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Crafting a song list..
Started by Chris Sayburn on 16 July 2008 - 4:31pm
| 16 July 2008 - 4:31pm | |
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Hi all I just wondered how people go about crafting song lists in their church? I currently do..... - Speak to the service leader to find out timings / how many slots etc... - Get the preacher to email me a few bullet points (as early as poss...although they are always too lat minute for my liking!) of what they are speaking about / what they think God wants to say to the church and how I can back this up through song - Pray! - something of the lines of Lord help!! - I check last weeks service sheet to see what was done so i dont pick all the same songs! - I start to work on the first set, where I like to build in "praise" songs that speak about who God is, His power, His faithfulness, His Glory, His love, His Worthiness rather than how we feel about Him as that is dangerous as what if we dont particularly feel like it. I love it when we come together as a body and take our eyes off ourselves and fix them on our awesome God. - I start to write down songs that come to mind and how they can flow into each other thematically / key wise. - Then I worship God with them and see what happens see where I feel the Spirit maybe leading me. - If im honest i usually use the "offertory" slot to maybe teach a new song or to use a hymn to give us real depth and a balance (we try and get at least one hymn in every week) - For the ministry slot, i take the bullet points off the sermon, check out the bible passage being used and try and think of a song that will really back up and help people respond to Gods word and build it from there really. I like to take people on a journey of response and intimacy. I then try and use the songs i've come up with as personal worship to God and I find its here where I find it fits together and I get ideas of maybe how to link songs, maybe there is a tag or a certain song we might need to hang around on....etc.. In the ministry slot i also try and limit key changes so it creates a seemless flow for people to respond rather than it being stop and start. Then I jot down a few ideas of beginnings and endings as a template that we can try at the practice as i find its better that way than trying to start from scratch with 6 musicians (you know what they are like we would get nothing done!) ;) Think thats kind of it really, obviously other than praying for God to meet with this people and for lives to be changed and asking what He wants to do with the stuff i've prepared --------- Chris |
I'm like you. I like to plan. I've found that God really works in and through my planning. I also very openly realize that God could disrupt any of my plans at any moment. So I usually plan on that as well...
I'm kind of in an awkward spot right now. I coordinate worship for my university's chapel services, so my approach to planning a set ends up being a little different than it would be coordinating a church service. This is mainly because I'm often not given much thematically to work with, and we play on a pretty inconsistent schedule. Usually, I just know that some person in the academic community is coming to speak and all I have is a general idea of what they might be talking about. It is kind of inconvenient and it makes it hard to create some type of flow in the chapel service.
Because of this, I've found I really have to be dependent upon God's leading even when I'm not sure what I'm planning is "right." My first question is usually, "God what do you want to accomplish in this time?"
I'll also consider what God is doing in the midst of the student body. And, I'll also ask what songs do the students know? What songs resonate well with the voice of the people? On the other hand, I'll also consider what songs might stretch the people some. For example, maybe we need to bring in more hymns?
I'll also look to the creative energy of my other band mates. Some times they'll have songs and ideas stirring in their hearts. This helps keep things fresh too... It helps me expand my repertoire of songs.
These are just some things I can think of off the top of my head that I consider.
As I start thinking about these things, I realize that there is not a particular 5 step formula I follow. It seems to be a different (although similar) process each time...
My preparations go through three stages:
1. Inspiration: I start well in advance of when I am due to lead, asking God to speak to me. I then keep my eyes and ears open, continuing to pray and watching for things like a passage from a book I am reading or perhaps something I see while walking to work.
2. The Draft: With at least a few days to go, I pull together the results of the first stage, starting to pick and arrange a list of songs. I normally have at least one passage of scripture I am meditating on, too. If I didn't get particular inspiration, I'll work off the last set I did - it is still fluid and able to change if God shows me something else. At this stage I will also be considering things like how the songs flow together and what sort of images I might want to use as backdrops. This is when I let the rest of the group know what I am thinking.
3. Polish: Fairly close to the event (but ideally not half an hour before) I will finish off putting the set together, making sure the music is in place (and that I've got the songs down), etc.
The results are, of course, subject to change during the actual process of leading worship but I find that this gives me a strong foundation, including both my responsibility to work on the craft of worship leading and room for God to direct me.
Wulf
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Bassist for The Elusive Teeth, The Pico Brown Five and Hither Green Baptist Church
All such great thoughts, I learned a bit from your posts! Preparation for the service has been a really… well… I guess, strange, thing for me.
There are times when I haven’t prepared at all and it has felt like the hearts of the kids in the room honestly connect with the words they are singing; it’s the most wonderful thing. But there are others where I’ve prepared extensively and it didn’t seem as if anything worked, like hitting your head against a wall. (Judging if a worship service was successful seems awkward anyhow, considering I don’t know what God is doing in people’s hearts)
Lately I've been working really hard to craft a good song list to use for the youth group; we need more high energy songs. I've been trying to write some, but I'm sure there is great stuff out there that I've just not been able to find.
being a proper mathmetician, i draw a graph (Y)
not only does it help me plan, but some of the team really like being able to see how the service is going to work (in theory anyway)
One thing I will say, on behalf of all the techs here...
PLEASE LET US KNOW THE RUNNING ORDER IN GOOD TIME! When on video duty, I have cameras to set up and test; EasyWorship to schedule-prep (which I can't do until I have your running order); VT packages to test and line up... and THEN I just might get a chance to nip forward and pray with the rest of you lot...
As for "I know some people who like to "rely on the Spirit" (basically wing it!) and dont really prepare anything."..... AAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! :mad:
Let us know some likely song choices... as we can then concentrate on Googling for lyrics where we can't find them on the electronic copies (I had to do that once for "You have taken the precious"). Key point - it takes a few seconds to search for and whack lyrics up...
Also - when on sound... it's useful to know the service structure... I can also anticipate when fine-tuning the main mix.. certain numbers work as piano ballads.. i may have hidden the instrument to give more prominence to guitars in the same set.
Also run-orders mean that I can be those few seconds ahead when muting and unmuting mics...
Just a few ideas from the other end of the snake...
Yeah that's a really important point Al about working as a team and making sure everyone knows what's going on. I really like what Tim/Al shared at the worship central pastors meeting thingy that the team who will be operating that Sunday (Pa, service leader, speaker, WL, etc..) all meet together on a thurs eve and talk through the barebones and get everyones thoughts.... it wouldn't work for us just practically but thought that is an amazing example of a team pulling together towards the common goal.
And Peter what's a "Y" graph!!? :)
What we've started doing is getting the worship leader preacher and service leader to have a chat at least 5 days before the service.
This really helps
what we have arranged last week some time is to try and email the songs we are thinking of doing, a general selection, to all the worship leaders (in our youth) and getting responses like whetehr you thiknkit'll work or any other ideas where to go with it
Normally i start to pray for inspiration about a week before i lead however i do work with my band, we have a fixed one, so that we can'Wing' a few songs just in case we think God wants to do something else...
seems to work
Jonty
1. Pray and just ask God "What are you wanting to speak to us about?"
2. Find out what the speaker person is going to be talking about. Or at least get the bible passage. Also find out if there is anything else happening during the meeting (like communion for example!)
3. Read the bible passage
4. Pray some more.
5. Make a general mess in my lounge with music spread all over the floor as I try to discern where the church is at, what songs are going to be relevant to what is expected to be going on during the meeting. Also put lists of songs with similar themes, have a few songs that link well together so we don't stop/start too much.
This generally involves me sitting with my guitar (if my arm allows me to play!) and singing away...
6. I usually have some back-up songs - so in my songlist I'll have a few options depending on how things go.
7. E-mail the service leader/preacher, band and the DTP people to let them know the provisional songllist. Will get feedback from them and might change a few things if appropriate.
On the night, things don't always go as planned and may change songs on the spot if God is clearly doing something different from what we thought was going to happen. That's when you discover how good you communicate and work together as a team! Usually works out really well though. I find this can especially happen after the talk that is given. We might have some real celebratory upbeat songs prepared, but afterwards the mood is quite reflective and sombre so it's not appropriate or helpful to do the upbeat stuff. Other times it's the opposite that happens! :)
http://brunettekoala.wordpress.com
Not wanting to sound harsh, but sometimes I feel that "playing / leading in the spirit" is a convenient way of being lazy. Not to say that it doesn't happen but to rely on it, to me, is somewhat of a cop out and usually ends up going wrong.
I like to plan well ahead, I look at the theme, readings and sermon potential and try to route out what the feeling for the service is to be. Prayer obviously helps a great deal, as does sage advice. In all honesty I work about two weeks ahead allowing plenty of time for inspiration and opportunity to play through the songs, looking for links in terms of thematic content and musical flow.
I am somewhat anal about things and as such produce spreadsheets with musical information that I can look at and find links through.
This is a very interesting thread!
Steve
Chris,
(Y)- is thumbs up
Peter