i am an offering

As I was recently re-listening to Come Weary Saints I couldn’t help but notice an interesting choice of instrumentation on the title track.  I’m not sure exactly because I purchased the mp3 set and don’t have the pdf handy to check instrumentation, but I’m pretty sure they are using a harp at the end of the song.  It very well could be a nylon stringed guitar - but I think it’s a harp.  I had never thought of using harp as a worship team instrument before, but now I think I could definitely find some ways to do it - which leads me to my question:

Apart from David Crowder’s crazy rigging of a Guitar Hero© controller, what is the most different or unusual instrument you’ve seen used by a worship team? I’d love to hear it all - even if you’re from another country and think that using a guitar is unusual!

Let’s hear it!

I’ve been realizing lately just how amazing it is to actually get paid to be on staff as a worship leader - because I don’t anymore.  After four and a half years of being paid to lead worship, organize volunteers, plan services, pick music and live and breathe all things music and worship and after working a new job and volunteering to do many of those things now, I’ve come to realize just how much I took my last job for granted.

I never realized the time and effort and dedication that volunteer worship leaders who oversee an entire ministry put in.  As I’ve begun to balance planning and vision in the local church with working a job and making sure I honor and put my family first, I’ve come to realize how amazing volunteer worship leaders really are.  So the purpose of this post is two-fold.

First - Thank You Volunteers

Thank you for working an entire day at your “real” job and still giving the energy to pick music and lead a rehearsal all night long for church.

Thank you for having vision to see what needs to be done in two places (both at work and in the church.)

Thank you for supporting your pastor and your team members even though you are probably running out of energy.

Thank you for your selflessness in deciding to make time available to the church instead of your own pursuits.

Thank you Jordan Volk, for your tireless passion at Abiding Savior.  Thank you Paul Stigge, for the time and effort you spent developing a worship and music ministry at Lord of Life.  If you know a volunteer worship leader that you’ve never thanked for their time, stop right now and figure out a way to do so.

One word of caution - however, as someone just mentioned to me the other day - it’s easy to burnout if you are working full time and leading a worship ministry as a volunteer.  Be careful, prayerful and intentional about keeping yourself healthy and epsecially keeping your family healthy.  I need to remember to heed those words as well.

Second - An Encouragement to Paid Staff

Those of you who are privileged to be on a staff as worship leaders - don’t ever forget that is what it is - a privilege and an honor.  You are given the privilege to:

• Plan services so that there will be minimal distraction so that God will be exalted
• Pick and suggest music for the local church
• Love on, encourage and recruit volunteers for the team
• Serve God completely as your profession
• Help others live lives that glorify Jesus Christ

The best privilege of all is that we, staff and volunteer alike, get to honor and glorify our Lord Jesus Christ - together.

We’ve looked at the role and importance of a producer in the music industry.  Now let’s apply this to us as worship leaders in the local church.

Every week we choose songs to use during our worship services at our churches.  These songs could range from popular songs that are heard on the radio every day to more obscure songs that no one knows about to classic hymns from whatever hymnal our church might be using.  What we choose to do with those songs is how we make ourselves producers.  We’re now the ones who will be taking something decent (volunteers who love music and love God, but might not necessarily know exactly what to play or how to play it.)  So what are our choices?

In General

One of the most common mistakes many worship teams make is that when the music starts everyone plays.  A worship leader as a producer takes the each part of the worship team and helps them to know when to play or when to sit out.  The worship leader helps the piano player to play in a higher register when the guitar is playing in the middle.  The worship leader helps the drummer know when to ‘kick it up a notch’ or tone it down.  The worship leader helps take a potentially muddy, chaotic sound and polishes it.

Popular Music

When we choose music that is currently popular on the radio we fall into a great temptation - do the song exactly like it’s done on the radio or on the CD it came from.  We think we have to do every repeat, duplicate the exact guitar or piano part, feel it’s required to sing the bridge (that in most cases always goes too high for the average congregation) and possibly even copy the exact vocal fills that are on the original recording.  This might seem like a good thing to do so that your band sounds professional but a couple of problems occur when copying the original:

• Originality - a skill that producers really need to have - is gone.
• Flexibility - a process that is so important if we desire to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading - is gone.
• Expectations - depending on the skill level of your musicians - might be too high.

Work with what you have to create an original arrangement, be flexible to change the order or length of a song, and communicate expectations well and make sure your musicians are comfortable with them.  You can’t expect a high school guitarist with not much experience to pull off a Lincoln Brewster solo!

Hymns

Most classic hymns were written in times where a keyboard instrument (either an organ or piano) was the dominant instrument.  In today’s culture, that’s not always the case.  Learn to simplify the chord structure of hymns so that a guitarist can easily play with them.  Perhaps rewrite your own piano part to a hymn so that the piano player is not playing every single note and the melody.  There are countless possibilities.

Be Deliberate

This next week as you plan your music, be deliberate in planning who will play what and when.  Make decisions to be creative instead of just copying what’s on the CD and take joy in the fact that you get to help produce a polished sound week after week!

Have you ever wondered when you read in your CD jacket, “Produced by so-and-so” what that actually means?  When I was first getting really into music I never understood what that meant and who the “producer” was.  These next few posts aim to educate a little bit on what a producer does and how important it is for worship leaders to know.

What is a Producer?

A producer is someone who does just that - produces.  A music producer produces the overall sound of the music that is on any given album.  The producer works closely with the album artist and songwriters to decide what the best sound will be for any given song.  The producer has the final say in whether or not guitar or piano will be used on a certain song, how long a song is, if there should be backing vocals or just a solo voice.  Honestly, the producer does a lot more than he gets credit for!  Sure, he gets his name in the CD jacket - but beyond that, did you know that most artists wouldn’t be where they are today without having a producer?

The Importance of a Producer

Sure, the artist and/or songwriter on any album has some say in what the music will sound like.  But, what most of the listening public doesn’t realize is that the process of making an album goes something like this:

• Songwriter writes song.  It could be amazing the right out of the gate but most of the time only parts of it are amazing.
• Songwriter submits song to producer.
• Producer listens to song and says, “You need to change that line, move that note somewhere else, shorten the verse, lengthen the chorus…” or any number of different things.
• Songwriter wisely agrees to do what producer says and also tries to explain any type of sound or feel he wants in the song.
• Producer works with songwriter to figure out what instruments should be in the song and what and when each instrument should play.
• All parts are recorded (under producer’s supervision).
• Songwriter’s song hits the radio and is now amazing.

Of course, the song needs to be decent in the first place to even make it to a producer, but the producer is the one who makes it polished.

Recent Example

For those of you who watch American Idol© and for those of you who listen to KLOVE radio, you’ve probably witnessed this process take place without even knowing it.  Chris Sligh, a contestant on American Idol from two years ago made the top ten.  He didn’t end up winning and has now gone on to have his own album.  A while back on the KLOVE morning show with John and Sherry Rivers Chris Sligh sang one of his songs he wrote.  It was just him and a piano.

While it was quite nice to listen to, something just wasn’t quite “right” with the song.  Fast-forward about a year.  Chris is able to have his album produced by an award-winning producer, Brown Bannister.  The new version of his song is now played on KLOVE and it’s a completely different song.  A few notes were changed here and there, different instrumentation was added and the song was arranged in such a way that now it is stellar.  It is amazing what a good producer can do.

Brown Bannister took something that was decent and made it excellent.  As worship leaders, we act as producers every week as well.  How do we do it?  We’ll look at that in the next post.

If you have time (and you should make the time) you should definitely stop and check out this video interview between Bob Kauflin and Tim Smith (worship pastor at Mars Hill in Seattle). It’s over an hour long, and I haven’t watched the full interview yet but I’m sure it’s definitely worth it. If you don’t want to take an hour out of your day, however, Bob has posted a condensed segment dealing with “the worship experience and the presence of God” and will be posting some more clips soon.