How to Communicate With Your Band

thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

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One of the biggest issues I see in many wor­ship lead­ers and their bands is a fail­ure to communicate.

If you can effec­tively and effi­ciently com­mu­ni­cate to your band, not only will they feel more con­fi­dent in their play­ing, but your wor­ship will take another step in the right direc­tion.

For instance, I know there’s a big band break right after the sec­ond cho­rus, but if I don’t clearly explain this, my drum­mer might not fall out and my gui­tarist might keep shred­ding a solo. How­ever, if every­one in my band knows exactly where we drop out and faith­fully executes their parts, we elim­i­nate any sort of music dis­trac­tion while at the same time helping to cre­ate a worshipful atmosphere.

Speaking the Same Language…

We have to speak the same lan­guage. Hav­ing been mar­ried for almost 10 years, I understand the dif­fi­culty and work it takes to speak the same lan­guage. There’s a rea­son there are hun­dreds and hun­dreds of books on mar­riage and com­mu­ni­ca­tion…because it’s not easy. But it is nec­es­sary for a good rela­tion­ship.

The same holds true for wor­ship teams. Every­one needs to be on the “same page.”

Tips for Better Communication

Preparation

Being pre­pared is a key com­po­nent when it comes to com­mu­ni­cat­ing with your team. This means that you, as the leader, are pre­pared both spir­i­tu­ally and musi­cally. It means you have to know the songs, the scrip­tures, and that you have spent time con­nect­ing with God through pri­vate wor­ship.

It also means that you have pre­pared the songs for your team. You’ve sent the music to them, along with the notes for each song and the over­all wor­ship flow.

Email Notes and Expectations

Once you get your­self and your songs pre­pared, uti­lize your avail­able resources like a sim­ple email. Share your vision for the week, how God has been work­ing in and through these songs, and how each per­son plays a vital role in help­ing your church wor­ship.

You can include notes for each song, par­tic­u­lar song parts and notes for each per­son. Let them know what you are expect­ing from them and then fol­low through.

Music

Get­ting the music to your team is also extremely impor­tant. You want your team to wor­ship through these songs and, in turn, to know them. And not just musi­cally, although that’s impor­tant; it’s just as impor­tant for them to know and love the songs.

You can use Plan­ning Cen­ter or other wor­ship plan­ning soft­ware. You could also put your Sunday playlist in Spo­tify or upload your mp3s to Drop­box. No matter what you do, make sure you are get­ting the music out to your team well in advance and that you’re doing it legally. That might mean you have to get a Rehearsal license from CCLi or buy every­one an iTunes card. Regard­less, resource your team with the music you will be lead­ing.

Rehearsal Walk Through

During our band rehearsal, I find it very ben­e­fi­cial to take the first few min­utes with each song and walk through the intros, builds, drops, end­ing and tran­si­tions. Make sure you are con­nect­ing with each band member and that they are tak­ing notes.

As you go through each song, don’t be afraid to stop and go over each part with your team, espe­cially if your team isn’t doing what you’re ask­ing. Take your time and walk through it with them.

These are just a few of the things I do when I’m lead­ing my team. It’s being inten­tional about com­mu­ni­cat­ing as well as being open to the ebb and flow of our team. It’s impor­tant to find what works best for you and to make sure you are lead­ing your team and not leav­ing them.

This article originally appeared here.

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robrash@churchleaders.com'
Rob Rashhttp://robrash.us/
Rob Rash is a worship pastor, writer and spiritual architect who blogs on all things worship at robrash.us. He just released his first ebook 'A Guidebook for Fantastic Worship Rehearsals' which you can grab on his blog or in the Kindle store.

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