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Please Practice: 8 Tips to Give Your Team

Of all the players that I've had in worship teams, the ones that practiced the most came out of the bar band scene. If any of them came to rehearsals unprepared, they apologized before they even pulled out their guitar. The players with church backgrounds, yeah…not so much. Why is this? That’s fodder for a whole new article series. But let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they’ve never received guidance on this subject. Here are some practice tips for your team:

Before rehearsal:

  • Listen to each song while following the chart. Even if you know the song well, a repeated listening-through will reveal things you missed and further solidify the song in your head.
  • Listen to the song again, playing along with it (here’s where the correct key & pitch-shifted recordings comes in handy).
  • Do an initial play-through. Without the recording, play the song completely through one time. If any part causes you to stumble, mark it with a pencil and move on.
  • Work on bumps. Once you’ve played through and marked the trouble stops, go back and run those spots till you have them down.
  • Listen again (and again). Instead of just turning on your car or office radio, put the songs in a playlist on your iPod, mp3 player or computer and listen to it passively throughout the week. The songs will sink in more than you know. On the way to rehearsal, listen to the songs again, thinking about your part.
Between rehearsal and Sunday:
  • Work the problem areas. Mark the spots that gave you trouble during rehearsal. Run those until the hiccups go away.
  • Focus heavily on any parts that are yours to lead or carry, such as a solo or segues.
  • Listen again (and again). Did I mention this one already.
Got anymore tips? Love to hear them. Throw them in the comments or tweet them to me @jonnicol.
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6 comments:

  1. ScottMMay 11, 2011 at 8:35 AM

    Good Stuff Jon!

    ReplyDelete
  2. JBAdamsJrMay 16, 2011 at 10:26 PM

    I would like information and suggestions on how to best arrange/layer the instrumentation of a song so that everyone is not playing at the same time all of the time. With the possible exception of special intros, we pretty much have the acoustic guitar playing all of the time and everyone else playing along with him. We have no musical direction as to who is playing what parts(to ensure all of the important parts are covered) and when we are supposed to play. Do you have any suggestions to address that type of situation?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jon Nicol - worshipteamcoach.comMay 16, 2011 at 10:57 PM

    Scott - thanks!

    JB - thanks for your request for arranging layering. Your situation sounds familiar: so many worship teams are either a piano or acoustic guitar with other instruments just "playing along."

    I'd love to shape your question into a full post (or more). If you're game, give me some details on your team (usual line-up, how many, skill level of players, examples of songs, etc.) and we shape it into something that could helpful to several teams. We can keep names and identifying details out the post, if you'd like.

    You can reply here on this post, or drop me an email at jon@worshipteamcoach.com.

    thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jon Nicol - worshipteamcoach.comMay 30, 2011 at 3:51 PM

    here's a helpful article from the blog "Open Source Worship" http://wp.me/p1w5FC-1D

    3 things grabbed me:

    1. I like anyone who's a "Dave Ramsey person."

    2. He summed up what most teams are: "people playing the same song on the same stage." But that doesn't make them a band. (btw, Steve, I think I just wrote something eerily familiar in one of my latest posts, maybe for the upcoming article for WorshipMinistry.com...it wasn't plagiarism, I swear...)

    3. And he linked to a great resource from Paul Baloche - just at a conference at the beginning of may and Paul handed out the very sheet. Great stuff.

    thanks Steve

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousMay 30, 2011 at 11:50 PM

    Jon,

    The idea would-be band definition is not original with me. I have been searching, unsuccessfully, for where I saw it. When I find the link, it will be added to my post.

    Steve

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jon Nicol - worshipteamcoach.comMay 31, 2011 at 7:14 AM

    Steve, that's good that I'm not ripping you off, but just some other faceless person. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes and guiding life-principles: "Originality is simply forgeting where you stole it from."

    I can't remember who said that.

    thanks for chiming in on this post!

    ReplyDelete

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