5 – Ideas for Improvised Worship Leading!
NOTE: A couple of the tips below refer to a worship team not rehearsing the songs selection in advance before Sunday. In some cases, bands with enough skill level can do this, but in other cases, it is absolutely crucial to rehearse the songs selection and pick the songs in advance. This article is definitely not opposed to choosing songs and rehearsing them in advance. The examples below merely demonstrate several ways to add flexibility to your worship leading, although not every suggestion would work for every situation.
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The term “improvised worship leading” means simply this: running the worship service with enough flexibility to make on-the-spot changes to the music or the songs selection. If you’ve been looking for ways to add greater flexibility and spontaneity to your worship services, this article will provide a few helpful ideas.
I play in a worship band that has its roots in jazz, though we play all sorts of styles, including CCM rock. Our drummer was once very active in the jazz world and even played a gig with Dizzy Gillespie. Everything we do is configured for total flexibility during a service, if needed. I’m not saying this is better or worse than any other method; it’s simply one way to do things.
For example, when it’s my turn to lead worship (we rotate leaders), I show up a little early, pray for guidance on which songs to play that day, and then pick the songs. When the musicians arrive, I hand out the song selection for that Sunday, scrawled in my chicken scratch on pieces of paper. They pull the songs, and we start the service without rehearsing the set list. It’s not unlike a jazz band that plays from the “fake book” and can turn to any page in that book and just start playing.
To pull this off, the band has to memorize, or at least know, the songs well enough so that they can play them at the drop of a hat. To be clear, we don’t play without song sheets. We still pull the music and place them on music stands. Even if you memorize something, sometimes the brain goes blank, and it’s helpful to have the music there in front of you.
“Yeah, but,” you might be saying, “how does the band figure out the arrangement of the song without first rehearsing it? How do you know how many times to play the chorus or when to end the song?”
This is where the American jazz tradition of “following the band leader” comes in.
The worship leader uses a system of hand signals to communicate where we’re going in a song. For example, if the leader wants to repeat the chorus, he or she has a hand signal for it. Same for any other action: going to the bridge, repeating a verse, repeating a tag, or ending the song.
None of this, of course, is being presented as the only way to go about this; it’s just a template to inspire you if you’re trying to establish more flexibility in your worship band. Although you can certainly come up with your own hand signals, here are the ones that we use at my church:
1 – Repeat the chorus: make a hook shape with your index finger as if you were pretending to be Captain Hook.
2 – Repeat a verse: if you’re repeating or jumping to Verse 1, simply hold up your index finger as if you were counting to one silently on your hand; if you’re repeating Verse two, hold up two fingers (like the peace sign).
3 – Go to the bridge: make an “a-okay” sign with your hand by raising your middle, ring, and pinky fingers up and forming a little circle with your thumb and index finger.
4 – Repeat the tag: make the sign you’d make with your thumb and index finger if you were a chef telling someone to add just a little bit more sugar to the recipe—the sign you make when you bring your thumb and index finger close together but not quite touching. (And, just in case my lingo is different than what others use, the tag is that little phrase at the end of the song—perhaps the last line of a chorus—that songwriters and worship leaders will repeat several times just before they end the song.)
5 – End the song: raise only your pinky finger up like someone would do while drinking a cup of tea at a tea party.
Whether or not you use these signs or make up your own, it’s important to extend your hand out in clear view of the entire worship team when you do make a sign. You’ll also have to work on timing it. For example, when I want the band to repeat the chorus, I’ll throw the signal out when we start the last line of lyrics of the chorus—a few measures ahead of time—so that the band has plenty of time to see it and know where to go next.
All of this takes practice and, frankly, it just takes getting used to. Using excellent rehearsal tools like Rehearsal Mix can help teams put in that extra time to memorize their parts and not have their eyes glued to their music stand the entire time. But once the worship leaders and band members have these skills down, it opens up a wide range of possibilities during the worship service.
All the varying hand signals are interesting, but I am still stuck on the fact that you wait until Sunday to decide what songs you are playing. Really?? Of course many centuries ago there were no bulletins, powerpoint persons and such, and possibly worship was more spontaneous and not so orderly, but I cannot imagine waiting until the morning of a service to plan what songs you will use for your service.
What about the singers? You only mentioned the band and not the singers. Do they not get the opportunity to rehearse either? The term setlist is becoming less and less appealing when used in the context of a worship leader also. It sounds like more of a show than a worship service. It could just be me, but the music in a service needs to be more than a combination of songs that fit together well enough to be referred to as a setlist.
I will have to take a Sunday off at the church I lead worship at in Pasadena and see this in person.
Yeah, “setlist” was not a good word choice. I’m not even sure why I used that — I’ll see if I can get that changed. We don’t usually call it that at my church. Honestly, I had just been working on some other articles about rock music for something else, and the word was stuck in my head, apparently. I should have caught that because I completely agree with you: worship should not be a show at all. And, unfortunately, our culture sometimes approaches it as a rock concert or as an experience of entertainment. So you’re right on there. See my other articles on this site called “Wall of Sound” which is a three-part series about that very topic: the history of modern worship and how it evolved into something like a rock concert. As for the same-day song selection, I am not dogmatic about something like that — each church has their own methodology — but I’ve found that choosing songs the same day has helped the people worship more effectively, at least in my church. We have a pre-service prayer time before the actual service at 11am. While I’m there talking to people (before we start pre-prayer), and then praying, I can get a sense of what is going on in peoples’ lives and hearts. I bring that to God as I pray and ask for guidance about which songs will most help people enter into worship on that particular day. This often helps me select worship songs that will be more relevant and help them move most past any recent struggles going on in their lives during the service and fix their eyes on Christ. Also, if I were to pick the songs, say, Wednesday, if there’s some serious struggle or crisis that happens between Wednesday-Sunday (or something good that happens that deserves thanksgiving to God and rejoicing), for example, this might influence which songs I choose. Of course, many worship songs are so well written that it almost doesn’t matter when you play them. I guess I’m thinking more of the ones that have specific messages or focus on specific aspects of God. As far as the singers, we do have a rehearsal Sunday afternoon after church two or three times a month where the band and the singers spend a few hours working on songs — though not on songs for a future service, just a few songs from the book to keep us tight on them. We don’t have very many backup singers. The bassist, guitarist, and pianist all sing, including the harmony parts (one sings tenor, another sings the alto part). We have one or two backup singers, and all the singers join us for those occasional rehearsals. If you’d like, I can try and video some of the worship this Sunday and post it on my blog (www.kevinott.net/blog) to save you the gas money! I wouldn’t want to drag you away from your worship leading duties when I can just post a video online. I’ll try and do that this Sunday, if I’m able. 🙂
I hope you did not misunderstand any of my comments. I think it is wonderful that from the get go you ask God to lead you as to what songs to worship to! I am afraid that many services around the nation happen without such devotion. I am also very jealous that you have players and singers that are able to do what they do without practice. My worship team singers freak out when all I give them are the lyrics and no sheet music. I try to increase their musical aptitude this way to not be so dependent on notes and to let them sing from the heart and not the head. If this works for you I am more than happy for you. For me, it is a week long journey. I ask God what He has for our church on Monday morning. I then rehearse it on Tuesday myself before I send out the order of worship to our team and pastor. Thursday night is rehearsal with the singers and then I usually go through it again myself Friday or Saturday. Everyone develops what works for them and I am glad that you do have a plan that is great for you and your congregation. I am always anxious to learn so yes, I would like to see video if possible. I look online at different churches for tips but most churches only post the sermon and not the entire service. Thanks for your input.
Dear Mark,
We absolutely appreciate your comments. I personally could not pull off a no practice rehearsal. I often add vocal and musical arrangements which are not on the original recording, and require practice. Of all my years on the road as a long haired rocker of the eighties, only one band I played with could pull out a song from memory, without rehearsal, and play it to perfection. I have the highest respect for the musicianship Kevin has on his team!
Thanks again and God bless!
Thanks, Mark, for the kind words. I like how you described it as a “week long journey.” Just the fact that you put in all of that time during the week to get ready for Sunday is a “sweet smelling offering” of worship to God in itself. Your hard work is an act of worship that is sacred to God, and it’s something every team should emulate. God can definitely move in either situation, whether a week long journey or a more improvised setting. I haven’t always played with musicians who were almost at a pro level across the board, though we definitely don’t pay/hire musicians. It just worked out that way from the people who happened to go to our church. So in a sense I am very fortunate! I’m very thankful for it. I’ve also been in situations where people were at different levels, and you definitely have to shape your method according to the people on the team. I remember doing the week long journey as you described, and God would move powerfully in those settings as well where, for example, we would pick out and practice the songs many days in advance, and then when Sunday rolled around and we played, we would find out later that the worship songs really ministered to someone in a specific situation. So I’ve definitely seen God do some amazing things that I could never have planned, whether rehearsing in advance or not rehearsing. It seems to be, as in all things, God looks at the heart more than anything else, and if the team is doing all they can to honor Him with however they choose to prepare, then God shows up and uses the service for awesome things. I’m really glad you commented on this because it gave me a chance to explore that very important aspect of it. Really enjoyed your comments!