Worship 5th Aug (breaking down the elements)
Hi Youth Band,
It’s a great time of ushering the congregation into the presence of God this morning. Jonathan, great to see back serving : ). Unknown to most .. hee .. hee .. I’ve asked Esther to record down the time of worship. It’s a really useful tool that allows us to replay how the time of worship went and pick out pointers to improve for the next round. Recordings don’t lie and hence, gives us an accurate depiction of what actually happened. Secondary objective is also to promote dialogue amongst all the fellow YA/Adult worship ministers (which also includes our Chief Worship Leader: Pastor!!), inviting constructive criticisms that would spur each other on “as Iron sharpens Iron ….”
Here’s the link for our download:
I’ll kick off:
Here’s the list of Songs:
Spirit Song
Open the Eyes
Over & Over
What Can I do (New song)
One Voice
I’ll just pick the Spirit Song to cover a couple of technical issues:
Here’s the arrangement (correct me if I’m wrong):
Nice intro in with the “Spirit Song” as the congregation is encouraged to “invite” the Holy Spirit to help lead them into worship of God. “O Let the Son of God enfold you…” Great build-up using layering …
Verse 1: Song intro with the Electric Guitar beginning on a delay+reverb effects (these are part of a platter of voicings found in the efx pedals), playing in appregio (broken notes of chord). This give a mysterious yet engaging background as the Worship Leader prays. Drums came in with dashes on the Ride cymbal (that’s the cymbal on the right). Keyboard provided the melody while Acoustic Guitar was strumming lightly.
Chorus: Intensity builds up with Drums fill-in @ the last bar of Verse 1. Drummers, you are the “bus driver” and the drums are a sure-fire intensity driver (fast/slow tempo, strong/soft etc). Drummer moves to 8-beat rock beat with snare on beats 2 & 4. That brings the intensity of the song up by 1 notch. "Snare" drums, as the name implies, "captures" the attention of the audience when it's played. Out of the whole drum kit, the snare drum voicings stands out Congregation is awaken to “Jesus oh Jesus, Come and fill your lamb”. There is a heighten level of “activity” amongst the instruments e.g. keyboard has more fills, acoustic strumming more etc. Vocals – only Augustus & John are singing.
Back to Verse 1: Carrying over the same intensity left off from the previous Chorus. Vocals – Xinyi came in (very nicely done!). This immediately brought a refreshing slant to Verse 1. Hence, vocalists do not need to all come in from the start, bring them in layer by layer …. .
Chorus: Intensity builds with another Drum fill-in but to bring the intensity to the next level, Vanessa used the Ride cymbal instead of the High-Hat (that’s the “ting-ting” you hear …). There are several other ways of increasing intensity through the drums (e.g. using toms & crash cymbal action ….you‘ll that in Open the Eyes) but the Ride cymbal option is a nice touch because the Spirit Song is an “invitation” song and not a “high-soaring/declarative” song like “Shout to the Lord”. Vocals are singing with more emphasis on the key words “Jesus” & “Lamb”. Electric Guitarist is strumming as well.
Verse 2: Drums fills-in to bring down the intensity. Drums on rim again. I believe this is intentional to bring the mood back to a contemplative one. All activity amongst the instruments drops a notch.
Chrous x 2: Gets quieter and quieter. Even the vocals drops off the intensity.
1. Acoustic/ Electric Guitar – Usually the acoustic (+keyboard) will provide the foundation musically (melody etc). The electric guitar must find a different position to play (other than the first position) or else the music gets muddled. Hence, both must complement what the other is playing, using the efx to add colour tastefully.
2. Keyboard – Joylynn, you provided a very firm foundation for the rest of the instruments to stand on. However, you need not always play the melody line. When you reach the chorus, use chordal forms/shapes to give the song + other instruments more room breathe. Experiment with other voicings (e.g. flute or strings)
3. Drums – Van, arrangement Nicely done!! Hw, in the other songs, keep your ears open when the Worship Leader drops the intensity of the songs. E.g. in Open the Eyes @ the bridge “Holy Holy Holy”. I sense from Auggie’s voice that the intensity has dropped when that bridge was repeated but the drums was still playing the 8-beat rock. Drummers need to study to song to know when to accent their beats e.g. important words like “O Let the Son of God enfold you … “ or “Jesus oh Jesus”. "Snare" drums, as the name implies, "captures" the attention of the audience when it's played. Out of the whole drum kit, the snare drum voicings stands out. So .. hold back it's use until you're ready to bring the song's intensity up.
4. Vocals – Need to practise the songs without the music. E.g. in the Chorus “Je-sus”, Aug/John/Xinyi, the time when you sing “-sus” is different. It may be the problem when you cannot hear one another through the monitors but it does help to sing to each other without the music so that you can get the syllabus & emphasis right. For ad-lib, i.e. when the Worship Leader/vocalists improvises and sing different words/harmonizing, the supporting vocalists must continue singing the song as it is. In this e.g. when Augustus is ad-libbing in the chorus, “Jesus oh Jesus”, make a conscious effort to tilt your mouth back from the mic a little so that your ad-lib isn’t overpowering the song because it will be a source of distraction to the congregation if it comes out too loud.
5. Sound - Yes!! You are part of the worship team!! James, I think it's a commendable effort that you've taken taking in consideration the complexity of mixing 6 instruments. Great job!! I think your commanding presence over the console does show certain level of confidence. Do not be afraid of criticisms that these will definitely come. I'm very much encouraged by your commitment to be present during the practices. Thumbs up!! Some pointers: Keep the faders within the optimum band. Do not change the EQ too much during the worship. Hence, tuning the sound during the practice is very important. There are serveral other issues which I'll walk you through the next time. Lastly, keep you eyes focussed in front even if adults come and start talking to you. : ) I know it's sometimes difficult to see God working within the console but in fact the sound man is extremely important for the worship team may be playing well but the worship will fall flat because the mixing is poor. So ... keep the keeping on!!
**Worship Team, pls include the Sound/Logistic/LCD personnels when you are huddling up for prayer for they are part of the team.**
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There's a Worship Teleseminar on-going where 20 gifted worship musicians/teachers share their thoughts/ teach important aspects of Holy Worship. Best thing ... it's FREE OF CHARGE!!! Here's the link http://www.worshipteleseminar.com/ . Register and you'll gain access to all the recorded sessions.
I would like to direct you to Session 15 by Sandy Hoffman. He gives a very step-by-step guidance to improving worship dynamics. So check it out!!
In the next blog ... I'll touch on the spiritual aspects.
Our Utmost (Excellence!) for His HIGHEST!!
Yg
