One of the most common and critical preparation mistakes worship musicians make is not listening to the music.
Here’s a few reasons (excuses) worship musicians give for not listening:
1. “Why would I listen to the song when the music is right in front of me? (I can just download chords, music sheets, or ask from my fellow musicians to teach me anyway)
2. I didn't have time. (Busy….busy…busy…)
3. I didn't have the recording. (I don’t have internet access, I can’t download…etc)
4. It wasn't in the right key. (I can ask them to change the key anyway)
5. Why bother, we don’t do it like the recording. (I ibahin din naman yung areglo)
6. We've played it a million times. Why would I need listen to it? (I know the song already)
Let’s talk about these one by one.
1. "Why bother when I have the written music?"
Yes, we literally have almost everything at our finger tips. At one click, we can download tutorials, videos and even the sheet music. These are great tools for learning line ups better, however, these are not enough. Essentially, listening to the lineup and referring to the sheet music should go hand in hand. No matter how accurate your chord sheets are, if you don’t know the dynamics and the refinements of the song, you can’t still play or sing the music well.
2. I didn't have time.
This is a poor excuse! Most of us do have cellphones, we can listen to the music while – in the car, doing busy work, doing chores around the house, before they go to bed, etc.
3. I didn't have the recording.
We understand not everyone has the access to computers and internets, but you can ask us: your brothers and sisters, we can download them for you.
4. It wasn't in the right key.
This excuse is valid, but not quite. Valid excuse or not, a solid musician can still listen through a song in the wrong key and at least get the dynamics, the form, and good idea of how his part goes.
Then on the rehearsal, you can ask your fellow musicians to get the right key that is within your range.
5. Why bother? We don’t do it like the recording.
There are a lot of reasons not to do it like the recording. Limited instrumentation, arrangement is too long, changed style to fit your context, etc.
As a leader, recognize how your default arrangement differs from your recording. Spell it out to your team in your rehearsal sheet: “Here’s what’s happening on the recording: ________; here’s how we’re doing it: _________________.”
If it’s vastly different, instruct your team to only listen for the parts that are the same - probably the melody. And then consider playing your own scratch recording of it to match how you do it.
6. “We've played it a million times. Why would I need to listen to it?”
When I make an excuse for not listening, it’s usually this one. But there’s often stuff we fudge on as we first learn a song, and that carves a bad groove that we continue to run in. A renewed listen can give you some fresh ideas to incorporate into the next time you play.
The bottom line, if we fail to listen to songs, we'll have much harder time playing them from a place of confidence and passion. And without that, it'll be tough to worship God through those songs.
Now, ask yourself....
What excuses have you heard from your team when they don't listen to songs?
How do you encourage your team to listen?
