As your team improves musically, you will enjoy some great benefits!
Of course, this is always a journey, and each time you lead can be musically different based on that week’s chemistry and instrumental components.
But here are some ideas for helping your group raise the level musically, which will inspire your congregation in worship!
KEEP PLAYING AND LEADING
Just getting together to practice, rehearse, sound check, and lead regularly will raise the level of your group as you stay in the groove each week.
GIVE THEM LEAD TIME
Give your group time to learn newer or more challenging songs. Choose a song you want to try and send the charts, flow, and files early, with an invitation to “learn this like the recording!”
INVITE A GUEST WORSHIP LEADER
I have often visited a church as a guest worship leader, sometimes leading on my own and other times leading the local church worship team in rehearsal and the worship service. I have also experienced inviting a guest worship leader to our church with our group. In each case, it’s similar to having company in your home. You want things to be nice, tidy, and well-presented. As a result, the worship team members seem to learn the songs a little better, the sound is set up a little more efficiently, and the stage is nice and ready. I have long known that when a guest comes, we behave in a way that we want to be – kinder to each other, a little more connected overall, inside jokes, hugs, etc.
One last benefit is that our worship team occasionally hears other musicians and helps inspire them to raise their musicianship. (Or, I guess, the opposite, where we could get the feeling, “Hey, we’re not too bad!”).
VISIT ANOTHER CHURCH
This is always a logistical nightmare, but planning to visit a church (maybe an evening service or just sending a delegation some Sunday morning) can help give a vision of a raised level of music. This can also produce other ideas and creative sparks for worship leading!
LISTEN TO EACH OTHER
When leading worship, do your best to listen to each other play. Being in sync as a worship team will help the music sound great, even if it’s a simple song. Simple songs played well together will always be better received than a challenging song that is too much of a stretch for your team.
LISTEN TO A RECORDING TOGETHER
We have often gotten together to listen to the recording of the Sunday service as a group. This allows people to think about how the group presentation is coming across. I know live streaming isn’t always the optimal sound blend, but in addition to the streaming, you could also video with a phone or other device for a more actual sound from the service.
TRACKS AND METRONOMES
Playing to tracks or clicks will immediately help raise your team’s musical level. It forces everyone to be together and stay in the same flow.
REHEARSE DYNAMICS
Dynamics will do wonders for the sound of your music! During rehearsal, make sure you point out when specific instruments come in, when to be soft or to build, and anything else that will help add some interesting aspects to your musical leadership.
VARY INSTRUMENTS
Sometimes, bringing in a unique instrument or style of song can help raise the level of musicianship. For a season, we had a guy who played trumpet on several worship songs, and it was powerful. The same goes for violin, mandolin, and flute in our ministry. If you have a team member who plays something you typically don’t use, add it on a Sunday for variety and some inspiration for the rest of the crew.
INVITE YOUR TEAM TO IMPROVE
This can be done in many ways, but old-fashioned invitations like, “Let’s try that again to make it more solid?” or “Can you learn this guitar solo?” or “I want you to watch this video tutorial to learn how to do this particular technique.”
Specific help and instruction are better than general. Little improvements stacked on each other will grow over time and be fabulous!