Worship Blog : musicianship
11 Deadly Sins of the Worship Team, Part 3
| May 18, 2012 Sin Number Four - playing the chart versus playing the song. And a brief commentary on cheeseburgers...
11 Deadly Sins of the Worship Team, Part 2
| May 17, 2012 Major transgressions don't begin with major transgression...
11 Deadly Sins of the Worship Team, Part 1
| May 16, 2012 The first of 11 deadly sins of our worship teams commit...
Three Ways to Stop Confusing Tempo and Feel
| May 14, 2012 Why is it important to understand the difference? Reason #1: immature musicians try to achieve “big” with “fast.”
Six Excuses for Not Listening to Songs
| April 23, 2012 One of the most common preparation mistakes worship musicians make is not listening to the songs...
Music Stand Scribbles...The Fine Art of "Mark Your Charts"
| April 11, 2012 I’m working on a new mantra with my team (and myself) during rehearsal: write it down...
Learning Versus Knowing a Song
| April 9, 2012 What kind of investment does it take to move from "learning" a song to truly "knowing" it? And can you cross the line and be "over-invested"?
Develop A Solid Sense of Time, Part 3
| April 5, 2012 What to do when your team can't keep time: blame it on the singers...
Develop a Solid Sense of Time, Part 1
| March 23, 2012 8 Steps to Start Using a Click. Part of the Turning Your Team into a Band series...
Creating a Great Band [Get Beyond Being Musical Roommates]
![Creating a Great Band [Get Beyond Being Musical Roommates]](/upload/images/blogs/turn-into-band.jpg)
| March 14, 2012 Turn your team into a band (and not a stage full of musical roommates...)
Loops for Beginners
| February 15, 2012 "Loops in worship" doesn't mean your whacked drummer who plays every third Sunday...
Piano in Worship Training, 3
| February 1, 2012 Bob Kauflin has delivered. This three part piano training is a must watch for every keyboard player on your team...
Drums Too Loud? Five Options for Less Volume
| January 30, 2012 Are your drums too loud? Here's five or six options...
What Worship Songwriters Can Learn From The Nashville Music Scene
| January 6, 2012 After talking about it for 5 years, I finally overcame my fear and started traveling to Nashville to write, network, attend workshops, and just soak up whatever mojo is in the air down there.
Kick Your Charts to the Curb, Part 2
| January 2, 2012 Want to get serious about getting your head out of the music stand this year? Here is the 2nd half of 12 tips for memorizing your music...
A Letter to Me (the Guitarist) [rewind]
![A Letter to Me (the Guitarist) [rewind]](/upload/images/blogs/rocker.png)
| December 30, 2011 To close out rewind week, I had to save the best for last. Remembering what a dufus I was as a young guitarist, I decided to write a letter to my self in hopes of helping younger guitarists be less annoying than I was...
8 Tips to Help Your Team Practice [rewind]
![8 Tips to Help Your Team Practice [rewind]](/upload/images/blogs/bar-small.jpg)
| December 29, 2011 Practice tips and wondering out loud why my ex-bar musicians practice more than my church musicians...
Piano In Worship Training, Part 2
| December 21, 2011 This is a must-watch for keyboard players (and people who play near them...)
Vocalist: Why You Should Lose the Music Stand...
| December 20, 2011 Practice singing without your music stand. Why? If it’s there, you’ll look at it. So lose it...
Piano In Worship Training, part 1
December 14, 2011 Hey all you ivory-pounders, I haven't forgotten about you. Here's a great training video from Bob Kauflin...
Sound Techs and the Blob of Sound
| December 12, 2011 The “blob of sound” happens when the team overplays or oversings. You can try to sculpt something out of it. But it’d be easier if they actually gave you something to mix...
The Happy Third of the Circle of Fifths
| December 2, 2011 What's your "happy third" of the Circle of 5ths? When it comes to determining the best key, does the band really need to take second, or even third place? Probably...
Bigger Than Bono...
| June 30, 2011Two words: U2. (actually, not really two words…more like two letters..well one letter and a number. Anyway...) Last Sunday a friend and I ventured up to East Lansing, Michican to watch U2 perform under a giant green spaceship--see the picture above. (I could keep trying to explain, but you really had to be there.) As I was watching, I was struck by a few things. Bono really is a bigger-than-life rock star...
Please Practice: 8 Tips to Give Your Team
| May 11, 2011 Of all the players that I've had in worship teams, the ones that practiced the most came out of the bar band scene. If any of them came to rehearsals unprepared, they apologized before they even pulled out their guitar. The players with church background, yeah...not so much...
Ox Percussion...
| April 9, 2011...is what we get when the aux percussionist forgets he's, well auxiliary . Big. Strong. And way too much...
200 Words (or less) About Being a Worship Musician: Key Elements #1--Talented
| July 20, 2009 You'd think this element would go without saying, but we've all been to (or attend) that church that has a less than talented musician helping lead music. A few things about talent...
