Jamie Brown

Just Because That’s the Key They’re Recorded In…

high I really appreciate Matt Redman’s music. His songs are consistently theologically sound, musically fresh, and congregational. His newest album, “We Shall Not Be Shaken”, is fantastic, and has a number of songs that I could envision using in the context of a worship service.

But many of his songs are written too high. Older songs such as “Blessed Be Your Name”, “Praise Awaits”, “Nothing But the Blood”, and newer ones like “You Never Let Go”, “This is How We Know”, “You Alone Can Rescue”, and “How Great is Your Faithfulness”, are all recorded in the key of B. This usually means that the chorus and bridge sit very high in the vocal range – with D#’s, E’s, and F#’s all over the place.

The key of B is a great one for Matt, but not usually for the average person in the congregation.

I also really appreciate Tim Hughes’ music. I met Tim in Oxford a couple of years ago and was struck by his humility and genuine desire to write songs that serve the Church. His CDs are also dependable sources of good music. But, again, many of his songs are too high.

Newer songs like “Happy Day”, “Everything” and “Jesus Saves” are recorded in the key of C, meaning that the congregation is asked to hit E’s, F’s, and even G’s on a regular basis. Most other songs are recorded in keys that are more suited for Tim’s voice than the average man or woman in the pews.

Many of Chris Tomlin’s songs are good for using in worship services, but are recorded in keys nearly impossible for the congregation to feel comfortable in. “Indescribable” was recorded in the key of B meaning you have to hit an F# about 40 times in the song. “How Great is Our God” in the key of Db, meaning that in the bridge you’re belting out F’s and F#’s. “Holy is the Lord” in the key of Bb meaning the chorus and bridge sit around an F half the time. “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)” was recorded in the key of G, meaning that you’ve got to hit a high G when the chorus rolls around.

Just because Matt Redman, Tim Hughes, or Chris Tomlin record their songs in those keys, you don’t have to sing them in those keys.

Take some time to figure out the best key for a song. My rule of thumb is “C to shining C” (I’ve mentioned this before), meaning that the lowest a song should generally go is a C (one octave below middle C on a piano) and the highest it should go is one octave up from there. I’ll still use songs that dip a bit lower than a middle C or jump up to a D, Eb, or even an E from time to time, but I want to make sure the song isn’t “hanging out” up in the stratosphere or down in the depths. I think most people are comfortable between a low G and a high C or D. Of course we can’t limit our congregation to only singing notes between a middle C and one octave up. It’s OK to move a bit lower or a bit higher from to time. But make sure it’s not all the time.

Singing all your songs really low can have a deadening effect, removing drive and energy from them. Singing all your songs really high can cause your congregation to stop singing.

Once you’ve figured out what key the song should be in, transpose it down and make a new chord chart up for your worship team. This is a skill you really need to develop if you haven’t already. A basic music theory book should help you learn how to move songs down into more comfortable keys. In the meantime, ask someone for help or use internet tools (CCLI’s SongSelect service does it) to help you out.

Moving “Blessed Be Your Name” down from B to A means that the verses are a bit low (i.e. you dip down to an A once in a while), but the chorus and bridge are comfortable, sitting in an A-B-C# range.

Moving “Happy Day” down from C to A means that the verses are pretty low (you dip all the way down to a low F#) but the chorus and bridge aren’t painfully high.

A lot of worship music CDs that I buy have songs that are written in congregation-friendly keys. I’m always really grateful for those. But others are written in the singer’s “sweet spot”. Those are great to listen to it, but require some extra work on my part. I’ll gladly transpose a song down a few keys to help as many people join in as possible.

Video Clip – Paul Baloche on Choosing a Bass Player

Here’s a great video clip of Paul Baloche explaining what he’s looking for in a bass player.

In this clip Paul focuses almost exclusively on the bass player’s skill. More important than the bass player’s skill, of course, would be his or her heart. Do they love the Lord? Are they passionate about God’s glory or their own? Are they humble? Are they committed to the church? if these answers are “yes”, and the bass player is skillful (like Paul talks about), then sign him (or her) up!

How to Ask Your Congregation to Stand Up

pews In the more informal services at my church, the worship leader is usually the one who invites people to stand at the beginning of the service. In other churches or in more formal services, either the church’s pastor will do this, or the first hymn will just start and signal that everyone should probably stand up.

I’ve seen worship leaders invite their congregations to stand in some pretty funny ways.

Some are timid or nervous and don’t quite know what to say. They might say something like “uh, hi everyone, please find your seat, uh, please stand up, and please, uh let’s sing this first song ‘How Great is Our God’”.

Well, if you say so.

Some are overconfident and come across like they had a bit too much coffee to drink. “Hello everybody! I said hello everybody! Alright, that sounds more like it. Now let’s stand to our feet and worship the Lord! I said let’s stand to our feet and worship the Lord! Are you with me? Yeah! One, two, three, four!”

I think I might have a headache.

Others just say random things like “get on up!” (reminds me of a James Brown song) or “please rise” (reminds me of a legal proceeding).

When it comes to the very first thing a worship leader says in an entire service, it’s important that they not come across as nervous, annoyingly enthusiastic, flippant, or robotic.

Just relax, make eye contact, and say something simple like “good morning everyone, why don’t we stand together and sing to the Lord”. It’s confident, simple, and clear. Or “let’s stand together this morning and proclaim God’s glory as we sing”. It doesn’t need to be fancy or eloquent. It shouldn’t be more than a sentence or two.

It’s not the most difficult thing in the world – and it may come easily to many worship leaders – but it’s easy to overlook until you get onto the platform on Sunday morning. Just treat your congregation like your family and kindly invite them to stand. An awkward start is just plain awkward. A smooth start makes things easier.

Oftentimes at my church we’ll start playing a few measures of the opening song, and then I’ll ask the congregation to stand before we start singing. Here’s an example of how I did that a few months ago before singing “Praise the Lord” by Bob Kauflin and Doug Plank from Sovereign Grace Music (it’s on their Psalms CD). You’ll hear people chattering at first, and even a bit during the first verse, but slowly people join in, and by the chorus we’re all singing together.

Where’s the Passion?

dance In 2 Samuel 6, when the Ark of the Covenant was brought back into Jerusalem, David “danced… with all his might”. Take that description literally and just imagine how David looked. Undignified enough to draw the mocking of his wife Michal – but not nearly undignified enough for David to think about pulling back.

In Mark 14, a woman pours perfume on Jesus’ head. This perfume is expensive (worth “…more than year’s wages…). She didn’t hold any back (“she broke the jar…”). She drew the mocking of those around her (“they rebuked her harshly”). But Jesus was honored enough to say “she has done a beautiful thing to me”.

When I stand in front of a congregation to lead them in worship, do I resemble David or Michal? Am I worshipping “before the Lord” or too worried about my dignify? Am I willing to become “even more undignified” or do I look upon such behavior as worthy of contempt?

When I leave a service on Sunday morning, can I look back and say that I “broke the jar” – giving my all to worship Jesus? Did it cost me anything? Or did I hold back for fear of rebuke or for fear of giving up too much? Do I resemble Mary, whose worship was “beautiful” to Jesus, or the people who look upon such extravagant worship with suspicion?

Where’s the passion when I lead worship?

God deserves my whole-hearted, enthusiastic, God-glorifying, genuine, and even full-bodied singing.

The congregation is served by my example of a David-like abandon and Luke 14-like devotion.

I become a more effective worship leader when my passion for the glory of God is contagious and spreads into the congregation.

Where is your passion on Sunday morning?

If your passion is the music, it will show. You’ll contribute to a music ministry that exists to perform and a congregation that exists to hear and critique music.

If your passion is perfection you’ll contribute to a music ministry that exists to impress and a congregation that exists to applaud.

But if your passion is the glory of God, you’ll contribute to a music ministry and congregation for whom God’s glory is the goal and delight.

It’s not enough to be a good musician. Break your jar every Sunday, worship with all your might, and do it all “before the Lord”.

Projecting Excellence – Does Alignment Matter?

At my church, we’ve found that using 38-point white Arial font on a black background is the most readable way to format our song lyrics. We center the lyrics, paying attention to line breaks, grammar, margins, and accuracy. We don’t want the lyrics to be distracting either in their flashiness or messiness. We aim for readable and easy to follow.

In our services we employ a good deal of liturgy and corporate prayers that are projected. We’ve discovered that it helps the congregation differentiate between song lyrics and prayer text if the prayer text or liturgy is left-aligned.

Here’s an example of the first verse of Matt Redman’s “Blessed Be Your Name”.

Blessed Be Your Name good
Here’s an example of the “prayer for purity” that we use for communion Sundays.

prayer for purity

And here’s a little bit our baptism liturgy.

baptism
Verses 2 – 4 of Psalm 103.

Psalm 103
We left-adjust almost everything we project that isn’t lyrics to a song. When you’re reading, not singing, something, it’s easier when it’s laid out like in a book, a website, a newspaper, etc. Most things you’re supposed to read are left-aligned.

If you use your screens to project prayers, creeds, or liturgies, think about helping the congregation read them more easily by aligning them to the left. Yes, a very small detail, but we’ve found it helpful. Maybe you will too.