YOUTH WORSHIP TEAM
SMOOTHING THE ROUGH EDGES | Vance & Michelle Shepherd
Whether your student band is providing worship for your home church or leading as a guest team in another church , it ' s great to instill in them the importance of knowing the order of songs and theme of the service as well as the pastor ’ s vision for the service , including the style and flow . As teachers , we ’ ve found it very effective to incorporate this into their actual rehearsal time , and especially during run-thru on Sunday morning , just as if it were service time . It can be a very effective way to getting the team polished for the Sunday service .
One particular church that our student band leads worship at is more of a charismatic style . In this church , the order of service is that the worship team plays one song at the top of the service , thenthe pastor comes up and greets everyone with a short , inspiring word . Nearly every time towards the end of his greeting , he gets excited and starts raising his voice , getting an energetic response from his congregation . His regular house worship team usually waits until he ’ s done with his greeting , and then ( after a bit of awkward dead time ) continues on to play three more worship songs after he leaves the stage . Not a crime by any sense , but it could flow better and be more seamless . We have a unique opportunity as the worship band to really set the tone for what ’ s to come in the service .
Here are some helpful tips that we use to train our youth worship bands in how to create an effective and smooth service flow :
TIP # 1 : We like to paint the picture to our students that they can also think of their band as providing the church service “ music soundtrack ”, like a movie score , or similar to a TV talk show band . We encourage and train them to listen to and engage with what is going on , to what is being said , and to build musical dynamics with the pastor . A helpful thing to do is to make sure that every band member has the pastor ’ s voice in their monitor so they can feel and flow dynamically with him . During their rehearsal , we have them plan ahead by rehearsing the musical bed in the key of the next song in the worship set , having the drummer doing cymbal swells and kicks , with the keyboardists and guitarists holding sustained chords , etc .
TIP # 2 : We make it a practice of videoing our students when leading worship , and it has been an extremely great tool for them to learn from . After videoing our student ’ s Sunday worship set at this more charismatic church , we then gave them classes based on what we saw on the video , giving them tips for improvement , and praising them for things done well . As the students watched the video , they all agreed where their music fell short . As the pastor was giving his inspirational greeting , the band ’ s underscore and his dynamic was really high . You could feel the energy through the video . But at the end of his greeting , when he turned it back over to the worship team and walked off stage , he said excitedly , “ Come on , let ' s worship !” And then … there was five seconds of dead time as the drummer stopped cymbal swelling and the musicians stopped sustaining their chords . The drummer was fumblling to start the click track to the next song . We explained to them how they should have kept holding the chord and the cymbal swell until the count-in to the next song came in , eliminating all the dead space between the pastor leaving the stage and the band starting the song .
TIP # 3 : We have also found it helpful to contact the church a few weeks ahead of time and ask what will be preached on , striving to design the worship set or at least a song to fit in with the theme or to accompany the message .
This can get the worship leader or leaders thinking ahead about how to tie the worship songs to the whole flow of service , setting up the next song thematically , or introducing the pastor , announcements or offering time .
Whatever type of church your youth worship team is leading at , it ’ s great to practice , plan and rehearse the dynamics . It adds so much to the service , and makes everything feel seamless , smooth and cohesive . And like anything , the more they do it , the better they will be at it !
May you be blessed as you pour into or become the next generation of worship leaders and musicians !
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