Worship Band Needs Improvement

[buldog5151bass]

Are the other band members as frustrated as you are? Best bet would be to approach the leader together. Some bands do not rehearse much, but if the players do not have time to learn their parts, that song shouldn't be performed. That goes for any style of music.

 

[Joe LeGrand]

Yes all band members are frustrated and we have approached the leader as a group. Improvements are promised but not lived up to over the long haul. Leader and sound man are paid positions the rest of us are volunteers. Example - Easter Sunday set list sent the day before and 45 minute rehearsal prior to service. Very frustrating but the leader has proven he doesn't have the skills required to plan and lead a worship team. It's a small church so I don't expect changes any time soon. My choice is to do my best or leave.....

 

[joebar]

I agree wholeheartedly with the ‘skillful noise’
If any of us were performing before a king or royalty, you can bet we would bring our very best.
But I digress...
I play twice a month when asked, by some pastor friends of mine whom are top level musicians. We show up 1 1/2 hrs before the service and hammer out songs we just received and go over them maybe once.
It’s always good mind you, everyone is equal in ability...
Except for that young guy who wears a stupid toque and pretends to drum ( when the regular drummer isn’t there).

 

[buldog5151bass]

Yes all band members are frustrated and we have approached the leader as a group. Improvements are promised but not lived up to over the long haul. Leader and sound man are paid positions the rest of us are volunteers. Example - Easter Sunday set list sent the day before and 45 minute rehearsal prior to service. Very frustrating but the leader has proven he doesn't have the skills required to plan and lead a worship team. It's a small church so I don't expect changes any time soon. My choice is to do my best or leave.....

I would treat it like any other band. The rest of you should get together and decide what to do. If all of you are willing to walk, then all of you have a sit down with BL and explain. I played in a church band for a while (back in the late 70s/early 80s). It can be wonderful or a headache.

Your other option is to go to the head of the church.

 

[gln1955]

Yes all band members are frustrated and we have approached the leader as a group. Improvements are promised but not lived up to over the long haul. Leader and sound man are paid positions the rest of us are volunteers. Example - Easter Sunday set list sent the day before and 45 minute rehearsal prior to service. Very frustrating but the leader has proven he doesn't have the skills required to plan and lead a worship team. It's a small church so I don't expect changes any time soon. My choice is to do my best or leave.....

It's bad enough when volunteers aren't able to do a job, but anyone getting paid should have a certain level of competence and professionalism. This kind of stuff is often tolerated way too long in a church setting.

 

[Kevan Campbell]

Yes all band members are frustrated and we have approached the leader as a group. Improvements are promised but not lived up to over the long haul. Leader and sound man are paid positions the rest of us are volunteers. Example - Easter Sunday set list sent the day before and 45 minute rehearsal prior to service. Very frustrating but the leader has proven he doesn't have the skills required to plan and lead a worship team. It's a small church so I don't expect changes any time soon. My choice is to do my best or leave.....

Are the songs and transitions difficult enough that you guys need to have a more than the one rehearsal right before service? I agree that sending out a setlist at all (let alone one for such a big day such as Easter) is incredibly inconsiderate and amateur on the part of the WL.

It's bad enough when volunteers aren't able to do a job, but anyone getting paid should have a certain level of competence and professionalism. This kind of stuff is often tolerated way too long in a church setting.

Agreed here. Too many times I’ve seen incompetence and unprofessionalism in people that are in positions of leadership at church’s and at swept under the rug. It may be time to go to the WL’s boss and see if that gets any results.

 

[crguti]

So... Lord worship band is allowed but when I posted a thread about Satan worship band get deleted.

 

[dreamadream99]

You have a procrastinating worship leader, plain and simple. They could start working on next week’s music on Monday, but they don’t. They wait until the last minute.

Unfortunately, unless you are a sightreading pro in a band of sightreading pros, this can be very anxious and stressful.

As has been said many times before in “should I quit?” threads, you got three choices:

• Stay and try to change the situation (you have done this)
• Stay and learn to accept the situation
• Leave

 

[Basically Bob]

... another approach: make a list of the top 50 or so songs that you play. All the band members download the songs ... break it down into chunks of about 12 - 15 songs. Practice those songs on your own, at home, daily, for about an hour at a time. Get comfortable with a “set” and move on to the next.

My guess is that in a month or two you will notice a significant improvement.

 

[LincunGuns]

You might just need to approach the pastor. I don't know about your church, but in mine the worship leader is a salaried position. Your worship leader owes it to the congregation and volunteers to ensure that the worship portion of service is the best it can be.

There's a good chance that the pastor doesn't realize that better preparation on the part of the WL could make for a vast improvement in the music. He might just think that the band has limitations and does not want to offend.

 

[Joe LeGrand]

Update - after trying about everything I know and those ideas suggested here I playfully decided to leave the worship group. I have to say it was liberating and it is so good to attend church as a worshipper and sit beside my wife. Churches are full of disfunction but worship groups can be the pinnacle of disfunction.....

 

[Eilif]

Update - after trying about everything I know and those ideas suggested here I playfully decided to leave the worship group. I have to say it was liberating and it is so good to attend church as a worshipper and sit beside my wife. Churches are full of disfunction but worship groups can be the pinnacle of disfunction.....

Sounds like a wise decision. There's no point in sticking with a worship team that causes so much heartache for you that it's hard to worship and there's nothing wrong with acknowledging that a particular music situation isn't working for you. I'm glad you're enjoying the situation now and maybe in the future you'll have that opportunity again.

I peacefully left my church's music team some years ago as there just wasn't the necessary support for the bass player. Now, 5 years later there's a different dynamic and I'm back in the mix and loving it. All the best to you whatever happens next.

 

[Sav'nBass]

Our church uses Planning Center. All volunteer. We rehearse in the middle of the week. Wednesdays during the summer Thursdays normally .. from 7-9. We usually get the set list by Monday... We also go over the set list on Sunday morning. We have some musicians who rotate ... 3 drummers and two bass players... The level of musicianship varies but we have a few folks who do not need to be playing. In my opinion if you do not have enough commitment to work on your skills you don't need to be playing. The WL is a very good musician... Our structure is in a state of flux.. We have a band leader .. we also have a music director who is in charge of the 3 bands that we have... A youth band, a Hispanic band and the main band. I have been a part of the P&W for my church for 18 years... I started in the choir and got back into playing bass around 01. I learned the basics how to play bass years earlier but I became a bass player at my church over the past 18 years.

 

[Ender_rpm]

Played churches in my 20s a lot. Mid week rehearsal and a quick warm up run Sunday AM was the standard. If you don't have the personnel for that, you don't need a worship BAND. If you have a full time WL, this is inexcusable, and I'd give them the opportunity to justify it in front of the whole band. There's already so much that goes into a worship band that's very different to a cover or originals gigging band, but disorganization, especially if someone is getting paid, is inexcusable.