YOUTH WORSHIP TEAM
ON STAGE ENERGY | Vance & Michelle Shepherd
It’s a great thing to have a band that sounds
awesome musically and vocally, but one
thing we find ourselves continually coaching
our youth worship team on is their stage
presence… meaning the way they present the
songs to the congregation. Looking confident
and having conviction in their playing, as well
as having great rhythm, can be a hard thing
to cultivate. With nearly every one of our
students we find ourselves encouraging them
in the same thing… that their visual appearance
needs to match the energy of the song they’re
playing!
For the most part, our youth worship team
is just focusing on their musical parts, not
thinking about getting their body to highlight
the rhythm or emotion of the song. And while
this is fine if the song is a ballad, the up-tempo
songs need to be led quite differently. These
are songs that rejoice and praise God for His
saving grace and love for us. It's important that
the congregation see the excitement coming
from the worship musicians and vocalists on
During this season of the band, we had them infectious. The rest of the band had so much
doing simple choreography like jumping, side more energy when they saw how great he
steps, claps on the choruses, etc., because looked. And they had so much more fun.
the music in the kid’s environment was so high
energy. It needed to be presented with a lot of If you get someone on your team that has
movement and excitement. infectious energy, not only does it create
excitement and joy for the band, but definitely
But now that our youth team is leading worship for the congregation as well. This was just
for adult congregations, we want them to lead what the doctor ordered, and we can't wait to
from an authentic place in their heart, not like a see how the band grows from here. For your
joy and excitement. choreographed performance. But without that youth worship team, you may want to coach
choreography, there is now no movement on the band to clap together on certain sections
After every worship event, we give each stage. when they’re not playing their instrument. You
stage. The congregation needs to know that
the worship team really believes in what the
lyrics are saying by delivering those songs with
student a video class, so they can see where
they’re doing well, and also where they might
need improvement. We play the footage of the
opening or closing song that musically has a lot
of energy, and then we turn the volume all the
way down and ask them how it looks without
the audio turned up. They always say, "We look
boring,” or, “We don’t look like we’re playing an
up-tempo song.” They agree that they need to
bring more in their presence and execution, but
when it comes time to lead worship again, they
freeze up.
side steps or jumps, just to get the ball rolling
join our youth worship team. For the stage plot or until you get a player or two on your team
we had placed him on the back line by the that has natural groove, and can lead the way.
drummer. But when the band kicked in he had Looking at our team this past couple of weeks,
great stage presence, rhythm and energy! He this new player looks like the seasoned leader
literally owned the stage, and it just seemed of the band, just because his movement and
to come naturally to him. Since he is such a groove on stage exudes joy and conviction in
new student, he is not as skilled yet as our his playing.
other musicians, but our team needed to have
someone that visually has passion, conviction May you be blessed as you pour into the next
and can groove to the beat when playing. generation of worship leaders!
When we did our second event with him two
When we first started our youth worship band,
they were leading in the K-5 grade ministries.
th
46
also may want to consider implementing simple
This month, we had one of our new students
weeks later, we brought him out on the front
line. It was awesome, because his energy was
January 2019
Vance & Michelle Shepherd
Founders of The Shepherd School Of Music in Las
Vegas, NV, where they work with youth to raise up the
next generation of worship leaders and musicians.
facebook.com/shepherdschoolofmusiclasvegas
www.ShepherdStudiosLV.com
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