this made me take some deep thoughts about my job. not church, but my job for 15 years...
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Church is Stressing Me Out.....
- Thread starter Donald Thompson
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this made me take some deep thoughts about my job. not church, but my job for 15 years...
Bah, I'd roll with it. I am not good enough to pull lines out of my a$$. I need to prepare and I am very vocal about that going into any/every gig.
Good Luck!
That's what I thought would happen.
Poor communication can be the majority of the work in situations like that. And IME sometimes it's intentional, as sad as that is to say. If someone is leading, they can either do the job properly or they can't. Doesn't matter if they're getting paid or not IMO. It they put themselves in your shoes they'd get you the music quickly and accurately. To dream.
Playing at church pushed me to develop my own way of documenting songs and that has save me a ridiculous amount of time vs. relying on memory. So every week I typically have songs to learn, many seriously complicated, and I need to get them down in time for rehearsal on Saturday. I can usually get simple songs down in a matter of minutes and even most complicated ones down in an hour... in those cases a full rendition with everything I need to play along with the format that's sent out. This works for my non-church gigs too. Typically the entire gig's notes will fit on a single page.
But things change constantly so flexibility is required. My notes are key independent, they work in any key. So transposition requires only changing the actual key by the title. There can still be drama because people... but it's not coming from my direction.
The best charts I ever had the pleasure of being provided was in a worship situation. The MD really cared. We’re still friends 20 years later.
The church I played with was usually pretty good. Rehearsed every Wednesday. Normally we’d run through the set in the church basement right before our service as well. But on occasion things were changed last minute. Once it was the entire set(7 tunes, 3 of which we had never played as a band). We always had charts though. Honestly to call me a decent musician would be generous, and with the charts I got though it every time no problem.
wise words I heard somewhere in the 90's: when in doubt, leave it out. nothing wrong with leaving bass out of say, a first verse, and then nailing the entrance on the chorus. in fact it's often preferable.
worst case scenario is, you botch a bunch of chord changes, and the group sounds awkward and tentative. Like, quite honestly, half the church groups out there. I know it's not ideal, but a spirit of fun will help. Remember that in church service, the music is not the focus per se. It's rather like a bar gig in that respect : )
worst case scenario is, you botch a bunch of chord changes, and the group sounds awkward and tentative. Like, quite honestly, half the church groups out there. I know it's not ideal, but a spirit of fun will help. Remember that in church service, the music is not the focus per se. It's rather like a bar gig in that respect : )
Absolutely! We plan weeks in advance also utilizing Planning Center and if the small team of bassists need to sub for another we know/have access to the material.
yes! We basically have four complete bands with lots of coverage. I used to play weekly. Now once s month. Many services though. But only one week a month normally is AWESOME!!!
Yep. Same rhythm section within the Worship Team for roughly 16 years. WAY before Planning Center. We were always ready with clear/functional charts and rehearsals. I don`t think we have ever exceeded 6 songs per service. WE now have (as you Steadfast said) between 2-4 teams depending on the time of year.
Well performed and rehearsed material can and does take up a large portion of time and as a
"congragationalist" / someone listening in a service it easily becomes too long if not presented properly.
OP indicated only 4 songs were used which makes sense.
Well performed and rehearsed material can and does take up a large portion of time and as a
"congragationalist" / someone listening in a service it easily becomes too long if not presented properly.
OP indicated only 4 songs were used which makes sense.
I have just been selected to play with my church worship service program. I auditioned with two songs, each in two keys. They were fine with my playing after 1.5 songs (I also can provide backup harmony). I am concerned that they may similarly delay assigning me songs for my first performance with them so asked them for a list of the songs they typically play at services which they were happy to provide and appreciated that I had been proactive. So I now have about 40 songs to work on over time with several identified as likely for initial performances. This is volunteer work in addition to my regular band but I treat it the same way. They are more traditional songs (eg., Good Good Father) and none are extremely challenging and they do provide sheets for the performance. Hope your next experience provides the opportunity to plan rather than waiting for songs to be dropped on you at the last moment. The comments that God won't mind it an any event certainly hold true.
Someone needs to straighten out the musical director (or whoever is responsible) about the concept of professionalism. If he / she expects a quality performance he / she should provide a reasonable amount of lead time. Period.
There may well be those above the musical director who are the source of the problem, but whatever the situation is, they need to come to grips with their basic core values. If they are responsible for causing needless hardship, then they're clearly missing the point as to why the religion exists in the first place.
Stress is often a choice. Relax, and do the best you can with the time they gave you. If it was not enough time to prepare, that's not on you. Focus on the fundamentals first, and work on the "fidldey bits" as time allows.
- Dec 21, 2007
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Great to hear, and great lesson!
This kind of stress (anxiety over a possible future outcome) is almost always wasted energy. It is, essentially, "feeling bad in advance" about something that, if it doesn't happen, you won't feel bad about, and if it does happen, you may or may not feel bad about then.
As my wiser older brother says:
"Change is inevitable.
Freaking out is optional."
While given insufficient prep time isn't on you, I've seen leaders leave others with the impression that it's not their fault, it's yours. That's particularly galling considering the environment.
I get paid to play and have had to deal with the same dynamics whether it's church or secular. Since it's no surprise I roll with the punches. I decompress later. There are good leaders and there are overwhelmed leaders and the rest are pretty much just lame. Life. Of course I'm not going to give up on it because of other people... that means they "win". And yes, it is a game for many.
I used to get stressed out but somehow at showtime things seem to fall into place. Our “Live worship director” puts a time limit for our Tuesday night practices at 1 hour. You can’t do s@&t in one hour. The singers are like “that was good we’re all set” and the musicians are like “ I’d like to do the song/s one more time”. You can’t put a time frame on it but whatever. I end up inventing my own bass lines for the songs and no one complains.
The hardest part about a church band? Just like a regular band, the people.
We had a four piece "main" group for about 5 years. Guitar/bass/drums/violin, all of us sang. The violinist was an orchestra/band teacher at our local high school and was immensely talented. The drummer was also very talented and a very good singer. So the guitarist and I did our thing and sang some leads, but mostly harmonies.
What was the issue? The drummer, his arrogance was atmospheric. He found out early on that trying to talk down to or belittle me was not going to fly. The guitarist, however, internalized alot of his derogatory comments and it quite often left him unnecessarily tense and nervous. But we could play some really good arrangements and I often called the drummer to task for his attitude and his mouth.
After 5 years we were still carrying on until the final straw. What was the final straw you ask? The drummer remarried and informed us, not asked, but informed us that his new bride was a piano player and was joining the band. It was disastrous, she was a talented player and an OK singer. But she had no idea how to play in tempo so she was all over the place during the songs.
Two months after her joining I had enough and left. The violinist and guitarist soon followed suit and the band was no more. Sad ending to a great thing. We eventually left the church because I was tired of constantly being asked why I wouldn't reconsider quitting.
We had a four piece "main" group for about 5 years. Guitar/bass/drums/violin, all of us sang. The violinist was an orchestra/band teacher at our local high school and was immensely talented. The drummer was also very talented and a very good singer. So the guitarist and I did our thing and sang some leads, but mostly harmonies.
What was the issue? The drummer, his arrogance was atmospheric. He found out early on that trying to talk down to or belittle me was not going to fly. The guitarist, however, internalized alot of his derogatory comments and it quite often left him unnecessarily tense and nervous. But we could play some really good arrangements and I often called the drummer to task for his attitude and his mouth.
After 5 years we were still carrying on until the final straw. What was the final straw you ask? The drummer remarried and informed us, not asked, but informed us that his new bride was a piano player and was joining the band. It was disastrous, she was a talented player and an OK singer. But she had no idea how to play in tempo so she was all over the place during the songs.
Two months after her joining I had enough and left. The violinist and guitarist soon followed suit and the band was no more. Sad ending to a great thing. We eventually left the church because I was tired of constantly being asked why I wouldn't reconsider quitting.
Hi Guys I wanted to throw out a different perspective not aimed at the O.P. or anyone's post in particular.
I spent 15 years as the MD at a large non-denominational, multi-racial church with a handful of paid players but mostly volunteer musicians, singers and even a choir. I could write a book on this subject but I'll just say there are two sides to every story. While the O.P.'s original post is a bit extreme I'm sure some of our volunteers would claim the same about me / our music ministry. However from my perspective I provided song lists in Planning Center as soon as the Worship Leader provided it to me. All the songs we could pull from were in PC in every key we could do. Attached to every song was an MP3 in the right key along with a chord chart, number chart, horn charts, full vocal arrangements etc. As multi-tracks became available I would include isolated instrument and vocal parts as well as the cues that would be used live in our ears. (Before PC it was Dropbox, before that printed music and CD's) We had a weekly hour and a half rehearsal and one hour before service "soundcheck". I would send out "how to play this song" videos from YouTube if available as well as other instructional videos even made DVD's. I along with the Worship Leaders would teach the number system and even offered FREE lessons. (Here is something that often gets overlooked) I routinely reiterated our ministries purpose, goals and expectations and LISTENED to ideas and feedback from the team. Between Sunday services our Music Pastor would minister to the team and again go over issues and expectations when needed.
So we had the worlds best Worship Team and no issues ever... WRONG
People still couldn't grasp the number system or maybe didn't see the key or song was changed. They still came in to rehearsal never having worked on the songs. Even with cues in their ears they'd miss cues etc etc etc. You can give people every possible tool to succeed but if they don't or won't use it nothing will change. None of these tools existed when I began playing bass, but my love of music drove me to learn so I could play in a band.
So leadership is right and musicians are always wrong? No way am I saying that! Communication has got to be a two way street and it has to include the Senior Pastor since that is where the ministries expectations and goals come from. I believe I was instrumental in reducing the "workload" on our team when they expressed burnout. The MD/Music Pastor should be your voice to the Senior Pastor but also to you from the S.P. I also understand not every leader does their job well, not all good musicians are good leaders. (There are ways to deal with this. Maybe I should write that book...)
About a year ago I moved and left that position and I'm now volunteering at my new church. I rotate with a couple of other bass players. We actually don't rehearse just use Planning Center and show up early. Works amazingly well for us. We have very competent musicians but everyone besides the WL is a volunteer.
I spent 15 years as the MD at a large non-denominational, multi-racial church with a handful of paid players but mostly volunteer musicians, singers and even a choir. I could write a book on this subject but I'll just say there are two sides to every story. While the O.P.'s original post is a bit extreme I'm sure some of our volunteers would claim the same about me / our music ministry. However from my perspective I provided song lists in Planning Center as soon as the Worship Leader provided it to me. All the songs we could pull from were in PC in every key we could do. Attached to every song was an MP3 in the right key along with a chord chart, number chart, horn charts, full vocal arrangements etc. As multi-tracks became available I would include isolated instrument and vocal parts as well as the cues that would be used live in our ears. (Before PC it was Dropbox, before that printed music and CD's) We had a weekly hour and a half rehearsal and one hour before service "soundcheck". I would send out "how to play this song" videos from YouTube if available as well as other instructional videos even made DVD's. I along with the Worship Leaders would teach the number system and even offered FREE lessons. (Here is something that often gets overlooked) I routinely reiterated our ministries purpose, goals and expectations and LISTENED to ideas and feedback from the team. Between Sunday services our Music Pastor would minister to the team and again go over issues and expectations when needed.
So we had the worlds best Worship Team and no issues ever... WRONG
People still couldn't grasp the number system or maybe didn't see the key or song was changed. They still came in to rehearsal never having worked on the songs. Even with cues in their ears they'd miss cues etc etc etc. You can give people every possible tool to succeed but if they don't or won't use it nothing will change. None of these tools existed when I began playing bass, but my love of music drove me to learn so I could play in a band.
So leadership is right and musicians are always wrong? No way am I saying that! Communication has got to be a two way street and it has to include the Senior Pastor since that is where the ministries expectations and goals come from. I believe I was instrumental in reducing the "workload" on our team when they expressed burnout. The MD/Music Pastor should be your voice to the Senior Pastor but also to you from the S.P. I also understand not every leader does their job well, not all good musicians are good leaders. (There are ways to deal with this. Maybe I should write that book...)
About a year ago I moved and left that position and I'm now volunteering at my new church. I rotate with a couple of other bass players. We actually don't rehearse just use Planning Center and show up early. Works amazingly well for us. We have very competent musicians but everyone besides the WL is a volunteer.
