Tag: Arranging

Too Many Songs in the Same Key = Boring

Yesterday morning my church held one 11:00am service for those able to make it out of their houses. We had about two and a half feet of snow dumped on us over the weekend, and most streets were either impassable or dangerous. Instead of canceling all services like we did back in December, we decided to have one service for anyone who could come. About 200 people ended up braving the icy and snowy roads, and I led a handful of songs from the piano with my sister-in-law singing with me. It was a simple communion service and we sang mostly familiar hymns and a couple newer songs too.

When it came time for communion, we sang three songs in a row: “Here is Love Vast as the Ocean”, “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us”, and “Alleluia Sing to Jesus”. I picked these songs for this spot in the service because they were familiar and they flowed well with each other.

One of the reasons, besides their theme, that they flowed well together was that they were all in the key of E major. This makes things easy since you can just slide from once song to the next without having to think about how to get from one key to the next. I’ll often do two songs back-to-back in the same key for this reason.

But doing too many songs in a row that are in the same key can be a bad idea sometimes. After singing in the same key for five or ten minutes, it can start to feel like we’re stuck on one really long song. By the end of the second song, whether people realize it or not, they’re a bit tired of hitting the same notes and hanging out in the same range, and they’re ready to move somewhere else. And unfortunately, when people get tired of singing in a certain range, they can become disengaged with the words they’re singing.

So instead of doing all three songs in the key of E, we did “Here is Love Vast as the Ocean” in the key of E, “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” in D, and “Alleluia Sing to Jesus” in E, modulating to F on the fourth verse. This kept all three songs in singable keys, but varied their ranges just enough so that there was distinction between them.

It took some maneuvering between songs to get from one key to the other, but I’m fairly comfortable doing that, so it didn’t feel awfully jolty. I try to avoid stopping and starting between songs if at all possible. If you’re not comfortable doing this, I would recommend you practice, practice, practice, and listen to how other worship leaders and musicians transition between keys. You’ll get better at it, and someday it will come naturally to you.

There’s a lot to think about when choosing and leading songs. What keys you’re singing your songs in should be up towards the top of the list. Keeping your keys in comfortable congregational ranges (i.e. not too high and not too low) is important, and not singing a bunch of songs in a row in the same key also helps keep things from feeling tired. 

There is Always Something to Learn – Pt. 1

This past Saturday I spent the afternoon/evening at Mariners Church in Irvine, California, watching how they “do things”. They’re about a ten-minute drive from my in-law’s house in Newport Beach, where Catherine and I are on “vacation” with Megan and her adoring grandparents.

Mariners Church is quite different from my church in many ways. It’s non-denominational and non-liturgical, while mine is Anglican and liturgical. Its average weekend attendance is over six times ours. All of the musicians are paid, while ours are volunteers. They have a state-of-the-art “worship center”, while we have a civil war-era Historic Church for our traditional services and a 900 seat “main Sanctuary” for our more informal services. They have a sprawling campus, complete with bar-b-q grills, a lake, bookstore, café, and tons of parking. They have a five-person camera crew at each service and project images of the worship leader, band, and speaker during the entire service. There are many more differences.

But while my church does differ from Mariners Church in some of our approaches to ministry, our facility, theological emphases, size, and cultural setting, we still share a love for Jesus, an evangelical and orthodox understanding of scripture, and a mission to preach the Gospel. And while my worship team looks and operates differently in many ways from Mariners’, there is always something to learn. I learned a lot on Saturday by sitting in on their sound check, rehearsal, production meeting, and evening service. They made me feel at home, gave me an in-ear monitor pack to listen in, and let me look “behind the scenes”. It was a blast. Here are a few things I learned:

Monitors, monitors, monitors
Mariners Church has a separate sound board to run separate in-ear monitor mixes for each band member, and an engineer whose only job is to run their mixes. Not every church can afford this (!), but most churches and worship teams would be well-served to devote more money and energy to making sure they have good monitor equipment and competent people running it. I have a renewed dream of having in-ear monitors for the entire worship team at my church, and having a separate person taking care of these mixes to free our sound engineer to worry about the main mix exclusively. This will take money, time, and patience.

“Rehearsal” shouldn’t be a bad word
Here’s Mariners’ typical rehearsal/service schedule:

Wednesday
– Evening rehearsal (musicians and monitor engineer) to get a feel for how they want to play the songs. This rehearsal is recorded and posted online for the band after rehearsal is finished.

Saturday
– 1:30pm: Band members arrive, tune, and plug in. Sound team is ready and equipment is in place.
– 1:45: Band plays together (ad lib) for five or ten minutes while monitor mixes are set. Note that they are playing continuously during this time, speaking to the monitor mix engineer through individual mics that are fed only into the headphone mix.
– 2:00: Rehearsal begins. Band plays through each song, stopping occasionally to correct chords, tempo, repeats, etc. Lyric operator runs lyrics concurrently to see if there are any errors and to get a feel for how to project them best. Camera and lighting operators are also in place.
– 2:45: Band takes 15 minute break. Worship leader takes part in a production meeting at this time which is attended by the directors of the different components of the service (video, lighting, audio, etc.) the “producer”, and others involved in the execution of the service. They talk through the service, what is happening and why, and what needs to happen before the service begins.
– 3:00: Everyone involved in any aspect of the service gathers to pray together.
– 3:15: First full rehearsal of the entire service (minus sermon and announcements).
– 3:40: 5 minute break.
– 3:45: Second full rehearsal of the entire service (minus sermon and announcements).
– 4:20: Break.
– 4:30: Scrolling announcements begin on the screens.
– 4:45: Church events slideshow projected on the screens.
– 4:57: Band plays musical prelude.
– 5:00: Service begins.
– 6:15: Service ends.
– 6:25: All the players from the earlier production meeting gather again to debrief. What worked? What didn’t?

Sunday
– 8:00am: Full rehearsal of the entire service (minus sermon and announcements).
– 8:30: Break.
– 8:30: Scrolling announcements begin on the screens.
– 8:45: Church events slideshow projected on the screens.
– 8:57: Band plays musical prelude.
– 9:00: Service begins.
– 10:15: Service ends.
– 10:30: Scrolling announcements begin on the screens.
– 10:45: Church events slideshow projected on the screens.
– 10:57: Band plays musical prelude.
– 11:00: Service begins.
– 12:15pm: Service ends.

Most worship teams/tech teams can’t (and shouldn’t) take on a rehearsal schedule exactly like this. Mariners Church does it because they have 9,000 people attending on a weekend, paid musicians, and have gone for a more highly-produced service. Don’t think I’m saying that every church should do three full run-throughs before its first service! If you’re not careful you can over-rehearse and burn out your volunteers.

But there are also problems with under-rehearsing, and I suspect most worship teams/tech teams (my church’s included) might be guilty of it quite often, if not every weekend. If your rehearsals are efficient and effective, most people won’t mind giving up their time to be there. You’ll be better equipped, your worship team/tech team will be better prepared, and your congregation will be led with better skill. Mariners Church rehearses often and well. That combination is key.

Keep arrangements fresh
I’m guilty of using the same chord charts for years and years. Once I have a chart for a song, I’ll use that one every time we sing it. One thing that Mariners does really well is keep their arrangements fresh. They’ll change a chord progression, try a different feel, slow it down, speed it up, use a different electric guitar or synth sound, drum pattern, etc. They’re always looking for ways to keep their songs from feeling stale, and that’s something most worship teams (again, mine included) could improve on.

Don’t take input personally. Musicians should seek to serve the song
At one point during rehearsal, Tim Timmons (the worship leader – a great guy) asked the drummer to change the feel on the chorus of one of the songs. The drummer said “OK.” It was that easy. Throughout their rehearsal, ideas and suggestions were offered freely and no one was defensive or took it personally. That’s how a healthy body works.

Have the lyrics operator at rehearsal
I am now convinced that this is crucial. The role of the lyric operator is so critically important to the skillful leading of a service, that to expect it just to “work” with no rehearsal, and with the person showing up ten minutes before the service starts is dangerously negligent. During the first run-through at Mariners, Tim realized the video for “God of Wonders” that projected the lyrics was about one beat behind, meaning the lyrics were “following, not leading”. They adjusted things so that once the service started, the lyrics were put up about 2 seconds before they were supposed to be sung. I’ll be talking with our technical director and discussing how we can get our lyric operators to attend rehearsals as soon as possible.

Walk, talk, and pray through the service with your team
Tim took time to walk through the service with the musicians and volunteers to explain why he had chosen certain songs for specific points, what would be happening at particular moments, what he was going to say in between a song, etc. Then they prayed over the service, including many of the specific moments Tim had said to look out for. This not only helped the team feel connected and on the same page, but it also helped Tim think through and articulate what he was going to say, why he was going to say it, and what his goal was. Great idea.

I’ll share some more things I learned tomorrow.

Resources for Worship Team Pianists

This morning I talked with a great friend who has been the worship director for a church plant the last few months about what resources are available to help worship team piano players play with skill and sensitivity. Here are few that I know of.

Sovereign Grace Music
1. Band on the Run seminar. Worship God 2008 conference seminar. (See previous post)
2. “Foundations for Keyboardists.” Worship God 2008 conference seminar.
3. “Playing Spontaneously.” Worship God 2006 conference seminar.
4. “But Where Are the Notes? Playing Chord Charts.” Worship God 2000 conference seminar.
5. “Keyboardists: From Notes to Charts.” Worship God 2009 conference seminar.
6. “Advanced Piano Techniques.” Worship 2009 conference seminar.

Paul Baloche Instructional DVDs
1. “Music Theory Made Easy”
2. “Worship Band Workshop”

Ed Kerr Instructional DVDs
1. “Keyboards in Contemporary Praise and Worship”
2. “The Songs of Today”

Musicademy
1. “10 Things to Do with Chords“
2. “Organ Sounds on a Keyboard“
3. “Where Keyboards Are Most Suited to Leading”
4. “String Sounds”
5. “Keyboard Fills“

Band on the Run Workshop

In August 2008 I attended Sovereign Grace Ministries’ worship conference with about 10 members of the worship team from my church. On the Friday afternoon of the conference a workshop was offered to help worship teams have better rehearsals, better arrangements, and be better equipped for playing well together that was called “Band on the Run”. I remember thinking to myself during the workshop “this is so good – I wish they were recording it.”

It turns out they were recording it, and you can watch the entire workshop below. (If you would like to download a recording of the workshop, visit Sovereign Grace’s website here.)

Drumese for Dummies – Lesson 1

I am not a drummer. I don’t even play one on TV.

I can play the guitar, piano, and a bit of the trombone, but when I sit behind a drum set, it’s dangerous. A cacophony of noise arises that could most accurately be compared to an explosion at a bomb factory – a bomb factory that also makes cymbals.

So I would never attempt to play drums for any reason, especially not on a worship team or during a worship service. However, I’ve had to learn how to listen to a recording and know what the drummer is playing, how to arrange (in my head) what I’m looking for my drummer to play on a certain song, and how to speak “drum-ese” to be able to communicate this in an understandable way to a drummer who knows what he’s doing. Since I don’t.

So I would like to share my basic language of drumese with you, in the event that it’s helpful. You might find it more humorous than helpful, and that’s fine. I’m sure any drummer who reads this will immediately know that the dummy is me. And I would agree with that.

So with that out of the way, I’ll begin with how to hear different bass drum (or “kick” drum) patterns, how changing up a bass drum pattern can change the dynamic of a song, and then how to ask a drummer to play a certain pattern without sounding like a complete idiot (that last part is always difficult to judge).

“Beautiful One”
Listen to the chorus of “Beautiful One” (written by Tim Hughes), as recorded by Stuart Townend on The Mandate: O Church Arise.

Now listen to the same part of the song as recorded by Tim Hughes on When Silence Falls.

Notice a difference in the groove? A lot of it has to do with the bass drum pattern.

In Stuart’s version, the drummer plays something like “doom-do-do-do-doom-do / doom-do-do-do-doom-do”.

(Remember, I’m not a drummer, attempting to speak drumese.)

In Tim’s version, the drummer plays something like “dooooom –  do – do  -, dooooom – do – do  -….”

That’s how I would speak it to a drummer. I would hope he would understand. If he didn’t, I could tap it on my guitar or something. Yes, he would probably laugh at me. But at least I’m trying. It helps keeps me humble.

I think the Tim Hughes version has a better bass drum pattern because: it’s tighter and a bit more aggressive. In Stuart’s version, the chorus feels more relaxed and predictable.

“How Great is Our God”
Listen to verse two of “How Great is Our God” (written by Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves and Ed Cash) as recorded by Chris on Arriving.

Now the same version as recorded by Leigh Barnard on One God.

The studio recording (by Chris Tomlin) has a kick drum pattern that sounds like “doom-doom —  do dooo do do”. Leigh Barnard’s version sounds like “do-do   —   do doom.”

I actually think both bass drum patterns work well. Depending on how I felt on a given weekend, I might suggest we switch it up and try Leigh’s pattern.

The bass drum pattern can make a huge difference to the dynamic of a song. Figure out what pattern would work best, use the “doom-doom-do-doooo” drumese language if you must, and make sure your bass player is speaking the language too.

So, in summary, to speak bass drum in “drumese” just fiddle around with “do”, “dooo”, “do-d0”, etc., etc. You’ll feel silly (rightfully so), but it’s good for you.