They have a team that practices OK . But the leader knows if she raised the bar , she could spend more time at rehearsals gelling musically and working on platform presences and engagement . They have a musically solid team that learns their songs . But the leader wants to get to that next level of exceptional . For some , that might be playing with a click or memorizing music . For others , it ’ s just about playing tighter and being more purposeful with parts .
MISTAKE # 2 : SONGS AND SETLISTS AREN ’ T AVAILABLE SOON ENOUGH . You can ’ t expect to give your team a setlist on Tuesday and be ready for rehearsal on Thursday . So , if you ’ re posting your setlist the same week it ’ s scheduled , I want to push you to start planning your songs at least two weeks in advance . And , eventually , even further out than that . We teach a four-week “ batch process ” technique to our coaching clients ( which I wrote about in the first article in this series ). listen to the songs .
• Rehearsal notes ( or band notes ) to spell out what they need to know before rehearsal .
• Charts that match the arrangement . Also , consider different learning styles and musical knowledge when it comes to charts . I provided chord charts , lead sheets , and lyric sheets for my team . And , don ’ t forget auditory learners . For some team members , the recording is their chart .
Some leaders come into the coaching program and say , “ Nah , Jon , my team practices alright .” But when we dig in and analyze their team ’ s behavior and their Sunday results , even good teams need to grow in the area of preparation .
TACTIC # 2 : PLAN TO PRIORITIZE PREPARATION The second ‘ get-your-team-to-practice ’ tactic focuses on your planning . Here ’ s the good ( and bad ) news . How you plan sets and rotate songs massively affects your team ’ s preparation . If you do it well , you can eliminate excuses and help your team be more prepared . If you don ’ t , your Sunday planning will discourage good practice habits .
Here are four common planning mistakes that keep worship teams from being as prepared as possible .
MISTAKE # 1 : TOO MANY SONGS TO LEARN OR RELEARN . In an earlier installment of this series , we talked about the concept of rotating fewer songs more often and limiting the number of new tunes you introduce . ( It ’ s part of a process I call ‘ The SongCycle .’)
If you don ’ t limit your song rotation ( especially new songs ), your team will always be required to learn and relearn too many songs every Sunday . That takes up precious time that few of your volunteers have to give .
By planning and posting your songs sooner , you ’ ll eliminate many of the “ I don ’ t have time ” excuses team members give for not practicing .
MISTAKE # 3 : NO DEFAULT SONG FORMS . “ Why bother practicing ?! You change the song every time we do it !!” More than one team member leveled that accusation at me during my early years .
Guilty as charged .
To serve my team better and make it easier for them to practice …
• I created default song forms ( or sequences ) for every song .
• Also , I had a designated key ( or keys , if different leaders needed different keys ) for every song .
• And , I usually stuck with the same arrangement ( that included a reference recording ) for as long as we did the song .
These efforts accomplished a few things . First , they reduced my team members ’ excuses for not practicing . Second , it also helped my team remember songs more easily . And third , having a standard form made it easier to make changes when we did want to adjust the arrangement .
MISTAKE # 4 : CLARIFY CHARTS & PARTS . You will enable poor practice if you don ’ t define what each team member is supposed to learn . You need to provide …
• Reference recordings ( in the right key ) or rehearsal mixes so team members can
So , those are a few of the practical steps you can take to scale up your team ’ s practice habits . And we ’ re just scratching the surface about how you can leverage preparation to grow a team that ’ s consistently excellent every Sunday . I wish space allowed me to give you more , but it doesn ’ t .
If you want to explore how I can help you to overhaul your team ’ s practice habits and build a team that can make every Sunday exceptional , click the additional resources link .
When you visit this page , you can download a free checklist ( no sign-up required ) that gives you all eight essential growth engines . The checklist also includes a short assessment and implementation questions for each engine . I also included our “ Practice Versus Rehearsal ” cheat sheet that you can share with your team . And there are a few additional resources and videos on that page to explore what your next steps to improve your worship ministry might be .
Jon Nicol Jon lives in the middle of Ohio with his wife Shannon and their four kids . He ’ s the founder of WorshipTeamCoach . com and WorshipWorkshop . com , two sites that help worship leaders make every Sunday exceptional . If you ’ d like to connect with Jon for coaching or mentoring ,
visit this page . WorshipWorkshop . com WorshipTeamCoach . com