Consider Your Musicians

How important are your musicians when it comes to planning a worship service? Does it matter who plays or what instruments are being used? Can’t you just pick the songs you want and go for it?

Welcome to part 4 of an 11 part series called How To Plan A Worship Service from Start to Finish.

In this video we will look at your musicians and why you have to keep them in mind before you start picking out songs.

Let’s talk about it.

If you missed any of the other videos, I encourage you to go back and watch them on Youtube or at fwbworship.com.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to download “Top 5 Resources To Use When Planning Worship” a free download produced by the Free Will Baptist Music Commission.

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The fourth step to take when planning a worship service is: Consider Your Musicians

Before you start adding songs to your order of service, it is important to know who will be playing and who will be singing – and the skill level each person possesses.

Let’s look at your instrumentalist first.

Every musician, no matter how long they have been playing has varying degrees of ability.

You may have a pianist and a guitarist, or you may have a 12-piece orchestra, or a full rhythm section band.

No matter what instrumentalist you have on your team, as the leader. it is your job to set your team up to succeed.

Here’s what I mean.

You must keep in mind the skill level of your musicians before you decide on what songs – or more importantly what arrangements to sing.

If I have studio quality players for example – I’m going to choose arrangements that will challenge their abilities. I’ll choose songs that will help them stay engaged and not get bored with the music.

Regular, fresh arrangements will give your good players something to look forward to and something they can by in to.

If the arrangements you choose are too simple, your quality players will quickly loose interest and won’t have a lot of motivation to continue.

If you have young or inexperienced players – choosing songs that are too advanced, will cause them to shut down and not want to play.

Nothing is more demotivating than feeling inadequate – like you don’t measure up.

That’s why it’s important to choose songs that are appropriate based on your team’s abilities.

When it comes your vocalist, a lot of the same principles apply.

To set your team up to succeed, you need to know the vocal range, pitch control, timbre and overall ability each vocalists has.

The same is true for choir selections. If you only have three men in your choir and they all sing bass, you probably won’t be able to sing the latest Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir selections.

I’m joking a bit – but you understand what I’m saying.

When I’m planning worship, I like to know who is singing with me, because that influences what songs we end up singing.

For instance, we sing the Kari Jobe song “Forever” at our church. That is a female-led song. And more specifically it’s in a mid soprano or high alto range. This song is a great song – it’s powerful and our congregation loves to sing it. But we only sing that song when certain people are scheduled to sing.

I do this for a couple of reasons.

1. First, I want to set my team up for success – and I would never intentionally put them in a spot that would cause them to be embarrassed. We have some great vocalists, but not all of them have the ability to lead that song with the same effectiveness as others.
2. Secondly, my goal, as I’ve mentioned a couple of times, is for the congregation to engage in worship. And if someone is singing that doesn’t have the ability to lead, or can’t sing on pitch or stumbles over their lyrics, this becomes a distraction for the congregation.

God gifts every believer with specific gifts they are to use to help build up – to edify the church.

As the leader, it is my responsibility – it’s your responsibility – to choose vocalists that will help edify the church, not distract them from worshiping God.

A couple of more thought on this:

1. First of all – when choosing music, your first priority (after Jesus and the gospel of course) is the congregation. So even if your musicians can play classical arrangements, or your vocalists can sing sky high – if those arrangements alienate the congregation – it won’t be beneficial to use those songs.
2. Secondly, just because someone is a beginner doesn’t mean they should always stay a beginner – so give them music that will stretch them. Choose some songs that are out of their comfort zone – and cast the vision for them to improve in their craft. If you give them plenty of notice and help them see the big picture – they will put the time in to get better each week.
3. And third, you probably have musicians that are all over the spectrum when it comes to skill level. You probably have some great musicians and some that need constant encouragement. In order to keep the experienced players and singers engaged without alienating the inexperienced, enlist the help of the former to help lead and train the later.

Asking your quality players to help bring along the younger or inexperienced ones, will give them ownership and increase your team’s morale and overall capability.

And when it comes to choosing music for a mixed skill level group – use your best judgement, but lean toward arrangements that will stretch the inexperienced players.

After watching this, I hope you see the importance of considering your musicians before you start adding songs to your order of service.

Do your best to set your team up to succeed so they can in turn help your congregation experience the presence of God through worship.

Thanks for watching part 4 of this 11 part series: How To Plan A Worship Service From Start To Finish. I hope you’ll watch the rest of the videos and let us know what you think in the comments.

If you want to go deeper on this topic, we’ve put some additional links in the description below.

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