WORSHIP LEADERS
A CLARINET IN OUR“ WORSHIP BAND”? | Grant Norsworthy
Photo by Hal Gatewood on Unsplash
The typical contemporary“ worship band” in many churches features a familiar lineup:
• drums
• bass guitar
• keyboard or piano
• acoustic guitar
• electric guitar
Aside from a few variations, and with the addition of vocalists, that’ s usually our template.
But sometimes a church has the dubious benefit of what we might call an orchestral instrument. A musician from the worlds of classical, concert, marching band, or jazz may appear— ready and eager to join our chordchart-reading, pop / rock /“ worship music” world.
These might include woodwinds like the clarinet, oboe, or saxophone; strings such as violin, viola, or cello; or brass like trumpets or trombones.
Players of these( usually) monophonic instruments often have formal training— likely from school orchestras or concert bands— and depend on reading notation. In contrast, jazz players might improvise freely with no need for written music at all.
Either way, their musical language doesn’ t always align with our contemporary ensemble of drums, bass, keys, and guitars.
It reminds me of an old muso joke: Q: How do you make a rock guitarist stop playing? A: Put a sheet of music in front of them.
On the flip side: Q: How do you make a clarinetist stop playing? A: Take away the sheet music.
So how do these different worlds come together? What do we do with a clarinet— or any other“ unusual” instrument?
In my work with More Than Music Mentor, I’ ve often seen well-intentioned attempts to blend orchestral instruments into“ worship bands”— usually with less-than-great results. Here are three approaches that don’ t work, followed by one that does.
1. THROW THEM IN THE DEEP END Sometimes the Musical Director( MD) thinks,“ The rest of us come up with our parts from recordings and chord charts— the clarinet player can too!”
That might work for a few highly capable players, but not for most of our volunteers. The clarinetist ends up lost, unsure, and too embarrassed to ask for help. They may noodle aimlessly through every song— not very musical and possibly distracting.
If we take this route, the only solution might be turning them down in the FOH mix and everyone’ s monitors— which says a lot!
2. JUST GIVE THEM A LEAD SHEET A slightly better effort might be to hand them notation for the melody of each song. With tools like SongSelect, that’ s easy to provide— even in their key.
( Note: most clarinets are in B♭. When a player reads a written C, it actually sounds as B♭. If they’ re given music in concert pitch, they’ ll either need to transpose as they read— not easy— or they’ ll play in the wrong key.)
With this method, the clarinetist usually plays the vocal melody of each song from start to finish. While not wrong, this often clutters the same sonic space as the human voice. Instead of feeling invited to sing along, the congregation may feel they’ re singing against the instrument, not with it.
3. DON’ T LET THEM PLAY Sadly, this is the most common option. The MD can’ t see how to integrate the instrument, and the player doesn’ t know what to do— so they’ re simply left out. It’ s a shame when a willing and potentially capable musician sits on the sidelines. Music is a gift from God meant to unite us, not divide us. With a little more thought and effort, we can do much better.
20 November 2025 Subscribe for Free...