Do You See What I Sing?

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!

1. 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?
1. KNOW the song.  It is as important for you to know the song as it is for the keyboard player to know the song.
2. Get familiar with how the songs will be sung for this particular event
3. 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.
4. Pick backgrounds that fit the feel and/or message of the song and that flow well from one song to the next.
5. 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]
6. Check for typos and spelling errors as you go through the songs
7. Make sure the lyrics follow natural breaks in phrasing
8. 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.

Worship Is Display

What if worship is display? Are you comfortable with that?

In Isaiah 61, with the Spirit of the Sovereign LORD on me, I’ve found Him give me something that defines me. Like a habit does a nun. It’s the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness. Then He calls me an oak of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.

That’s when it hits me. Of all the ways I’ve tried to talk about worship, to give words to the expressed relationship, to quantify the mystery of human interaction with Glory, this one really hits it for me. Worship is display.

(are you still trying to figure out the nun reference? Read David Crowder’s book Praise Habit)

See, there are many really good definitions for what worship is, including:

   ~ Worship is our response to the revelation of God. (@matt_redman)

   ~ Worship is all I am for all He is. (@thomasgateway)

   ~ In loving God with our whole person we open our total life to Him: Our hearts – affections, Our minds – attitudes, Our souls – ambition, Our strength – activity. (Myron Augsburger in Faith for a Secular World)

But “Worship is display” in the context of Isaiah 61 blows me away. So let’s unpack it.

The qualifier isn’t that we express, it is that He is glorified. That takes the way we express to a whole new level. If Him being glorified qualifies our expression as worship, everything else gets turned down – what others think, if I enjoyed it, if it makes sense (think Abraham and Isaac). What marks it as worship is that He is glorified…it’s the display of His splendor, that He may be glorified.

It distinguishes us. Like a habit does a nun. One bible commentator says it this way: “By our flourishing condition, we’ll show Him off, show to be His.” There’s something holy, set apart about the worshiping Christian. And a worship leader has a different DNA than a rock star, an “open mic night” artist, or an entertainer.

It’s part of my identity: His planting to display Him, His child to enjoy Him, His servant to worship Him! We are made for display, for radiance, for spectacle, for show, for manifestation, for demonstration, for exhibition, for marvel, for…display! Let’s revel in that. We are a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor. Worship is display and He planted us for it.

And, as a bonus, we’re given a garment, a covering, a mantle, clothing…to wear: it’s praise! Interestingly, the word “praise” that’s used here means to sing. See there’s great power to overcome heaviness when we open our mouth and praise in song. I was recently hanging out with my kids and just started singing a silly little song that said something like “Hooray, Jesus is with us and we praise Him…” or something. I suddenly felt this heaviness lift off me that I hadn’t even realized was on me! So maybe it’s time to sing.

If you’d like to listen to the sermon that inspired this Fertilizer, it’s on our Resources page or here.

The Leadership Journey

Anytime you, as a leader, are saying "I'm a good leader, they're just bad followers" you're in denial. You must take responsibility for your actions. If you're being defensive, posturing yourself, or being political, it's likely because you're weary, have been hurt, and have taken on offenses. If you say things like "if they would just let me (fill in the blank), then I could...", you're missing half of what leadership is about. Leadership starts with vision from the Lord and then partners with Him to figure a way to move forward with it. If a God-initiative fails, it's very likely that it just wasn't led well. Are you jaded, caustic, negative, sarcastic, and paranoid? What are the loudest voices influencing you? Have you shut yourself off relationally to people around you because of tiredness and wounding. The fact is: you're going to get wounded as a leader. So what's your plan when it happens? Are you having an identity crisis? Listen to what you're saying. Is it things like "Do they want me to be their leader?" or "If only they were 100% behind me." That sounds like fear has gripped you and you are no longer led by what the Father has said about you. When you ask yourself what the Lord is teaching you through a challenging leadership experience, do you just say "nothing...just don't do that again!"? Remember the executive who cost his company 10 million dollars? When his boss called him in, naturally the executive presumed he'd be fired, but his boss said "Fire you?! I just spent 10 million dollars educating you!" In the same way, God uses every experience to deepen, strengthen, shape, and refine you...He's investing! Pay attention and take some notes. You may be in a Psalm 73 moment right now...don't betray the generation of His children. Guard your tongue. Take responsibility for your actions, your failures, and learn from them. I was taught by my choir director in college that "there are no bad choir, only bad choir directors." I take from that, that it's my responsibility. Seek God. Build rapport. Lead wisely. Lead well. And whatever you do, don't lead alone. Fill yourself with great books like: The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership (John Maxwell) Who Stole My Church? (Gordon MacDonald) Switch (Chip & Dan Heath) Made To Stick (Chip & Dan Heath) Today We Are Rich (Tim Sanders) Simple Church (Thom Rainer & Eric Geiger) Radical (David Platt) Onward (Howard Schultz) One final thought. Often, as leaders, our inheritance is sat upon by giants. But God says "are you not well able?" Like Caleb, you're going to say, "Give me my mountain." (Joshua 14:12) God may then ask you to "Speak to the mountain" (Matthew 21:21). What will your response be?  http://adlibmusic.com/

New Songs

So where do you go to look for new music? How do you know when you've found a good song? How do you work it into your own worship expression? And how do you teach it to your congregation?

Do you look to SongDiscovery, WorshipTogether, CCLI, Hillsong, GatewayWorship, PraiseCharts, Bethel/JesusCulture, Vineyard, CanZion, Kingsway, GreatWorshipSongs.com, Passion, Attic Studio...? The sources are endless!

Here are a few things to help you sort through the process.

There are so many great sources for new songs, but sometimes the big production that I hear on an album turns me off to the song. I get ear fatigue...it all starts sounding the same. Sometimes, that causes me to miss fantastic songs.

One thing that helps me is finding acoustic versions where I can experience the heart of the song, and hopefully the heart of the author, and even the story behind the song. Well every week, WorshipTogether.com puts out just such a video - the New Song Café. They're free and you can sign up for their weekly email that will give you the link to the video. The newest ones are here or here and you can also watch about 75 older ones here.  It's a great place to find some new songs you may have missed.


Finally, I realized that one of the critical steps for integrating a new song into my personal catalog is to use it in my own personal times of worship. If I'm really drawn to a song in my own devotions, that's a good starting place for considering using it for corporate worship. Conversely, I find that the experience in leading corporate worship with a song that I have integrated into my own times with the Lord has a whole deeper level to it that a song that I've just learned and rehearsed. What's your process been?

Introducing New Songs 

I think a system of repeating a song the week after it's taught is great.  It helps people learn it, and it weeds out songs just because you have to have a broader buy-in from other leaders and it has to be powerful enough to be used 2 weeks in a row.

And when introducing a new song, one thing that's often overlooked is actually letting people know that you know that it's a new song for them [with more than just a "this next song is a new song.  Strum..."]. I like to teach the chorus with simpler instrumentation a couple times so that once we're "doing the song" and they get there, they can really let loose. Personal sharing is so good too - getting them to get it the way you get it, to think and feel what you think and feel when you sing the abstract lyrics. Reading the scripture it's based on is great too.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. How do you find, integrate, and teach new songs?


http://adlibmusic.com/

Top 50 Songs

I’m putting together a “Top 50 modern worship songs that every leader should have in their catalog.” Would you help me with that?


List your top 20 or so songs that would fit in this category in the comments. (thanks!)


http://adlibmusic.com/

How Do I Learn Melody

What’s the most important musical part of a song? Melody. It’s the DNA, the unique fingerprint. Which brings up the next question…how do I learn melody, especially if I don’t read music or don’t have the musical notation available?

This is how I do it:

1. Listen to the song, taking initial notes on the general form of the song, noting any major things that are happening. Hey, did you see that, I take notes! So whip out the chord chart so I can see visually what is happening in the song. Does it have a soaring bridge? Does it have three identical verses? Is there a tricky pre-chorus? Where do the harmonies come in?

2. Listen again, this time making detailed notes on the melody. I’ll often put slash marks over the words higher and lower to guide me as their pitch rises and falls, as well as ^ over high points. I may make actual rhythmic notation or draw long lines with the overall curve of the melody, but the point is to make a reference that I understand. It doesn't have to be technical, classical notation, or even understandable by anyone other than me.

3. NOW I sing along with the recording. This is the first time I even sing it! I may do this a few times, then I add my instrument. This is super important, especially if I don’t play at an advanced level, because I’ll tend to do two things: a) quickly adjust the song melody (i.e. sing it wrong) to match my playing style/rhythm or b) get confused because I’m trying to learn two things at once. Separate them. First get the melody learned, then learn the accompaniment. So if you need to, sing it a few times without playing it, then play it a few times without singing it, and then put the two together.

4. It's time to see if I'm learning it, so I sing and play it without the recording a few times, and this is when I realize where I don't know it and how I don't know how to "use" the song...let's see, what do I play after the chorus? How many times should I repeat that bridge? How does the intro go? How do I end this song?

5. Then I turn the recording on again and check myself. I'll often find that I've learned a note wrong or am singing some words with the wrong phrasing. “Oh, that melody goes down at the end of this line.” But this step is critical, because if I don't go back to verify that I've learned it well, the mental cement starts to harden...

Bonus:

Here an idea to help your team to learn songs if they (surprise) don’t come to rehearsal prepared. After you’re played it together, sing it a cappella, with no instruments, with the melody wearing its birthday suit, so you can isolate the voices, identify trouble spots, and strengthen the melodies. You’ll be amazed how removing ALL instruments will help solidify the melody. (it will also help teach your electric guitar players from diving into “Sweet Child O’ Mine” the second you stop playing the song. Yes Tom, I’m calling you out, buddy) :O

http://adlibmusic.com/

How Songs are Built

Why do I need to know how a song is built? Why do you care?


Because knowing how songs are built enables you to:


~ Learn it without “playing it on repeat 18 times”
~ Rehearse it as a band without just “playing the whole thing 8 times”
~ Know what you can change in it so it’s still fresh and worshipful after singing it 28 times
~ Encourage the congregation to sing more (without asking for it)
~ Adapt it to your band…(especially if your electric guitar player still thinks solid state is king)
~ Heroically decide not to play it when you realize (before Sunday morning) that your rhythm section (that carries that particular song) just doesn’t have what it takes to pull it off (yet)

So first, what are the elements that make up a song? Melody, Text, Form, and Accompaniment (which is harmony, rhythm, tone, tempo, and dynamics). There are things in a song that you can rework and there are things that if changed, make it a completely different song. Text, Form, and Accompaniment can all be modified to different degrees. Melody is the DNA of a song - change that, and it's no longer the same song.


We’ll start with what is most flexible, Accompaniment:
You may be able to change the chords and still sing the melody as written, but you may need to change what harmony you can sing with it. You can change the rhythmic feel of the song, and it may still work – like laying a rock feel, or a jazz swing, or a pop groove on it. You can play the song with only an acoustic guitar or a full band, but you'll need to play it differently to achieve similar energy, feel, or even style. You might use instruments the original author never dreamed of using. You can play the song slightly faster or slightly slower (about ±10 BPM unless you're doing a drastically different groove). You can change the key (thankfully). You can play different voicings on the instruments, use capos, and chord inversions. It may work to add or subtract harmonies. You can play a really quiet version or a REALLY LOUD version (sorry for the shouting). Ask “Would this song make sense if sung a cappella?” or “Would this song work without a drummer or a strong lead guitar player?” Then change at will…the sky is the limit. In fact, next rehearsal, try playing the same song once with only the players on the left of the stage, and then once with the ones on the right (and yes, the drummer has to pick one or the other). How did it work? What didn’t work? What did you learn?


Form:
A song may be written V1, Ch, V2, Bridge, but you can totally start on the Bridge if you'd like. You don’t need to sing both verses. You can sing just the chorus of a song. I’ll often repeat whichever verse I’m feeling like God wants to highlight in that moment. I recently led Here I Am To Worship and repeated the second verse twice (without going to the chorus) and went right into the bridge because it seemed right to be singing about God coming to earth “Humbly You came to the earth You created, All for love's sake became poor” …and then go right into “I'll never know how much it cost…” So it’s Outback Steakhouse here…no rules, just right.


Text:
Sometimes, you can slightly alter the text and still keep the song as it is - personalizing a pronoun for instance. You might change a chorus on the third time around from "God is great" to "God You're great" or change “He” to “You.” But if you change it up too much "O praise Him, He is holy" sung as "I praise You, You are holy" doesn't really work. But be careful here, purists may harpoon you after the service (in love, of course). Some of us feel like changing the “sloppy wet kiss” in How He Loves to…any of the dozen substitutes for the original lyric ruins the song. Some of us can’t stand the original. So alter with taste and tact…and good reason.


Melody:
But melody? Nope. Don't change that. Every note and every rhythm is foundational to that song. It's the only thing that separates it from every other song. Think of it as its DNA or fingerprint. If you don't sing it true to the original, your singers will have a hard time following you and the congregation will certainly have trouble following you and singing along. (this may very likely be on of the main reasons they don't sing if they aren't!)


Now I know, I know...you’re artists just expressing yourselves. Good for you. You are, but you’re servants first. Just like you should “Worship first; Play second” you must be a “Servant first; Artist second.” There are lots of ways to be creative and artistic, but altering the melody is not one of them. (unless you’re teaching it as a new song)


I’d love to hear your thoughts!


(oh, and if you like those pretty little boxes at the top of this section, head over to Red Rocket Box and pick up some gold)


http://adlibmusic.com/