:07:55 +0000

I used to choose songs the week before, night before or even sometimes the morning of our weekly worship service. I used to think that was the way to do it because I could get a feel for where the Holy Spirit was leading that week. Over time I have come to learn that, while you always need to be flexible to change songs, having a long range method of planning songs works much better.

So I thought I’d share a little bit of how we choose songs for our services.

1. Choosing a set for a season- There are literally hundreds of thousands of worship songs that you could use at any given time. We try to bring that down to a list of about 90 songs that we will use for a season. This gives us a manageable list to be able to look at and choose from. We try to make sure that the songs in the list have a variety of keys, tempos, and can be sung by a variety of people. The set is a suggestion that helps keep us focused, however if a song fits well in a particular service that is not in our set, we’ll go ahead and use it. At the end of a season (3-4 months) we will look at the songs and see what new ones we want to add, or which ones we need to give a rest for a while. (see organizing your worship libraries)

2. Lectionary and Worship Planner- Our preachers choose their sermons from the lectionary scriptures. This means at any point in the future I know the scriptures that will be used on that Sunday. Our pastors choose the scripture and sermon titles at least 3-4 months out. I might not know exactly where the sermon is going, but I have a good idea of a general direction. We will then look at our songs for the season and choose ones that match the overall message for that week. We also use the Music and Worship Planner from the Methodist Church. It contains the lectionary scriptures, along with hymn and contemporary song suggestions for each week. We might not have the specific songs each week, but they help us find other songs that we know, that would fit with the service.

3. The White Board- I installed a 6×4 foot white board in my office. We will write up 4-8 weeks worth of dates on the board. Then using inspiration from the worship planner, scriptures, sermon title, and prayer we will begin filling in songs for each Sunday. We try to make sure that there are no more than one new song each week, there is a variety speed, and variety of leaders for the songs. Recently we have been trying to include an original song, and a hymn in each list.

4. The Monthly Rehearsal- Creating our songlists this way also helps with our big monthly rehearsal. We can look at the upcoming weeks and pick out the new songs, or unfamiliar ones and use that rehearsal to work over those. Since we can only really do 4-5 songs at the rehearsal that helps keep us from choosing too many new ones. Weekly we rehearse for about an hour before the service. We’ll go over the songs we are about to sing, then review some of the up coming songs.

So that’s how we do it. How do you choose your songlists?

I Need Your Suggestions- College UM Army Songs

Russell Martin — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:40:09 +0000

Next week comes one of my favorite weeks of the year. I have been asked again to lead music for College UM ARMY. During this week teams of college students, from all over, spend a week working on houses in the Houston area. This will be at least the fourth time I have had the privilege to participate in this wonderful work camp.
Last year we did something new that I thought worked really well. We set out a box and just asked for participants to send in their song requests for us to use in worship. Having 150 people participating there was no way we would be able to do all the songs requested but it gave me a good list of ideas to use.
I was surprised last year at the requests. They were for mostly “older” songs.. This year I am not sure what to expect so I am hoping we can start the process early by getting some suggestions from you. If you were going to lead worship for a group of college students for a week what songs or types of songs would you suggest?

Sunday Setlist 3/29/09

Russell Martin — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 21:29:31 +0000

Our worship service went great this week. I tweeted at the beginning that I could feel the excitment and engergy in the crowd even as they were entering in the doors. We had a good crowd, full stage and great songlist. Really had no hitches with A/V or anything else. We missed having Kerri but loved having our new vocalist with us. It was just a good Sunday. My prayer is that it was good for other people because they learned something new, or drew closer go God in some way. Those things I really cannot tell from the stage but continue to pray is happening each week.

Here is our list (Links go to Itunes)

Open The Eyes of My Heart- Sonic Flood

Everlasting God- Lincoln Brewster

You Never Let Go- Matt Redman

My Savior Lives- New Life Worship

My Hope is You- Third Day

So that’s what happened with us. What happened in your worship service? Read others and share yours at Sunday Setlists on Fred Mckinnon‘s Blog.

Have a song you’ve written and would like feedback or input? Share it on the Online Songwriter’s Showcase. Last week we had 4 entries.. check them out and leave your own.

Sunday Songlists- 3/1/09

Russell Martin — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 06:05:23 +0000

This past Sunday was an interesting one. I thought that the band and vocals sounded great, were tight and was over all an awesome Sunday. Unfortunately there were many other events this weekend that hindered our Sunday morning attendance. I do have to give props to our ladies who do the stage decorations each week. When I arrived at the church 3 years ago all we had was the black curtain background. This Easter will mark one full year of using colors in different ways to decorate the stage. They don’t really use elaborate props but have come up with a quick and easy system to add some color and a different focus depending on the week. Hopefully Ill put a post up next week showing how we do our stage.

Songlist (Planning Center)

Everlasting God
My Hope is You
Your Love is Amazing (Halleluiah)
Here I Am to Worship
Praise to the Lord the Almighty (from the Wow Hymns)
In the Secret

This Sunday Setlist is posted as part of Fred McKinnon‘s Sunday Setlist #32. Come on and see what other churches are doing each week, and share your own Sunday experiences.

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Why We Don’t Rehearse Every Week

Russell Martin — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:00:55 +0000

How It Was

We used to reserve every Wednesday night for an hour and a half rehearsal. We showed up at 6:30 and rehearsed until 8:00. Then we would show up again at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday mornings for an hour to rehearse and soundcheck before Sunday School and our service at 10:30 am. That all changed last summer.

When it Changed

Last summer I had a few weeks where I was leading worship for some church camps and I was going to be out two weeks in a row on our regular Wednesday rehearsal. So I decided that for one month we would take a break from our Wednesday rehearsals and just show up a little early on Sunday morning. We made sure that our songlists did not include any new music, just songs that we needed to review. The band loved it. We have decided to continue the process.

How it Works Now

We meet on one Wednesday per month to work on new music that is coming up. That means I have to be prepared atleast 4 weeks ahead of time with the probable songlists. We use that rehearsal to go over new music. We listen to the songs, double check the songsheet and then try to run it atleast once through so we understand it. I also record these rehearsals and email them the recording we made, or make it available on planning center.

Then Sunday mornings we meet from 8:00 till 9:30 to rehearse for that Sunday morning. We go over each song atleast twice, and then take the rest of the time to work on the new song for the next week, just to refresh. Then we are ready to go for Sunday morning services.

The Challenges

Doing our rehearsals and lists this way has had its own set of challenges. The first would be that I have to have our songlists done in advance. (How we do that). The second challenge is having enough time to go over songs. This has meant we have had to be more disciplined with our time and not waste time during rehearsals.

The Benefits

The first benefit I have noticed is that we have been forced to limit our amount of new songs. This means we have, as a band, learned the ones we use better. It has also meant our congregation has had time to learn the songs. It seemed like before we would learn a song, use it, and then not use it again for a while.

Secondly I have noticed we are not going over things twice. It seemed like no matter what we worked on for Wednesday we were repeating it on Sunday morning anyway.

Thirdly I work with volunteers who have families. We all do. I think it has been great to give my already busy dedicated volunteers an extra night most weeks that they can spend at home.

The fourth reason was more of a factor this summer when gas prices were topping $3.50. The less times that we were driving back and forth to tthe church, the less gas was spent.

Our band has agreed to keep Wednesdays free and I agreed to give one weeks notice of an extra rehearsal. We did this as we prepared for Christmas and probably will for Easter.

What is your rehearsal schedule?

What I’m Singing for the Next 6 Weeks

Russell Martin — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:51:59 +0000

Yes you read the title correctly. I just finished our songlists through the end of May. I can tell you though that it has not always been this way. There was a time when my songlist compiling was a week by week, even night of basis. Before you say “Hey that’s how I do it, whats wrong with that” I’ll say nothing at all. There are many ways of choosing songlists. But let me tell you some of the advantages of doing things way ahead of time.

1. My band stays informed and in the loop- By doing songlists several weeks ahead of time it gives my musicians and vocalists a chance to be constantly working on upcoming music. They can find the songs that may be difficult and begin putting extra time in. As a band we can work on more difficult music that is coming up several weeks out.

2. It gives us a longterm view of song use- Ever get into a rut? Have those songs that keep popping into your lists because they are easy and the first thing that comes to mind when you are needing just one more song? When we sit down and grid out 6 weeks worth of songs we can look for things like that. We can see what songs we are using more often, and what songs may be appropriate but we may have forgotten about.

3. It helps us think about other parts of the service- When we know what we are singing that is one aspect of worship planning that is taken care of and we don’t have to worry about. We can then turn attention to visuals, graphics, decorations, videos, sermon helps, special music and other things that will help the worship service.

xperience_songlist_2009_march_may

Choosing Songlists: Christmas Vs Advent?

Russell Martin — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 05:54:55 +0000

It seems every year that I come across the same delimma when choosing songs for this season. It stems from the fact that what the stores and media call the Christmas season is, for our church, Advent, or the 4 Sundays immediately before Christmas Eve. Most of the traditional carols that people expect to hear, that are coming over the store intercom systems, are the songs that tell of Christ’s birth like Silent Night, Away in a Manger, and O Little Town of Bethlehem. However during that time we really should be singing songs that talk about the anticipation of Christ’s coming like O Come O Come Emmanuel.

This year we tried to at least not give in to the carols until the 3rd Sunday of Advent. Up until then I kept doing mostly our regular worship songs. I like worship songs that hint at or lead us to Christmas like “Here I Am to Worship.”

Light of the world
You stepped down into darkness.
Opened my eyes, let me see.
Beauty that made this heart adore You
Hope of a life spent with You

The third week we did our Sunday of all Christmas music. We had the children’s choirs, liturgical dancers, special soloists and Christmas songs. Our list included Christmas Eve Sarajevo with the dancers, Born in Bethlehem by Third Day with the kids singing the first verse, O Come All Ye Faithful, What I Want for Christmas, Welcome to Our World, Christmas Time is Here, and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

So here are my questions. Do you not worry about liturgical seasons and just sing all the carols you can in December? What songs did you do during this season? What songs did you do during advent?

Favorite “Go To” Songs

Russell Martin — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 04:26:10 +0000

Sometimes you have a worship set planned and rehearsed but something happens before time to lead. Maybe someone gets sick, or doesn’t show up. Whatever the reason you now have no time to rehearse but have to choose a setlist your team can lead, basically from memory with their eyes closed…

Give me three songs that are in that list…

GO…

Sunday Setlist 9/28/08

Russell Martin — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:37:42 +0000

This week was really nothing out of the ordinary. We have begun trying to do songs more frequently so that the congregation can learn and participate better. Before I came the idea was to do new songs that were cool, now we are focusing on congregation participation and songs that fit the theme or message if possible.

This week’s message was “Regarding Others as Better Than Yourselves” Philippians 2:1-13

We started off with the song Map from Kerri Crocker’s last CD. It really didn’t match the theme completly but the band has kept saying they want to do more orignal songs so we put it in. After that we had our welcome and announcements and then did Let it Rise and Open The Eyes of My Heart, the harder Sonic Flood type version. For offertory we used Grace Like Rain, our invitation was Crowder’s Only You and then we closed with the band jammin to Let it Rise while everyone left.

Last week Kerri and I sat down and put together tentative songlists for the rest of October. Our pastors preach from the lectionary, so since we chose songs to try to compliment that I will put those up for other churches which may do the same. Look for that later in the week.

This post is also part of Fred McKinnon’s Sunday Setlist Blog Carnival. Check it out and see what other churches are doing.

A Time to Be Still

Russell Martin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 04:23:12 +0000

As I sit and type this post I can look over to my left and see a big brown and white dog name Mia. Mia is about two or three years old, still very much a puppy. Still being very puppy like Mia is constantly running, and jumping and licking. She is constantly on the run barking at squirrels outside or inside playing with the other dogs, biting on their back legs, or playing tug of war with the various toys. She also enjoys jumping up in your lap whether you expect it or not.

A few months ago I found out a secret about Mia. If I would grab her collar and hold her still for 30-60 seconds she will sit down, lay down and often go to sleep. If I make her be still, she stops running, stops jumping, stops licking, relaxes, calms down and rests. It’s like she needs a reminder to slow down, but once she gets that reminder, she is good to lay down and take a nap.

Today I got such a reminder myself. Apparently there was an extra large amount of pollen in the air over the past two days and my allergy problems went on overdrive. I had to take today and not do anything but rest. So I stayed in bed. I didn’t get on the computer, or go into work, or answer the phone, or return text messages, or create songlists, or play the piano, or read or even watch tv. I just laid down and rested. It was hard at first because I thought that I could “make it through” whatever was going on at the church, or that I really could wash some clothes or do something around the house. But what I needed, and what I got was rest.

My hope is that in the future I will not have to be reminded to rest. That I will take care of myself and go to sleep at a normal time, do things that are relaxing and be productive with my time so that I don’t have to be working all the time. My hope for you is that you can do the same.

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