By Any Other Name

Jun 10

bradLinks, Music , , 1 Comment

I think sometimes we take the word “worship” for granted. We know deep down that it’s more than singing, and yet we typically mean “singing songs to God” when we talk about worship. It’s even in our titles: the “worship leader” is really “the song guy”, right?

In a recent blog post, Vicky Beeching takes on this topic:

Other church traditions – mine included- use “worship leader” to refer to the person who leads the musical and sung portion of the gathering. This also seems unhelpful, as it implies again that singing is the main or only form of “worship” in our spirituality, and also that we need someone at the front to enable this “worship” to take place…

Any ideas? What do you think good alternatives to “worship” and “worship leader” might be?  Perhaps “sung worship” and “song leader”? Other suggestions?

Jump over to Vicky’s blog for more discussion – there’s some good stuff in the comments.

So what say you all? What do we call it? And what do we call ourselves? What do you think?

Inconsistent Melodies

Nov 17

bradArticles, Music , , No Comments

Ever try to lead a song that either the congregation, or worse, the worship team, just didn’t pick up on? Bob Kauflin has a great article on teaching such songs over at worshipmatters.com. Here’s an excerpt:

A friend recently emailed me and expressed a dilemma he was facing when teaching new songs performed by an artist who varies the way he or she sings the melody. My friend asked:

When do we go with the lead sheet, and when do we go with the CD melody? And when do we go with what is simple and consistent and when do we go with what is sung on the CD?

 

I’ve faced the same dilemma. While I’m grateful for many of the new congregational songs that have emerged in recent years, they’re not always sung in a way that makes it easy for a congregation to pick them up. Phrases are elongated in one verse and not the other, melodies are changed, and sometimes the melody becomes hard to identify or unsingable by a normal congregation. Here are a few of the thoughts I consider when figuring out what to do.

Read the full article at worshipmatters.com.

How about you? What are your strategies for teaching difficult music? And what are some of those songs that your worship team or congregation just doesn’t click with?