Music Stand Scribbles...The Fine Art of "Mark Your Charts"

By Jon Nicol

Ever have this happen?

We’ll go through an ending of a song at rehearsal and I’ll have it down. It’s clear as day and makes perfect sense. I get to the Sunday morning run-through and ask, “Were we going to do this tag two or three times.” Usually the answer is four.

I suck at remembering.

There’s this new gadget that I’ve started using to help me remember changes. It’s not an iPad. It actually was designed in England. You might have heard of it--it’s called a pencil. The beta line launched right around 1565, a few years before Steve Jobs started unveiling his wizardry.

I’m working on a new mantra with my team (and myself) during rehearsal: write it down. To help aid this, I’ve bought a big box of mechanical pencils and thrown them around the rehearsal room.

“We’re cutting the second chorus after the bridge.”
Write it down.

“We’re coming in on the bridge softly and building up by the time we get to the repeat.”
Write it down.

“That progression in the instrumental trips us up every time.”
Write it down.

“The change to Bb happens on beat 4, not beat 3.”
Write. It. Down.

“Write it down” doesn’t mean elaborate instructions written with penmanship that would make your third grade teacher proud.

Sometimes an arrow or a circle is enough.

Or a scribbling a few numbers to help you change on the right beat.

Or writing the first chord of page 2 at the end of page 1.

This is not cheating. It’s legal in your state. I checked. I promise.

When I was in music school, one of my instructors played in the Broadway shows that came to Minneapolis-St. Paul. He often found marks on the charts from players in other cities. One marks he enjoyed finding was this one.

They’re glasses – and it didn’t mean play like John Lennon. It was a heads-up that this was a particularly tricky part.

So mark your charts with whatever it takes to remember. It’s 15-second investment during practice and rehearsal that will have a solid return on Sunday morning.

How do you help your team remember changes? Any particular way you mark your charts?

[By the way, this post comes from a draft of a new ebook I'm working on, tentatively titled 38 Mistakes Worship Teams Make. So keep an eye out for that...]

post graphic: Stefano Barni, Stock.xchng

April 11, 2012