Making the Most of Personal Practice for Your Team

There's nothing more frustrating than planning a set list, working through the parts at home, getting requests sent out, showing up to rehearsal early to make sure everything is ready to go, and then when the music starts, it's painfully obvious that NOBODY ELSE PRACTICED.

OK—so that might be a bit extreme, but I think y'all know where I'm coming from, right?

"Why won't they ever learn their part?"

"They're not pulling their weight."

That might be true, but have you considered how YOU, the leader, are enabling their degree of success, or lack thereof?

Where's the Hold Up?

Most worship team leaders will send a reference recording out to the rest of the team and expect them to learn their parts from that. In many ways, this works, especially to gain basic familiarity with the song.

But more often than not, these songs get transposed to a different key, which has HUGE ramifications for how the band arranges their own parts.

• Lead players have to displace hooks and lead lines within various octaves.

• Background vocalists may have learned "high" or "low" harmonies in the original key, but now they have to learn a completely new part to accommodate for their register.

In other areas, there might be multiple layers of percussion parts that a drummer has to synthesize into a single part, which is very difficult to do. Bass players have it easiest, but even major transpositions can stump them on how the new notes sound in lower and middle registers, due to octave displacement.

This creates a lot of guesswork on behalf of your team members, which then leads to confusion and parts that lack cohesion when attempting to put them together.

In other words: It's simply not enough to pass along a recording reference to your team if you want perfect parts—especially if the team is made of hobbyist volunteers, whose ear training/transcription skills might be rusty.

The Solution

If you come from a church that has readily available resources, you could easily download a Multitrack reference for each part and distribute those to your team, according to their assignment.

But what if you can't afford a subscription to a service like Multitracks? Well, the answer requires just a bit more input from you, the leader.

To start, you need to identify the essentials of the song:

• Melody

• Vocal Harmonies

• Lead Lines/Hooks

• Time-Feel/Groove

Taking care of the melody is fairly simple: Just record yourself, along with a guitar or piano, singing the melody in the key you in which you've intended the song to be performed. This is your anchor for where harmonies are stacked.

Next, decide which phrases or sections of the song need stacked harmonies, and then record a first part and a second part. (It's worth noting that simply classifying them as "high" and "low" harmonies doesn't always work; sometimes, these parts will both either sit above or below a primary melody.)

If you're able to replicate a lead line or hook on your instrument, then record a snippet of that next, and then give directives to where that will be played. You don't need to worry about the extra fills that occur on a record. Just go with the essentials, which is usually one part played during the intro, outro, and after choruses. Occasionally, you might have a lead line the introduces a bridge, so you'll need to cover those, too. But by and large, you'll have one part, two at the max, to transpose and record for your lead player.

When it comes to time-feel and groove, you can either notate a kick drum/snare pattern, or record a simple demonstration for the rhythm section to replicate. Be sure to indicate where hi-hats vs. ride cymbals are played, or if you'll move into a tom-based pattern, etc. Bass players will usually catch up to the kick drum, so demonstrating or notating that part is beneficial.

Should I Record Video or Audio Only?

The type of recording medium wholly depends on which instrument/voice it's for and the musicianship level of each team member. For vocalists, going audio-only will suffice. And audio-only will work for the other players, too, but you might have some individuals who need a visual demonstration to learn most effectively.

You'll most likely run into this with guitarists and drummers, where there are several variables and avenues to executing a single part. Keyboard players will greatly benefit from a visual demonstration of chord voicings that might be new or unfamiliar, so plan accordingly there, too.

These days with smartphones, it's fairly simple to record a quick tutorial to cover the right part. Nothing needs to be fancy—it just needs to be clear.

But What If I Don't Have Enough Time—Especially If I'm Unpaid?

Time is the biggest constraint in realizing these crucial steps of development for your team. However, if you plan things out the right way, it's totally possible to make strides to compile a body of instructional content. If you're strapped for time, consider making one set of tutorials each week for songs that are in the rotation. If you want to do a song that's recently released, say within a week or so, then I would only focus on vocal parts and maybe a lead line/hook.

Much of this can be done in your own practice time with a smartphone or tablet. All you need to do keep things organized, get a clean run-through of the snippet you're highlighting, and the team can take care of the rest.

Songs on Our Worship Playlist

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been serving one of our local churches here in Missouri by filling in for staff members on sabbatical, and the set lists for the services sparked some fresh tunes that are currently living rent-free in our heads—and we know you’ll dig them, too!

“Love of God” by Brandon Lake & Phil Wickham

This hymn-like anthem is reminiscent of classic CityAlight songs, and it tells of the wonder, awe, and humble gratitude we experience when realizing the magnitude of Christ’s sacrifice to conquer sin and draw His own unto Himself.

Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LapBD802O0

“Abide” by Aaron Williams + The Worship Initiative

The lyrics of this song speak of intimate rest that God calls us to experience in Him, abiding in His secure kindness, grace, and steadfast love.

Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA-Wi4fdcVE

Be blessed 👊✌️