Card pics

Card pics

"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!

In the Studio

I had the opportunity of a lifetime to be able to travel to Evansville, Indiana with our Joy Trio to record their first CD.  These ladies are no "fly by night" group, they've been singing together for over twenty-five years.  As their pianist, I know all of the hard work, rehearsal time, and sacrifice these ladies have made to serve the Lord with song.  Our pastor and each of our husbands made this trip possible and took care of the travel, making it an enjoyable trip, and keeping us on the road through snow and icy weather.
After we arrived at the studio we got right to work.  The ladies warmed up for a few minutes and then the recording began. Of course, they made it look easy, recording ten songs in one working day.  The wonderful musicians and sound engineers at the studio made the experience so enjoyable.  They were very encouraging and helpful.  Knowing that they were experts in their fields made us relax and focus on our music.
The fear I had about having to be a perfect musician melted away since mistakes can be corrected without starting over from the beginning.  It made me realize that it's a possibility that most of the recordings we hear are not perfect from the start, unless they're "live from Carnegie Hall".  Don't let your feelings of shortcomings as a musician keep you from playing for the Lord or from attempting to record a CD.  I would love to go back and record another CD!!!

I learned A LOT from this experience:
1. Practice time is not in vain.
2. Take care of the little problems for each song as you prepare it for church.
3. Organize your music, mark problem areas, and choose music that touches your heart.
4. Do not focus on learning songs for a CD, but for the service of the house of God.
5. God answers prayer and goes above and beyond.
6. Regardless of the CD sales, we now have a professionally recorded collection of songs for our church and families.

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.

"Is It Worth It All?"

Have you ever sung or played a special and felt a little down after it was over?  I have to tell you that I have.  Sometimes you may have thoughts like: "What was that all about?", "That song lasted 2 1/2 minutes, it took me five hours to write out the parts, six weeks of rehearsal, and several hours of other types of preparation.", "Did anyone even hear the song?", "Why did we even work that hard for that result?"
These are natural and human thoughts but, as Christian musicians, we have to learn to ignore those types of feelings.  It is easy to feel that way if you're tired or have had a demanding schedule.  Holidays, revivals, programs can often make you feel like a Baptist jukebox, just push a button and expect ten or twelve specials to pop out perfectly.
But that is not what we're about.  Music is a service ministry to serve the people of your church and to serve the Lord. Each note and word you sing is for the glory of the Lord, not for the glory of man.  It is not about us.   We should be willing to be anonymous as musicians.  We should not be concerned about getting our names out there in the recording industries, publishing, etc. If that's the will of the Lord, great, if not, we have a place of service and should be content with the opportunity to use our work for the Lord.
Your ability, opportunity, and ministry are gifts and must be treasured. They could be affected so quickly, changed, or removed completely.  Enjoy your usability and forget about instant results, gratification, or recognition.

I Corinthians 15:58 - Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.