Do I Really Have to Memorize the Sunday Setlist?

The scope of worship teams sees a wide variety of standards that each team member has to uphold, but none can be as controversial as the answer to this question:

"Do I really have to memorize the Sunday setlist?"

Depending on the team, the answer to this question carries a great impact on who makes up the members and how well they actually pull off a performance during the service. 

For me, here's the answer: Yes... and no.

Let's dig into the "why"...

Why Do Worship Teams Memorize Music, Or Not?

Note: This discussion primarily concerns "praise bands"; it doesn't necessarily apply to hymn singing with a single pianist and song leader, but it could apply to larger groups.

The most common defense of having teams memorize their music is that each member should have an intimate, thorough knowledge of the song, back to front, pulling off all the unique phrases, cues, and changes within the arrangement. Each member not only knows their part, but they also know the roles of the other instruments and voices. 

On the other hand, teams that don't require memorization see the task as too great a challenge to achieve—especially if set lists are sent only a week or a few days before the service. They rely on the players' and singers' experience to fill in the gaps for what isn't conveyed through a chord chart. Or, if their team members can read notation, then they have exactly what they need to play exactly what is required of them. 

So from a utility perspective, memorization creates a more thorough understanding of the song, catching all the details in every part for every team member, but it comes at a greater cost (the individual time spent in practice). To flip the coin, not memorizing cuts down on individual input for practice, but you run the risk of being underprepared when it's "go time."

Does Memorizing Music Affect the "Spirit" of the Service?

I've heard some folks who advocate for memorization say that doing away with chord charts allows the Spirit to move more freely, especially in the hearts of musicians because they are unfettered in their focus to worship.

Respectfully, I would push back on this for two reasons: 

• The Holy Spirit can do whatever He wants, when He wants—your degree of polish bears no influence on His will.

• The use of printed music does not directly correlate to a heightened or lowered emotional response for the audience/congregation. 

If anything, I speculate churches that require memorization do it less for the reason of unfettered focus and more so because:

• It creates a clean looking stage.

• It creates a good looking team.

Really, all of this results in the team and church looking like many of popular worship music/church groups that dominate contemporary Christian media. Is this a bad thing? Not really, but be careful that you don't prioritize looking like a successful, modern group over pointing people to Jesus and enjoying Him together. 

To push back even more, I've been part of countless powerful worship experiences, both as a team member and congregant, in which the band used charts. You can even look at secular groups, like civic orchestras and choirs or big bands, and clearly see that the emotional experience isn't hindered because they don't memorize their music. Sure, it looks more polished, but it doesn't really affect the execution of the material. 

Now, to the camp that doesn't require their teams to memorize music, let me give you some advice: Your overall experiences will be shaped better if your team incorporates some measure of memorization. There is something to be said about unfettered focus, which is hard to do if your eyes are glued to a page. And be careful, with exclusive chart reading, you run these risks:

• Inadvertent mistakes, which distract and undermine cohesion in the group.

• Apathy/emotional detachment from the moment.

• Complacency in preparation.

Sure, it's possible and fine to read from a chart and still be able to emotionally enter into worship. (I mean, are we not stirred when we read the written Word?) But having a more-than comfortable familiarity with the song allows you to quiet down the twinge of anxiety that often comes with reading a chart "cold." 

Here's the cool thing: Memorization comes sooner than later, but only if you're focused and have developed the ability to think in broad strokes, allowing the accumulation of minute details to permeate and fill the gaps. You know grooves, progressions, melodies, lyrics, etc. well enough that you know how to weave your part within the mix, without needing it dictated on a piece of paper. I often do this week to week, and by the time we've finished rehearsal, I usually have my part generally memorized; I really only look at the chart if the roadmap is complicated, or if I've written in cues that need to be communicated to the rest of the band as the music director.

TL;DR

Here's the takeaway: Memorizing your Sunday setlist can be a good thing, but in the end, it's not crucial to the goal of the worship experience—which is to glorify God and edify His people. Consider where you either might be motivated by comparison to other popular groups, leading to unnecessary or unattainable standards, or if your relaxed position is really a smokescreen for complacency. 

But remember this: Whatever you choose to do, just do it well—from memory or from the page—and do it because of the joy you have in offering praise to God and sharing that experience with others.

How You Can Support Us

Worship Strategies exists to equip, empower, and enhance the work of church music teams to meet their highest potential—and it’s entirely supported by people like YOU 🫵.

Over the past year, we’ve been able to pour into local congregations, filling in the gaps and engaging with congregants to help them serve their churches. Praise the LORD for the work we get to do!

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