YOUTH WORSHIP TEAM
BUILDING BLOCKS OF GREAT PRACTICE | Vance & Michelle Shepherd
When a student first starts taking music or vocal lessons , they generally don ’ t desire to become a musician or vocalist to just sing or perform in their room for themselves . They hope they ’ ll get the opportunity to be featured in a band and perform live . To help them see that vision , we like to show them videos of their favorite worship artists or musicians to encourage them that they can achieve that too , but it will take a sacrifice of their time and much dedication and hard work to be able to learn the skills to pass an audition to get to play with a live band . To be effective , they ’ ll have to learn how to manage their practice time and be self-motivated to achieve their musical goals . One of the first steps we suggest is they get an event booked on the calendar right away so they have something to work toward . This can be an actual audition or playing in a session with a couple of other musicians . This will help them feel like they ’ re a part of something bigger than just practicing alone in their room . It lights a fire in them and gives them a real target to hit , and that ’ s where we ’ ve seen the most success for our new music students .
Switching up the routine is also great to keep things fresh . During the school year , schedules can be pretty rigid , and not too exciting . Anyone that has worked with a professional fitness trainer knows their trainer will switch up their routine after about four to six weeks . The routine needs to be switched after this amount of time because the body adapts to it and stops seeing much growth or benefit ; we call it the plateau . Same thing can happen in music . Practicing in different rooms of the house , reconfiguring your room to be more inspiring for musical practice , going to the park to practice your guitar scales , forming a small group of musicians to practice with , etc . makes learning and practicing so much more fun !
A COUPLE MAIN BUILDING BLOCKS FOR SUCCESS IN LEARNING AND PRACTICING : “ Time-blocking ” is a great strategy that can help prioritize the right work at the right time . Time-blocking is a time management strategy where you schedule out every part of your day . With time blocking , you ’ re effectively breaking up the school week into bite-sized time slots for homework , music , taking breaks , and even time slotted for exercise . Setting up two or three 15-minute blocks of dedicated practice time throughout the day with a particular focus is extremely beneficial , and 30 minutes of completely distraction free time once or twice per day for practice will be amazing for their musical growth . Teaching students how to time block early on will go with them into adulthood and give them crucial time management concepts to set them up for success in whatever they do . What we plan , prioritize and put on the calendar we will most likely achieve ,
instead of just hoping we ’ ll find the time to practice later .
“ Time-boxing ” is another helpful strategy that works hand in hand with time-blocking . Take your set amount of time dedicated to practicing ( 15 , 30 , or 45 minutes ), and break that down into smaller focused tasks ( example : 5-10 minutes per song if you have a 3 song setlist to learn , running musical scales for 5 minutes , learning a new guitar strumming technique for 10 minutes , etc ). Set a timer for each of these tasks inside the time-blocking event , and when the timer goes off , move forward quickly to the next task regardless of how well you feel you did on the previous task . This helps you to touch on all the things you need to , without spending too much time on just one task , achieving your end goals much quicker .
If you ’ re a youth worship leader , encourage your team to practice these strategies during the week preparing for the worship set . Teaching your team how to practice effectively can really pay off , and a little guidance and encouragement from you can go a long way ! May you be blessed as you pour into or become the next generation of worship leaders !
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
36 February 2025 Subscribe for Free ...