"Conference Preparation"

It's the end of winter so we're all probably gearing up for our spring campaigns, revivals, and conferences.  I've spent the week trying to mentally prepare myself for the quickness of the arrival of our next conference in March.  It doesn't help that February is the shortest month of the year! Ha!

The first step in conference planning is remembering what you did last year.  A lot happens in one year at our church.  We hold three major conferences and sometimes the music part gets a little blurry to me.  Let me walk through the conference-planning mental maze of a music coordinator.

1.  Look over what you did last year.  Look over the music schedules, order of services, and any notes you may have made on your sermon notes during the preaching... (like - "don't do that again", etc.)
2.  When the pastor requests a meeting with you to discuss the upcoming conference, make worksheets with blanks for the pastor and staff to fill out as they have ideas.  If the pastor skipped some congregational songs last year, leave them out this year, don't make the same mistake twice.  If there were too many public prayers during the service try to one or two this year.
3. The worksheets you give to your pastor are merely suggestions and a helpful tool for them to know what components should be included in the service, ie. offering, introductions.
4.  Ask the pastor if there was anything he didn't care for during the last conference.  Take his advice.
5.  Make a list of the groups that you believe will be prepared to sing for the conference along with their best two songs of the past year.  It is not always wise to sing a brand new song for a conference. If it is new, try to schedule it for church in the weeks before the conference for a trial run.
6.  Four weeks before the conference pass out a schedule sheet to all musicians who will be involved. Include pianists, directors, singers, instrumentalists, accompanists, P.A. men, prelude musicians, etc.  It helps to put the word "tentative" at the top because so many things can change at the last minute.
7. Have a plan B in your mind for every single special for the week.  i.e.. If the adult ensemble falls through, then the mixed trio will sing.
8. Because some musicians are in more than one group, we sometimes choose a color scheme for each day of the conference and not try to match exactly.
9. Practice like there's no tomorrow.
10. Check on group progress with all of the music leaders.
11. Send reminders to the musicians one week before the conference and the Sunday before the conference.
12. When the conference begins, enjoy it!  Listen to the preaching.  Take notes on what works and what doesn't work musically and put them in a place where you can find them....
13. Schedule something fun to do on the day after the conference, like sleep in, so you can be ready for Sunday!

Church Music Master Schedule

Have you ever been playing the opening congregational song and realized that it was the same title as the offertory?  Have you ever had to change the solo title at the last minute because the choir special was the same title?  Amazingly, this has happened on more than one occasion to me.  There are thousands of songs and hundreds in the hymnal - how can we choose the exact same ones for the service?

Usually this happens when something has to be changed at the last minute due to sickness, lack of preparation, etc.  We came up with a way to plan the music in a more detailed way than just the special music schedule.  

Having a special music coordinator, choir director, junior choir director, and offertory coordinator means that we all have the responsibilities of selecting song titles for the schedules.  As music coordinator, I would schedule the special music and the congregational songs for each service.  For the choir special and offertory I would just put in "choir special" and the names of the musicians playing the offertory.  This would leave some parts of the service to chance, the songs could be going in "polar opposite" directions or be the exact same titles.  

Last year we decided to plan the year in quarters.  Each choir director and music group leader sends a list of suggested music titles for the quarter to me.  I then approve the songs for each group, usually just letting them know if another group or musician sings/plays that same title.  If a song is not usable, I don't place it on the quarterly schedule and return the list to the director with explanations of why a song is not usable.  

This master list is completed for the quarter and then is edited and sent as a monthly schedule to the song leader, choir director, orchestra director and music group leaders.  I can't tell you how much of a blessing and help this schedule has been as I type the order of service each week.  All of the decisions are made and all of the leaders had input.  The congregational songs are planned for the quarter, so you don't keep repeating or missing certain hymns and gospel songs.

The list is typed in a table style in a landscape format.  The columns follow the order of the service: choir opener/choir special/congregational songs/special music number/offertory.  Everyone can prepare in advance.

It took several meetings with our pastor and the music leaders for everyone to understand the process but it was well worth it.  Each group leader received forms to fill out for the quarter.  Information on the form helped me update all of my records and know what each group needed.  

Include: Names/cells/addresses of all group members.  List of songs sung in the past six months.  Suggested list of five songs for the next rehearsals, suggested songs for the next holiday.  Suggestions for the group, outfits, new recruits, etc.

It is a lot of work for one day a quarter but you'll reap the results the rest of the year.  I can't believe we didn't begin this sooner.

Church Music 2014 simplified

Hello fellow church musician(s),
I'm not sure if I'm writing for anyone else to read or just for my benefit.  Either way, I've had a year off from the blog in exchange for using my pen and notebook.  The Lord has done a work in me as I'm sure He has in you this past year.  I am praising Him for all of His wonderful goodness and faithfulness!  I've posted an old photo from 1983 from an old-fashioned service.  Things were simpler then but I didn't think so! ha! (Jennifer Petticoffer/S. Petticoffer/J. Smith)
My theme or guiding word for this year is "Simplify".  I have just started the process and want this to trickle into all of the group rehearsals and scheduling.  When I say "simplify" I'm not meaning going backwards in any way, but moving forward in an efficient and streamlined manner.
The Lord gave me this thought the other day, almost ridiculously simple.  There are fifty-two Sundays and fifty-three Wednesdays in 2014.  That means 104 Sunday specials and 53 Wednesday specials for a total of 157 special numbers.  If we have thirty-two active soloists, groups, jr. choirs, and teen groups that means each of them would be able to sing about 5 times per year.  Some large groups, like jr. choirs, would still sing monthly.
If every soloist, duet, trio, quartet, and ensemble knows that they will only be singing a certain amount of times per year, that gives them a definite idea of the work and preparation time they have for each special number.  Of course, if you only have a total of ten soloists and groups they would need to each prepare for sixteen special numbers, but they would have a definite number of specials.
Knowing that number took a huge load off of my mental "shoulders".  I'm planning on walking into the next ensemble rehearsal with a folder or book for each musician.  On the cover will be the year "2014" and inside will be five songs plus a few old standbys for back-ups and a Christmas and Patriotic song.  Knowing that these are our nine rehearsal songs will greatly minimize stress, decision-making, and being unprepared for the services.  The best songs of the year will be used for the revival and conferences.
Just think, by the end of the year the songs should all be memorized, wow!  By June, I plan to add a section marked "2015", replacing the songs we have already sung and also to keep rehearsals exciting.
This may be "old hat" for some of you but I'm very excited about doing this.  I'll be busy the next few weeks but the year will be charted and hopefully we'll be able to sing and "play skillfully with a loud noise" for our Lord.  By the way, we came up with a new idea last year and I'll let tell you about it next Saturday.

Psalm 100

A Psalm of praise.

¹      Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

²      Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

³      Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

⁴      Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

⁵      For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

Summertime Survival

Summer is officially here, we reached 100 degrees in Longview on Sunday afternoon!  Looking across the auditorium I noticed a few families missing and some choir chairs with alternates, but all went well anyway!
The best thing that we musicians can do is to do is plan big -  and then have Plan B, Plan C, Plan D, E, etc...  Get your back-up plans by going through the music files and look for "dormant" groups, you know, those who haven't sung in a few months because a new babies, sickness, job changes, etc...  Have a few extra practices as soon as possible and let them know to be ready just in case they're needed.
If and when all of your regular group members show up for their rehearsals, take advantage of the time and practice a couple of old songs and let them know that these are for emergencies, you may be calling the night before!
Our choir director has a vacation calendar for all to sign at the beginning of the summer so he'll know how many to plan for in the choir each Sunday.  I usually ask each group if they'll be gone on their next scheduled singing date and then make changes if needed.  Most large groups are not affected by one or two people missing, as long as they are not "key" singers or soloists, more than that and it's probably best to reschedule.
Another way to be ready at all times is to find new music for your soloists.  Let them know that they are "on call" and need to be ready in case of emergency.  Use summer time to do music finding, research, organizing, and re-assigning songs.
If you have a big event this summer, like revival or teen conferences, you can use the music that was scheduled during the conference throughout the summertime, especially if it was new music for the conference.
Remember that you can enjoy the music ministry, even it if is summertime!