Worship Musician January 2019 | Page 127

Whether you’re a volunteer, are on staff at a they just love doing it. Neither of them has to do much in a plateau season and it had a lot to do church, or are aspiring to have a career as a it, but they love doing it. with not having to fight for anything. great insights to inspire you on your journey. I think the pitfall is… and first of all, there is I think a volunteer that just plays on Sundays Long before they played their first arena show, nothing wrong with getting paid playing in has to fight to get that time, because they might Daniel Carson, Garrett P. Tyler, and David church, which was my income for ten years as work a nine to five during the week or be in Curran were worship team volunteers. In this a contract musician. But what I realized with the school, and that might be their one chance to month’s Worship Guitar, Drum, and Bass talk pros and cons was, the pro was that I didn’t be in a band and do what they love. So each columns we asked Daniel, David, and Garrett have to get another job and I could focus all my time it’s like they’re pouring more and more of to share their insights on their journey and how energy on this. But at the same time, it’s really their creative energy into it. I think the pitfall for to make the most of your gifts as a Worship easy to take your foot off the gas when it comes the paid musician is you kind of spend less time musician, regardless of the venue! to your playing and getting better, because it’s putting creative energy into it, you’re putting just the same songs over and over again and your consistent energy into it, and just enough [WM] There’s an interesting line that divides you feel like you don’t need to get better. And to get through. I think for anyone who gets giving one’s time to the local church on Sunday so you get into the pitfall of not getting better. paid, always try to push yourself every week. and playing for a living as a worship and/or That was my own personal life, I’m not pointing Especially for someone who doesn’t have to get Christian Musician. Before we dig deeper, I’d that at other players saying they do that, that another job, spend Monday to Friday playing be curious to hear your thoughts on what the was my problem where I felt like I was very music that you won’t be playing on Sunday just Worship musician, this issue is filled with some biggest differences are between the two? [David Curran] I would say it is a very fine line, because the professionalism that I put on myself in my professional career I would also put on myself if I were playing in church Sunday morning. I think my take on it is why are you doing it, what’s your ‘why’ behind it? I think you can kind of connect them all together. I think if you are a musician that plays at church every Sunday and you’re not getting paid, you may have a day job, but you love it and that is your outlet to be a musician. I think you channeling your creative energy through that can help take your playing to the next level. Now say you’re a musician that plays on Sunday, you don’t have any other gigs and you are getting paid, it’s that same question of why you are doing it. If you’re doing it just for a paycheck I don’t think you’ll grow that way, because what I think will happen is you’ll plateau creatively because you’re not doing it because you necessarily love it. I think when you’re just doing it for money your skills might suffer. I think the same thing goes for the professional musician who tours all over put still plays on Sunday. They actually might have more in common with the volunteer, because the professional musician and the volunteer both play at church for the exact same reason, January 2019 Subscribe for Free... 127