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Contents
Preparing Oneself During
the Week
Choosing A Location for
Worship
Encouraging a Congregation
to Sing
Leading with Two Worship
Leaders
Leading Alone
with No other Musicians
On MIDI and accompaniment
tracks
Preparing Oneself During The Week
Factors: In choosing the location, the main factors to consider are the size, acoustics, the stage, the entrances, the positioning of the instruments, the seating, the lighting, and the general conduciveness (for example, temperature, smell).
Size: Generally the more compact the better. Don't book the Sydney Opera House for your Sunday school camp. The more compact (without squeezing, of course), the closer the congregation will be together, the louder the singing will sound, and the mood generally better.
Acoustics: A bit of an echo is good. For small groups, a carpeted room is not the best because it can muffle the singing.
The stage: This is where the congregation will be looking at most of the time. The primary principle is, remove anything that is distracting, and be tactful towards that which is edifying. Don't put the worship leader and musicians too far downstage because this will create a gap between the worshippers and the leader.
Windows: It is generally not good to have a window behind the worship leader for obvious reasons. Even if nobody walks past, the scenery outside may actually be too breath-taking for conducive worship! It is also not advisable for direct sunlight to shine onto the worshippers.
On-stage singers: It's nice to have your choir or backup singers on stage. As people see you all worshipping , and not just an individual, they will be drawn closer too into worship. Of course, this effect is negated if, when you or the speaker is talking, they are busily talking or giggling in front of everybody.
Decorations: Decorating your stage elegantly too helps, for example, simple banners or flowers. The minimum requirement is that the stage should be neat and tidy and presentable. Details like these do exert a summative effect on your congregation's mood.
The entrances: This is where people come in. This is especially an important consideration when it comes to latecomers. Generally the entrances should be at the back of the hall, or at least in such a way that others' attention will not be riveted to the late-comer who sneaks in sheepishly in the middle of a critical point you are making.
Positioning of instruments: The best arrangement has to be learnt from experience. Of course, the musicians must not be so far away from you as to render you inaudible and invisible. Every musician must be able to see your signs clearly, and to communicate with one another.
Upright pianos: Watch out especially for upright pianos which tend to block the pianist's sight. You may need a guitarist next to him to be his eye. Do not place the piano in between two guitarists, for example.
Same instruments and drums: The same instruments should be placed together. The drum set should be placed right behind the rest of the musicians. It is easier for the drummer, as the foundation of the worship band, to coordinate with the other musicians, and worshippers have a lesser tendency to be distracted by the drummer's vigorous virtuoso movements.
Where the musicians face: Try not to let the musicians face away from the congregation. Sideways at most, so that they, too, will help bring the congregation into worship when your congregation catches the joy on their faces!
Seating: This is a matter of comfort. Chairs can be placed in a circle for a small group, but for a group greater than 20 the circle formed may make those seated furthest away from the worship leader too far. Seating in rows may be more restrictive, so leave space in between rows for people to stand, clap and dance.
Sitting on the floor: Sitting on the floor may be fine for children and youths, but the older ones tend to find sitting on the floor not conducive. If you want your worshippers to sit on the floor - remember, the floor mustn't be freezing, and must be clean at the very least.
Spacing of rows: If the rows are too close together, people's view of the leader and the lyrics flashed on the screen may be blocked.
Lighting: This can set the atmosphere or mood. The reason why lighting is important is because light can really show up what the other worshippers are doing . For example, if in full light I notice that some of the worshippers are chatting, it may affect my mood to worship. Generally, a glaring brightness is harmful. If the group is very large, then full lighting is all right.
Lighting and OHP: When transparencies are being flashed, the background lighting should be dimmed. The stage should always be bright. A soft orange light is the best. In a small group worship, the room lights can be dimmed so that worshippers are not so conscious of one another 's actions but of the Lord. If your room is darkened, watch against light coming from outside the room.
Filing: If you are writing out a transparency, use non-permanent ink if you intend to use the sheet again. Do not file a transparency written with non permanent ink as it will dirty the file. Use permanent ink if you intend to keep the written transparency.
Storage: Transparencies really should be kept in protective covers, if they are to remain viable for a long time.
Thickness of words: When writing out a transparency, remember it's not how tall your letters are, but rather how thick they are that matter. The thicker the words are, the easier they can be seen far away from the screen.
Leave some space: Avoid writing your words on the transparency all the way to the bottom of the sheet, else the sheet may slip to the floor easily.
Flashing the transparency: when a congregation stands up, the minimum height at which most of them can read the words is slightly above head-height. You must ensure that words will not be flashed lower than it. This is a common mistake.
Using the OHP: If you are controlling the OHP yourself, you can point to the line you want them to repeat, or the chorus or verse which you want them to repeat for example.
Shifting the OHT: Try to shift the OHT as little as possible. Sometimes the covers which people use to cover the parts we are not singing yet are unnecessary and a bother to our multi-tasking worship leaders.
Don't overdepend on OHTs: You should know the lyrics of the song pretty well yourself so you don't have to keep looking at the OHT all the time. Also, this is important when the OHP goes bust at the wrong time.
Be careful: Don't trip over the OHP wire. Be aware of it as you move around when leading. In fact, don't trip over any wire.
Preparing on the final day.
Prepare the sanctuary: For your congregation, the last few minutes before the worship are very important. The best results obtained seem to occur when people are asked to suspend their chatting and start focusing and praying to God. In fact, the sanctuary is called a house of prayer. Let your worship place be a refuge from life's hustle and bustle and loud noises, a place for quietness and order.
Focus the people: You may ask your meeting chairman to help people get seated quickly and enter into a meditative mood and cease talking to one another. Phrases to use could be, "let us close our eyes and begin to focus on the Lord" or something as simple as "let us pray".
Timing: When you see the people quietening down and preparing themselves, give them some time. Try not to start your worship until you sense the people are prepared to enter into worship, otherwise it can be quite jarring.
Pre-worship huddle: Before the worship starts, you can enter into a time of prayer with your musicians. Before that, you can quickly go through the hand signals with them, and verbally check whether they remember their particular parts and startings and endings.
Encouraging the people to sing:
Familiar songs: To encourage the people to sing, you can choose familiar songs, songs which the members of your group like, for your first fast song and first slow song.
Song ratio: As said before, try not to have too many new songs or unfamiliar songs - those that tend to be forgotten and taken to be new songs. Not more than 25% of the songs in your worship.
Avoid breaks: Since people tend to keep singing once they start singing, avoid having too many disruptive breaks - especially if they are due to musical ineptitude or worship leader's sermons. Let the music flow smoothly and nicely from song to song.
Audience eye contact: It is important to establish rapport with the audience. If you have a small group, try to establish eye contact with your people and gain their response and support before starting on the worship. This helps prevent you from drifting off into your own world and leaving the rest behind.
Enthusiasm: The worship leader and musician must seem enthusiastic about the worship. If the meeting chairman is right smack on the stage too, he, too, should be enthusiastic. The spirit of worship is contagious.
Subtle hints: If your people don't seem to be singing, eg when they face a new song, you can subtly ask them to sing by saying "let's join in" or "let's sing together" at the beginning of each verse or chorus.
Avoid scolding: Some worship leaders, if faced with unresponsive groups, stop the praise suddenly and ask them why they sing "celebrate" while they aren't smiling at all. I feel however, it requires discernment not to draw the people's attention to the fact that no one is enthusiastic. Rather, the leader should remind his congregation of God's promises and why we must praise, and GAIN THEIR RESPONSE during such a time. For example, "Praise can be a powerful weapon to fight the enemy, Amen?" The leader should not be seen as scolding the congregation.
Leading with two worship leaders:
Confidence: Leading with two worship leaders requires skill. Generally, there should still be one main worship leader. The 2nd worship leader must be enthusiastic, and sure of himself. The 2nd worship leader must NOT keep looking at the 1st worship leader as if to ask, "what is going on?"
Songs with two parts: Two worship leaders are needed when the congregation is to be split to sing a song in 2 parts. The parts of the congregation can then follow the cue of the 2 worship leaders.
Complementing: A male and female pair of worship leaders complement each other well vocally, provided they can co-ordinate well with each other.
Leading alone with guitar and no other musicians
Scripture quotations: If you are going to read scripture during your worship, turn to the passages and put them in front of you before you start the worship, for smooth transitions. How are you going to flip the pages and play your guitar at the same time?
Lyric sheets: If you need to refer to lyric sheets during your worship, lay them out side by side in front of you so you don't have to attempt to flip them and play your guitar at the same time.
Extended discourses: If during the worship you want to talk about something for a longer period of time, hand the guitar over to someone else to keep on playing "atmosphere music", rather than trying to keep playing and talking at the same time.
On CD and MIDI Accompaniment Tracks
- use any music software to edit the songs
- transpose your hymn to any key or tempo
- change voices
- add repeats, choruses
- add modulations
- print scores
High cost: However, MIDI disks tend to be expensive. On average, a $25 disk may contain only 8 songs. Buying a whole set is quite an investment (usually about $300) but each disk comes at a discounted price. If you are interested, you may visit Music Mansion, a supplier of MIDI disks as well as assorted hardware and software.
Tips On Choosing Keys For Songs
Finding a comfortable range: The comfortable vocal range for men is different from that of women (we're talking about untrained voices). To determine the key of a song, try to sing the song in that key. Submitted by Jason Kuan
Not just for yourself: If you have a mixed-sex congregation, you should get one of the other sex to sing too, to make sure the key is comfortable for both of you.
Pick simple keys: Unless you have very good musicians, pick simple keys such as C Major, A Minor, D Major, G Major, E Minor and A Major.
Last edited March 06, 1999
© Wesley Cheong 1999
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