When
was the last time you took a breath, ready to sing the next line, only to
slowly exhale, mumble, or watermelon
through the next line because the words weren’t up in time?
Why
isn’t everybody singing out at the top of their lungs? [this is, after all, the
Almighty we’re praising!]
How
often are the lyrics flipping through verse 1…chorus…no, verse 2! to finally
land on the right one…only to catch the last 2 lines before the next search
begins?
Why
is it so hard for our congregation to learn new songs?
Does
your church start singing the second verse of “How Great Is Our God” by singing
“mmmmm…is in His hands”?
As
one who has sat behind the computer and experienced how easy it is to produce
imperfection while projecting lyrics, I empathetically want to offer some
helpful practices that will significantly improve your church’s worship
experience!
- Speaking of practices,
do you need to come to rehearsals?
Absolutely…unless it’s okay for you to rehearse during the
service. If you get your first look
at the songs after the call to worship, stop worrying that some words
might not be up in time for people to wholeheartedly engage…it’s
guaranteed you’re going to miss some!
So what should you do
at rehearsals?
- KNOW the song.
It is as important for you to know the song as it is for the
keyboard player to know the song.
- Get familiar with how the songs will be sung for
this particular event
- Make notes on your copy of the chord charts. What section are they planning to start
on? If you use the keyboard
shortcuts, write them on the sections of the songs for reference.
- Pick backgrounds that fit the feel
and/or message of the song and that flow well from one song to the next.
- A good idea is to have
a blank slide built into each
song so that you can switch to it and the background stays the same
[rather than going to a blank screen] during instrumental or
improvisational times [or if you’re looking for where they are in the
song]
- Check for typos and spelling errors
as you go through the songs
- Make sure the lyrics follow natural breaks in
phrasing
- Recognize the introduction to a song so you can
get the song up quickly, especially if the leader goes “off the list.”
2. What do I do during services?
a.
The GOAL is to have the slide
completely on the screen [animation completed] by the time people are taking a breath to sing the first line of
that section. To do this, you may have
to guess and sometimes you’ll be wrong, but being occasionally wrong is
better than consistently late.
b.
Be alert! Everyone is intently watching what you’re
doing, counting on your ability to make the words easily visible. If they feel you are not competently at ease,
they will tend to be uncomfortable themselves.
In a sense, you are their eyes, and, like eyes, if nobody notices you,
you’ve probably done a great job.
c.
Pretend you’re singing and can’t sing until you
see the words on the screen – see things from the congregation’s perspective.
d.
Wait to put the next song up
until just before the leader begins to sing it, the team plays the
introduction, or the leader asks to see the words.
e.
Worship
when you can, but remember it’s a sacrifice you have to make
since your first priority is to make the words as consistently quickly readable
as possible.
So what do you struggle with in the visual worship world?
Incidentally, the timing of this Fertilizer is inspired by Jon Acuff's latest post on Stuff Christians Like where he discusses his angst with lyrics being missing on the screen during worship, so I hope I've given you some practical help to make sure it doesn't happen where you gather for worship.