Funny but instructional
article about common errors made by worship leaders and worship bands in
church.
18
common worship leading mistakes and how to avoid them!
We’ve all been in church and
witnessed a major worship leading gaffe – the band all starting in different
keys or the drummer sounding like he’s falling down the stairs. Here are 18
common mistakes that worship leaders make together with some suggestions for
how to avoid them:
Including too many new songs in
the set –
your congregation is there to worship – most will find it difficult to do
so if they spend most of the time learning your latest masterpiecesVary your set list to include a
variety of older, recently introduced and brand new songs and be ready to
make changes on the fly if you sense your congregation is becoming weary.
Pitching the songs too high – remember that a comfortable range
for a woman is about five semitones lower than a man.
Change the key down to avoid going
above top D particularly if you are playing in a small church situation.
Clunky moving from song to
song.
Playing a song once its underway is
fairly straightforward so make sure you concentrate on rehearsing how to
start and end a song. Practising a seamless flow from one song to the next
is worthwhile and focus on. It will help if both are in the same key with
a similar groove and if you are using music, make sure the sheets are side
by side on your music stand.
Poor band dynamics – conflicting rhythms, one
instrument speeding up/slowing down, vocalists overwhelming the sound with
too many ad libs or vibrato
Exercise leadership in directing your
singers clearly and if necessary get them some vocals training. Get them
to listen to each others’ parts and possibly film or record a service to
help with some constructive criticism.
Lack of leadership – without clear guidance from
the worship leader its difficult for the band to know what they are meant
to do, let alone the congregation.
Give a good clear brief in practice
and use vocal cues and body language to communicate during the set.
Overly complex vocals – congregations get easily
confused when the lead vocalist slips into harmonies, trills and ad libs. Simple clear melody is always the easiest to
follow. Leave the harmonies for the backing vocalists.
Poor phrasing and blending by
vocalists.
Make sure that all your singers are
phrasing each “musical sentence” in the same way. It can help to have one
backing vocalist leading the others so that everyone finishes their words
at the same time. In the studio, singers are often asked not to finish the
last consonant in a line so that the ending doesn’t sound jagged.
Wrong keys or wrong capo
positions.
Make sure all the band are playing in
the same key. Issue your set list in advance with instructions for keys.
And if you change your mind, make sure that everyone knows.
Tuning – are all your
instruments in tune and are they staying in tune throughout the set?
Even the right notes out of tune sound
far worse than the wrong notes in tune so buy yourself a decent tuner like
the Boss TU2 – cheap tuners can be so frustrating
Lack of rhythm and togetherness
by the band – this can be caused by many things including poor
musicianship and lack of overall direction.
Try to generate a sense of team where
everyone plays their part to contribute to the whole without any one
musician standing out. Also ensure that you have the relevant instruments
in your foldback – i.e. the kick drum and other instruments responsible
for rhythm.
Winging it – either the result
of poor preparation or trying something new out on the spot.
Be sure you can accomplish what you
have in mind. Are you trying to sing a song without the lyrics in front of
you and you’ve forgotten the words? Does your AV guy have the words for
the congregation or do they have to remember them too? Do you and the rest
of the band know all the chords you need?
Technical problems.
The sound gremlins can happen to the
best of us but try to get there early, set up methodically and make sure
your technicians are well trained in the system they are using.
Problems with pitch – you’re starting a new song
and you’ve suddenly realised you’ve started on completely the wrong note.
Try to identify the problem songs in
advance and quietly play the note you need to hit on your instrument. Hold
the note in your head while playing the intro and then hit it with
confidence. Alternatively ask one of the other (confident) vocalists to
lead on that song
Over emphasis on the melody
line.Make sure
your backing vocalists and single melody instruments are playing
harmonies. The lead vocalist and congregation are all on the melody line –
create some contrast.
Worship crash – often caused by trying
something complicated that hasn’t been practised enough.
Never try anything complicated until
you, the band and the congregation are really familiar with the song.
Starting the song in the wrong
tempo.
Either invest in an in ear click or
sing the song through in your head first so that you can pace the tempo
properly. Generally the chorus is the fastest part of the song.
Backing vocal disharmony
Get your backing vocalists to check their harmonies off mic unless they
are really confident that they will hit the right pitch first time
Audio visual failure – this happened to Matt Redman
one time when Andy was playing. Matt just shifted his set list to songs
with simple lyrics and gave spoken vocal cues to the congregation at
junction points in the song.
I hope you enjoyed the list. Its
because of these and so many other common but easily rectifiable errors that we
at Musicademy created our worship training DVDs. You can view free online
trailers at www.musicademy.com
Andy Chamberlain (andy@musicademy.com) is co-founder of Musicademy, a music school that produces
DVDs, online lessons and practical training in contemporary instruments particularly for church based musicians. Go
to the website for DVD and online instruction in worship guitar, keyboards,
bass, drums and singing.
