I attended a worship team seminar with four other folks from my church, including my very good friend Steve Horst. There was so much to learn from Paul Baloche and his friends who joined him; I have begun practicing longer and harder as a result with my electric guitar to learn triads and more power chords (send me some more information on that stuff if you are reading this and have stuff I might not), and I'm trying out vocal exercises I picked up as well. Aside from all the technical stuff, here's a few overall concepts that I am bouncing around in the vast space between my ears:
1. The worship team isn't there to perform like a concert band; we're there to lead a congregation of believers in earnest and sincere worship of our God.
2. Less is more, actually. The more band members are present up front, the lighter the musical burden is on all the musicians. The lead electrical guitarist can "noodle" if the acoustic guitar is covering the rhythm, the pianist/keyboardist can focus on the right hand melodies with a drummer providing the time, the guitarists do not need to use the bottom two strings if the bassist is providing the chord root notes, and so on. For me personally, this presents at once a lifting of a burden and also a tremendous challenge; I'm not the world's greatest noodler.
3. Take care of yourself as a musician and a vocalist. Eat right, drink the right fluids, do vocal exercises, get plenty of sleep, and yes, exercise. Tough to do with crazy schedules, but I believe that a holistic approach to our roles as worship team members is crucial. Kinda like the rest of life, huh?
4. Last, but not least: the focus is on God. Without God, there would be no reason for standing up in front of a bunch of people every week without pay and playing music that popular culture often labels as "lame" and "weak".
So yeah, a few things to chew on. Have a great day, folks!
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