WORSHIP TEAM
THE 8 ROOKIE MISTAKES OF PRACTICING, PART 1 | Jon Nicol
Ever had a week like this? You’ve practiced excludes the elements of reality. For example, good enough. But are we ready to be with a
your songs and you think you’re ready to go. most guitarists stand when they're playing on band, at tempo, in front of people, and with the
But then you get to rehearsal and struggle to Sunday morning. But how do they practice? confidence to freely express our worship as we
keep up? Or lose your place? Or make stupid Sitting down, hunched over, staring at either play or sing? So maybe once is not enough.
mistakes? the chart or the fretboard.
This mistake often happens with veteran
You feel like a rookie scrub who’s about to be
sent back down to the youth band. What’s
going on?
Chances are, you’ve made some common
mistakes in your personal practice time. Even
if someone has been singing or playing their
instrument for years, these eight “rookie”
mistakes can still trip up experienced musicians
if they’re not careful. Over the next two articles,
players who think they can just wing it. But too
...if you can’t play or often, we discover at rehearsal that the song
sing a song at tempo aspect of this rookie mistake is a team member
- without stopping - Practice becomes a ten-minute ‘cram session’
you haven’t practiced
‘enough’ for rehearsal.
needed more work than we gave it. Another
not giving themselves ‘enough' time to prepare.
before rehearsal.
P = PRACTICING WITHOUT A CLICK
This rookie mistake is tied to R - not practicing
we’re going to look at these mistakes and with ‘real’ conditions. But it’s critical enough to
be using the word “prepared” to frame these warrant its own letter. Why? Because it’s too
practicing faux pas.
P-R-E-P-A-R-E-D: Part 1
Another example is the vocalist who only easy to slow down or stop as we’re practicing.
‘practices’ in the car with the recording. That’s So, you need to practice with a metronome or
a great way to make use of otherwise wasted the click/guide track.
time. But it can’t be your only personal practice.
P = PLAYING, NOT PRACTICING There’s a big difference to singing with the Also, practicing with a metronome helps us
Too many times, musicians just mindlessly recording and singing with a live band. know if we can honestly say we’ve practiced
play or sing the song and assume that they’re
“enough”. The click is a brutally truthful mirror
practicing. But they're not intentionally learning Another ‘real’ aspect is not stopping the song reflecting back all of our weak points. And that’s
or solidifying the song. Moving from learning a once you start. It’s too easy to pause when you why we need to incorporate it into our personal
song to mastery requires active and intentional mess up in practice, but that’s not going to practice time, if you can’t play or sing a song
practice. Some of these other pitfalls will happen in the service. You need to learn how at tempo - without stopping - you haven’t
actually give you ideas of how to avoid the trap to recover and jump back in with the rest of practiced ‘enough’ for rehearsal.
of “playing, not practicing.” the team. R = REAL Work at incorporating elements of 'real.' Stand Mistakes with this… Personal preparation
The rookie mistake here is not putting any up. Move around. Recover from your mistakes. requires deliberate practice that incorporates as
aspect of ‘real' or ‘rehearsal' into your personal You can even look up and visualize the many of the real conditions of live performance
practice time. The concept of rehearsal is that congregation. That will help you think about your as possible, especially singing/playing at
we’re preparing for the ‘real thing.’ We want as posture and expression, and how you’ll engage tempo. And even without knowing the other
many elements of the real thing to be present. with your church family. Also, spend time four mistakes you, if you just avoid these first
During our rehearsals, we’re together as a worshiping too during this personal preparation. four this week you’ll find yourself climbing to a
team, on the platform, the sound system is If worship isn’t ‘real’ throughout our week, it’s new level of exceptional musicianship.
on, and (hopefully at some point) we’ll run the not going to be very ‘real’ on Sunday.
Let me sum up this first half of the Eight Rookie
songs as if it were a real set on Sunday.
E = ENOUGH
But too much of our personal practice time
94
This mistake is playing it once and calling it
March 2019
Jon Nicol
Jon’s the founder of WorshipWorkshop.com and
WorshipTeamCoach.com, two sites that help
leaders build strong teams + lead engaging worship.
He lives and serves in Lexington, Ohio with his wife
Shannon and their four kids.
WorshipTeamCoach.com
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