Life of a Church Musician: Part 3

“You know what they say, practice makes perfect!” Okay I admit, I’ve used that cliché on my students many times. It’s cheesy, but it’s accurate. There really is only one way to improve on your skills as a musician, and that’s practice. Everybody hates it. Getting some kids to do their music homework is like pulling teeth. Even I lacked the motivation to practice sometimes as I was growing up. But, there’s no way around it. Unless you’re a musical super-genius, you aren’t going to get any better without practice. And if you need something to drive you to work harder, consider that as a church musician, you do it all for Jesus. And He deserves nothing less than everything we have.

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I’ve been a musician a long time, and I’ve been part of many church bands in my lifetime. I’ve heard every excuse in the book, and every reasoning possible for not putting in effort. You may have heard these things, or perhaps even said them yourself at one time or another.

“We can’t sound exactly like the CD. We have to have our own sound”.

“Rehearsal may have been a disaster, but we always sound okay when it matters”

“Let’s just pray and hope for the best”.

“If we’re bound by the sheet music we won’t be sensitive to the Spirit’s moving”

“We’re not professionals. As long as it sounds decent we’re fine”.

“I didn’t have time to listen to the song. Just let me see the chords, I’ll figure it out”.

I could on and on. As I mentioned in my previous post, using the Holy Spirit as an excuse not to prepare is just Christian code for laziness. I would like to find any other area of life where we can slack off and expect to see good results. If we don’t study, we won’t pass our tests at school. If we don’t do the work our boss assigned, we’ll get fired. Any athletes out there? Do you know what happens when you don’t work out or eat right? You’ll get left behind. I apologize if this sounds harsh, but it seems to me that people only put work into the things that matter to them. By treating the church band as your lowest priority, you’re indicating that serving in the house of God doesn’t mean much.

In Genesis, we read about the story of Cain and Abel, two brothers who worked in different fields. Both gave their offerings to God, but only one was seen as worthy. Abel gave of his first fruits, the very best he had. Cain on the other hand, gave what was ordinary. He didn’t set aside his best, and God wanted none of Cain’s offering.

When God gives us a gifting, and gives us a responsibility, He expects our absolute best in return. Anything less simply won’t do. I feel like I can hammer this point longer, but it shouldn’t even be something anyone would challenge. The honor and privilege we have to be up on that stage should be met with the spirit of excellence. There is no other option.

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I know that we all lead busy lives. I know that we can’t sit down and practice our instruments for five hours a day. But the key to being the best you can be as a church musician is being as prepared as possible, and that means knowing the songs. Now let me make one thing clear: I’m not saying that we have to become cop-cat recordings of the CD. No one is saying to be robots. There needs to be heart in what we play.

But God has gifted music teams around the world with the ability to write songs, and unless you are writing songs and recording albums multiple times a year, there is something to be learned from the existing worship music. When I am assigned a new song to play, the first thing that I do is search to see if there is a drum cover, because I’m a visual learner. If there is, and it’s decent, I study it. I want to know what the drummer plays in each part of the song. I want to see how he transitions from one part to the next part.

I make notes, and write down what I need to play in the intro, the verses, the pre-chorus, the chorus, the instrumentals and the bridge. The worship leader may change the order of the song, but I still need to have an understanding of the basic format. I want to know what comes next, and what I should be playing in that part.

As I mentioned in an earlier piece, every musician in a church band is going to be at a different level. Therefore, we need to remove all selfishness from our hearts, buckle down and learn the songs, so that we’re all on the same page when we come together to rehearse. Does that make you feel like your creativity is being stifled? Then I challenge you to dig deep and see if your motives for being a church musician are right and sincere.

If everyone learns their songs at home, when we come together for practice, the set list goes smoothly, and we can work on extended worship times, or even adding extra parts. And there’s a good opportunity to be creative, because it’s in the right context. But if no one knows what they’re doing, practice is a mess, and it isn’t all that fun. We’ve all been there, I’m sure.

Stay tuned for more in part 4!