I wanted to include a Facebook response from my friend Blake Paul: Great post Mark. Obviously having played for you I realize the truth of what you say. Preparation is key. However, I wonder if this is also a question of goals for the worship team? Yes, we all want to lead worship that is inspiring, creative and full of the Holy Spirit.
I am wondering if we are missing a key ingredient in today’s worship music—that being improvisation and collaboration of musicians within the band which can allow for a greater expression of creativity. However, I hear many bands and teams would rather just play the song by exactly as the recording.
I agree we need to be prepared, but at what point do we allow our bands to collaborate, and encourage improvisation? I guess the real question then is, how does one do the preparation that you write about, and at the same time allow opportunity for our teams to put their imprint on the music rather than just play the song like it sounds like on the CD? Especially as it relates to creating great charts etc. …
FB Reply: Mark Cole: Great question, Blake. But the answer is harder to nail down. It really depends on the quality and creativity of your musicians and leader, the amount of time that you have to rehearse and what your ultimate goal is.
When I do original tunes of mine for the first time, I really listen to how the band and singers respond and what ideas they come up with. Then I’ll usually go home and rewrite the charts to reflect what worked and didn’t work.
I’m all for creativity with your musicians—but that is much easier if you have a set band of strong musicians that don’t rotate much…and if you have the time to really work the songs in rehearsal. If you’re just training musicians and the creativity level is still developing, then copying recording can be much more productive..
Notice in my article about having a great rehearsal, I didn’t talk about copying the recording. Oftentimes I will listen to multiple versions of a song and incorporate a number of different ideas (including my own) into the final chart that I write. I hope this answer helps.
FB comment: Gary Sharpe: I couldn’t agree more on having great charts. I actually think it cuts rehearsal time in half. If you can combine great charts with pre-practice (personal practice before rehearsal), you are 80 percent of the way to a great rehearsal.
Mark Cole: I totally agree!
Check out my new book on how to have a great rehearsal, Leading Worship ~ Notes from a Grand Adventure, available in Kindle or Soft Cover Editions.
