Praise Team Blues

  • Thread starter Thread starter YeshuasFan
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I've been fortunate. I go to a small church in which "The Change" began over 10 years ago, so we're pretty much done with the grumbling about using such evil things as...well, anything other than an organ or piano. We blend the traditional and contemporary very well, so nobody has a real beef with the "why don't we do this anymore" type stuff.

My best advice is to blend the two as much as you can. Sing a couple hymns and a few contemporary songs each week. There's no hard and fast rule about it where I attend (and I'm one of the 2 people that actually plan services), but we usually have a few of each.
 
true-eurt said:
I'm not allowed on our worship team anymore. They think I am too intense and expressive...imagine that...someone getting too intense and expressive worshipping God...:D
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That floors me, considering David danced NAKED through the streets in praise. Were you naked? :D
 
soundchaser59 said:
No offense....just tired of being distracted by the electric guitarist who always sounds like he is playing the wrong song in the wrong key, but he stays in that spot because he was there before anyone else came along......ditto for bad singers with plumbers crack and guys with too many super whammo ultra metal distortion pedals chained together on the floor.....and bass players who are more like Disney wax robots than like enthused musicians....

now back to your regularly scheduled thread....
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whew! ya know, I have to agree. The music can make or break the worship atmosphere. It should inspire the congregation. It can be a very sticky situation if someone is doing their best but they just don't have the necessary skills. Nobody wants to be the bad guy and tell them they aren't needed. Maybe the musically challenged guy was there since way back when they didn't have better musicians. Maybe it's easier to just turn them down and hope they don't catch on. In a perfect world they would realize their lack of skills and step out willingly but this isn't a perfect world.
 
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Refer to post #8
We're not talking music style/genre.
We're not talking about musicians/singers who do not practice or play well together.
What we are dealing with is a less than ideal acoustic environment (think high school gymnasium sized room with no acoustic treatment) and borrowed equipment that is past its prime (dead channels on the mixer).
The room where we meet is being rented on a temporary basis from another congregation while our building is undergoing renovation.
The host congregation's youth group uses the room regularly and so when we come in Sunday morning to practice before our service, I spend an hour having to reconfigure the channel settings and mic assignments for our worship team and pastor.
And of course, when the congregation comes in--the whole dynamic changes and so I'm spending the first fifteen minutes having to tweak everything.
The biggest complainer is the bass singer's wife who seems to think it's all about her husband and why isn't he the prominent one in the mix instead of the worship leader.

And, as I said in post #8, thanks for letting me kvetch....
 
By the way, does anyone have any suggestions for Christian songs that aren't slow and shitty? I think a little of that goes a long way. I like the emotion and all, but it's just like every single song on Christian radio is some dude playing suspended chords on an acoustic guitar and whispering.

I have written things to do at church that were more to my liking as far as style or genre, but even that is a bit self-exalting. I would gladly do some covers if I could find songs that weren't so Yech!

Any Christian Honky Tonk yet, or do I have to invent the genre?
 
YeshuasFan said:
Refer to post #8
We're not talking music style/genre.
We're not talking about musicians/singers who do not practice or play well together.
What we are dealing with is a less than ideal acoustic environment (think high school gymnasium sized room with no acoustic treatment) and borrowed equipment that is past its prime (dead channels on the mixer).
The room where we meet is being rented on a temporary basis from another congregation while our building is undergoing renovation.
The host congregation's youth group uses the room regularly and so when we come in Sunday morning to practice before our service, I spend an hour having to reconfigure the channel settings and mic assignments for our worship team and pastor.
And of course, when the congregation comes in--the whole dynamic changes and so I'm spending the first fifteen minutes having to tweak everything.
The biggest complainer is the bass singer's wife who seems to think it's all about her husband and why isn't he the prominent one in the mix instead of the worship leader.

And, as I said in post #8, thanks for letting me kvetch....
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I think this thread may have taken a different direction than you originally intended but it has been interesting to read all the comments. I know it's frustrating to deal with the problems you described but at least they are temporary.
 
Forty years ago, when the church I attend was founded, the local state U. engineering dept was enlisted to design the interior space so that acoustic music could be heard all through the sanctuary. It worked: I have played acoustic Dobro there, and everyone hears me, and I listen to other musicians play acoustically, and I hear them. I'm beginning to think that I'm getting spoiled.

We seldom use amplification: the exceptions are the Baptist Blues Band, a small electric group, and I take my Jazzmaster Ultralight; the bass player has a small Fender, and we keep 'em turned down. With proper acoustics, you're not constantly turning it up to be heard.

We've had a quartet of youngsters (10 to 15, if I remember) who performed an Allison Krause song (with backing by, among others, yours truly) who were voice students of our music director, and for that she brought a small PA so their harmonies could be clearly heard -- the rest of us were acoustic.

You might say those of us who go there self-select: we don't care for massive churches, preferring smaller and more intimate congregations. Plus, we're known around town as the "un-Baptists," for what that's worth. No one mistakes our place for a "power church," where you go to make business connections.
 
YeshuasFan said:
Refer to post #8
We're not talking music style/genre.
We're not talking about musicians/singers who do not practice or play well together.
What we are dealing with is a less than ideal acoustic environment (think high school gymnasium sized room with no acoustic treatment) and borrowed equipment that is past its prime (dead channels on the mixer).
The room where we meet is being rented on a temporary basis from another congregation while our building is undergoing renovation.
The host congregation's youth group uses the room regularly and so when we come in Sunday morning to practice before our service, I spend an hour having to reconfigure the channel settings and mic assignments for our worship team and pastor...
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People are complaining of a less than ideal acoustic environment? People are complaining that your equipment is borrowed? That your mixer has dead channels? Really?

Sorry, but this sounds like you're making excuses for subpar performances. Without hearing the complaints or the music it's hard to say. But it's a poor craftsman who blames his tools.

I echo previous comments about congregations tolerating horrible music.
 
Supercreep said:
I echo previous comments about congregations tolerating horrible music.
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I can't count the churches I've been in where the sole instrumentalist was the half-blind arthritic minister's wife or some other older member of the congregation on piano or organ, gamely hacking their way through the hymnal as the congregation did their best to keep 'em on beat, and everything was fine. (As far as I know, though, there may have been people complaining about it -bitterly - for years. :D)

I guess it's different now. Rather than accompanyment, church music has become the entertainment and an enticement. So I guess it's subject to more scrutiny and criticism.
 
seems to me if they are complaining about the music they are going to church for all the wrong reasons to begin with.
 
true-eurt said:
I'm not allowed on our worship team anymore. They think I am too intense and expressive...imagine that...someone getting too intense and expressive worshipping God...:D
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I should like this waaaaaayyy more than if you were one of those Disney wax robots....... :) We get a lot of people in the crowd saying, "They look like they are dead. Are they unhappy about having to play for the band?" :p

On the other hand, the more I "really get into it" with my electric guitar the more the young people speak up and say how much they like the church that rocks! Then they invite their friends..... and I'm just one person rocking out..... just think if all the musicians were so enthused about playing! I think I got it from going to all those classic rock concerts where the bands would move around and contort themselves as if the fate of the cosmos hinges on how passionately they play each note....... definitely got something good from those days!
 
It is great if the church goes out for the sound system and room treatment for their worship service..but if the team is not allowed to express their passion(if they do have it)..all the treatment in the world is lost.


soundchaser59 said:
..... just think if all the musicians were so enthused about playing! I think I got it from going to all those classic rock concerts where the bands would move around and contort themselves as if the fate of the cosmos hinges on how passionately they play each note....... definitely got something good from those days!
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The difference between a LOT of music in church and secular music at concerts, is that the secular concerts set the musicians free with their expression.

Most churches require the musicians to stay within a boundery of freedom..even the ones, who give the illusion of being "free" in worship, are usually directed to "take it easy".

I have nothing against anyone worshipping in the way they prefer..but I would prefer a much more open expression of worship...lots of passion for praising and worshipping God.

And that can come in any form of music...Gospel, Hymnal, Praise and Worship, Comtemporary, Pop, Rock, Country etc....

There is a purpose for worship before a service...it seems to have been lost in many churches, amidst the bi-laws, complainers, Scribes and Pharisees...I have sat through one too many quenched worship services...for one reason or another the Spirit is just not allowed to flow..partly we get into a hurry and don't wanna wait..some don't think their should be passion within the church..of any kind..and partly cause some folks think it is a sin to rock out for Jesus..whether it be Hymn style or electric guitar style . I believe worship comes in all forms of music, but only one form of heart..the heart of surrender and passion.

P.S.You will note, that I stated IN CHURCH..not christian music. For some odd reason, the worship team's passion becomes dampened within the walls of a church, amidst the congregation that should be embracing it..whilst, that very same band can play to believers they have never met outside the walls of their church, and it rocks out with the Holy Ghost power all over it.

That is all...:D
 
Supercreep said:
People are complaining of a less than ideal acoustic environment? People are complaining that your equipment is borrowed? That your mixer has dead channels? Really?

Sorry, but this sounds like you're making excuses for subpar performances. Without hearing the complaints or the music it's hard to say. But it's a poor craftsman who blames his tools.

I echo previous comments about congregations tolerating horrible music.
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If you think you can do a better job, you're more than welcome to join us....
 
cephus said:
By the way, does anyone have any suggestions for Christian songs that aren't slow and shitty? I think a little of that goes a long way. I like the emotion and all, but it's just like every single song on Christian radio is some dude playing suspended chords on an acoustic guitar and whispering.

I have written things to do at church that were more to my liking as far as style or genre, but even that is a bit self-exalting. I would gladly do some covers if I could find songs that weren't so Yech!

Any Christian Honky Tonk yet, or do I have to invent the genre?
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Check out Gordon Mote. He is a blind keybord player who has a few gospel albums out. Right now he is the most sought after keyboard and piano player in Nashville for studio session work. He is as good as I've ever heard at working a hammond B-3 and a leslie. He has some really good uptempo gospel songs...with the southern rock/honkey tonk feel.

Some specific up-tempo tunes that are really good:

"Soul fillin' station", "Call me gone", and "Two winning hands" the Hinsons (Mike Bowlings "tribute to Kenny Hinson" is really good and has these 3 tunes)

"greater is he", "through the fire", and "don't you want to go" the Crabb Family

"The old landmark" Signature Sound

For some really great hard rock gospel
Check out the band Disciple. The song "3-2-1" is killer when judged by any rock and roll yard stick!
 
cephus said:
By the way, does anyone have any suggestions for Christian songs that aren't slow and shitty? I think a little of that goes a long way. I like the emotion and all, but it's just like every single song on Christian radio is some dude playing suspended chords on an acoustic guitar and whispering.

I have written things to do at church that were more to my liking as far as style or genre, but even that is a bit self-exalting. I would gladly do some covers if I could find songs that weren't so Yech!

Any Christian Honky Tonk yet, or do I have to invent the genre?
Click to expand...
Skillet and Lincoln Brewster are good..and here is a couple links to different styles of Christian music..so you can listen for yourself.

http://http://christianmusic.about.com/od/metalandhardrock/Metal_and_Hard_Rock_Christian_Artists_and_Bands.htm

http://http://christianmusic.about.com/od/modernrockandalternative/Modern_Rock_and_Alternative.htm
 
soundchaser59 said:
God doesn't do anything mediocre, why should we? :D

Not criticizing you, I understand completely. Some places just dont have talent coming out of the woodwork. But the places that have (1) far more talented people standing in line to play on the teams, and (2) visitors and new people walking out because the musicians cant play all the way thru one song without sounding like 4th graders, let alone a whole set......those places should, in my always never humble opinion, reconsider putting their under qualified mediocre foot forward just because we are "good Christians"....
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I cannot believe I just read that.:eek: How hard is it to organise a rota? Include those more talented alongside the less able?

Based on your argument. I put it to you that your intellect is so inferior to Gods that you are therefore not qualified to pray tunefully of otherwise. You should leave it to those with greater intellect and those more devout that are queuing up behind you to have their prayers answered. Music is not a competition or contest it is a gift.

I know you say you aren't trying to be critical but shess.. Honestly you need to asses some core values pertaining to the nature, purpose and practice of Christian worship, charity and tolerance being just some of them.

Boy am I glad I am part of a progressive Catholic parish that welcomes the efforts of all and accommodates them accordingly with grace and gratitude.

Just saying...
 
Zaphod B said:
Rather than accompanyment, church music has become the entertainment and an enticement. So I guess it's subject to more scrutiny and criticism.
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That may well be. It's easier to avoid scrutiny in church if you're not loud and sucky. :D
 
Supercreep said:
That may well be. It's easier to avoid scrutiny in church if you're not loud and sucky. :D
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I've been blessed with a reasonable voice and enough talent to perform live without getting jeered at or stoned (well not often:D ). The wife on the other hand loves to sing but cannot carry a tune if her life depended on it. Church is the one place she can and is encouraged to raise that voice as load as she possibly can. Long may it continue.;)
 
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