Put songs in keys your congregation can easily sing.
Put songs in keys that you can sing.
Put songs in keys that are easy to play on your instrument.
Give your band charts in the open key (not the key that requires a capo).
Facilitate smoother transitions.
I use Planning Center to transpose not only chord charts but mp3s as well, and it couldn’t be easier. You don’t need any knowledge of theory to do this.
Planning Center is web-based software that does all kinds of awesome things, but this webcast focusses only on the transposing feature. it’s also free to use (they have paid plans as well).
I’m going to start things off with a song from my good friend and fellow worship leader Alastair Vance. He’s written lots of great songs, and he has a very cool blog going at AlastairVance.com. You can also follow him on twitter and youtube. Alastair and I have also recorded a few worshipvideos together.
You’re The Only One
You can listen to and download this song for free:
And here’s a video of the same song:
Alastair leads worship at Story Church in Durham, NC.
Want me to feature your music here on my site? Don’t be shy. Send me a message! I really enjoy connecting with other indie artists and worship leaders.
I’m excited to announce a new blog series here at Brian Wahl Music. I’m calling it Awesome Indie Artists.
Over the last several months and years, I’ve developed some pretty cool real life and internet relationship with other independent artists and worship leaders. There are some really talented people out there writing, recording, and releasing really good music, and I think you might be interested in getting ahold of it.
As I run across these talented individuals, I’ll post about them and highlight their music. You’ll see them below, and hopefully the list will grow and we’ll all be listening to really great indie music.
Artists
Alastair Vance
Alastair is a worship leader at Story Church and songwriter from Durham, NC. He’s married to Liz they and have three kids – Nathan, Noah and Katie. Alastair and Liz moved from Ireland to make our home in North Carolina, USA in October 2007.
Also, visit Alastair’s music page on his website where you can listen to a lot more of his stuff.
How about you?
If you are an indie artist or worship leader and you’d like me to blog about your music, don’t be shy! Send me a message and let me know all about it. Alternatively, if you’d like to feature my music on your blog, that would be pretty cool!
I found a great post over at the DIY Musician blog from CD Baby about playing live. This would be aimed more for the non-corporate-worship type settings, and many worship leaders (myself included) like to get out there and play music in all different kinds of venues.
Memorizing a stack of worship songs may seem like a tedious task for sure, especially if your song-book is over 100 songs, but here are five reasons why you as a worship leader should memorize everything.
1. You will make fewer mistakes
This may seem obvious, and it is probably the most important reason for you to memorize your music. If you’ve been leading worship (or playing in a worship band) for more than just a bit, no doubt you’ve hit a few wrong chords. Maybe you’ve forgotten the lyrics on a verse or something. As a leader, this is embarrassing, and I’ve certainly been there more times that I’d like to admit. Memorization won’t guarantee these kinds of things will never happen again, but it will go a long way to prevent it.
2. You will have more confidence
If you’re not thinking about what chords to play and what words are coming up next, your confidence will go up exponentially. If you don’t believe me, just give it a try – memorize the songs for your next worship set and come back and report how you felt playing them. You’ll also feel more free to “get lost” in worship.
3. Get rid of the music stand
This might seem a bit superficial, but let’s face it – music stands are not rock and roll, at all. More importantly, you won’t be glued to a sheet of paper sitting on a stand. This will make you feel more free than you might think.
4. You will sing better
Memorizing music can make me a better singer? Yes! For one thing, you’ll have to practice your songs to memorize them. The more you sing, the better you’ll get. Another thing that happens is you’ll learn where the song goes musically (as far as the vocals go), and you’ll get better and better at nailing the notes. Give it a shot – pick a new song or one you’re not as familiar with. Play it and pay attention to your voice (record it if you can). Then play it over and over again until you memorize it. Once you’ve got it down, pay attention to how well you sing it. You’ll be impressed with your progress.
5. You will become a better musician
Memorization comes from repetition and practice. The more you practice, the better you get.
Confession:
I’m writing this post because I didn’t memorize my music this last week. We did Christmas songs, so they weren’t the usual worship songs we usually do, and I wasn’t as familiar with them as I am with other songs we sing. Things went OK, but here are my gut reactions from the service:
My confidence was far lower than usual.
I botched two transitions because I was not familiar enough with the changes in time signatures from one song to the next. Had I memorized them, it would have been smoother.
I was glued to my music stand, and almost forgot some lyrics.
Do you make it a point to memorize your music? Why is it (or isn’t it) important to you? Please feel free to share and add your insight in the comments.
I posted on twitter once that Matt Redman is the Lynrd Skynrd of worship music, and that Blessed Be Your Name = Free Bird, and You Never Let Go = Sweet Home Alabama. Now that’s a strange comparison for sure!
Blessed Be Your Name has been particularly special to me over the years. I’ve always been drawn to it. Maybe it’s because it’s in the key of B, and I can really let loose and belt out the chorus. Maybe it’s because it’s one of the first songs I learned on guitar – I feel like I “grew up” on it. There are a few key characteristics of the song, though, that I’d like to highlight.
1. Content
When you sing this song, you proclaim to God that you are going to praise Him regarless of your own circumstance. Each verse does this.
Blessed be your name // In the land that is plentiful // Where your streams of abundance flow // Blessed be your name
And literally the next phrase states:
Blessed be your name // When I’m found in the desert place // Though I walk through the wilderness // Blessed be your name
The second verse does the same thing. Then in the huge bridge (Matt Redman writes awesome bridges), we sing:
You give and take away // My heart will choose to say // Blessed be your name
Awesome. In my opinion, it is rare for a song to communicate such profound (and realistic) truths about our relationship with God like this one does.
2. Emotion
First of all (and something I love), the kick hits on all four beats during the mellower verses. It builds tension. Secondly, the pitch of the vocals goes up as you approach the chorus – more tension.
When you hit the chorus, it’s kind of like you’ve completed the slow climb to the top of the roller coaster and you’re starting to fly down the track. The energy of this song is really cool.
3. People know this song
You can pull this song out anywhere, and people will sing it without lyric sheets or words on the screen. John Acuff even suggested that you sing it when other Christians try to awkwardly convert you in a Barnes and Noble. He claimed that if they didn’t know some Matt Redman, you’d better walk away. Ha!
Bottom line is that if you do this song on Sunday morning, people are going to sing it out.
Because I love this song so much, I recorded a video of it:
Thank you Matt and Beth Redman for writing such an awesome song for the church to sing God’s praises.
For some reason, they reminded me of the Nike’s that Marty McFly wore in Back To The Future 2. I took this shot at the LIFT Worship Leader Collective in Atlanta a few weeks ago. Chris was sharing some really good stuff, and I really was listening. I hope he didn’t notice me pointing a camera at his feet!
A few weeks ago I attended the LIFT Worship Leader Collective (conference) in Atlanta, hosted by Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, and Louie Giglio (Passion City Church). It was a really great experience, and it was a small crowd of about 1000. I got lucky enough to sit really close, so I snapped a few photos. I’ll post up some more about the conference soon.
Here’s another:
You can see the rest of the photos I took here on Flickr.
I woke up this Sunday morning feeling pretty terrible. I’ve been nursing a cold lately, and this Sunday was the worst day by far (I’m better now…). During the sound-check, it became obvious to me that I could sing about 2 songs and then my voice was gone. Good thing we don’t need perfect pitch to worship!
Set List (same for both services)
Revelation Song – Kari Jobe version – this was our pre-service song
He Reigns – Newsboys
Mighty To Save – Hillsong United
Hosanna – Hillsong United
How Great Is Our God – Chris Tomlin – this was after the message
As usual, you can get chord charts for all these songs on the charts page.
Annette led the first service, and wow – she rocked Revelation Song. It’s new for both of our churches (we have one band that leads for two different churches), which is why we put it as the pre-service “performance” song. We’ll schedule it next week, and I’m going to ask Annette to come up and lead it again.
All in all, a great morning. The band has heard lots of compliments from people in the congregations. Just goes to show – even if we feel terrible, we can freely worship and lead others to do so as well.
I wrote a new song a few days ago as part of the 2011 songwriting challenge, and I’d like you to help me record it. I’ve got a basic demo going. Have a listen to it here:
Our first 
I woke up this Sunday morning feeling pretty terrible. I’ve been nursing a cold lately, and this Sunday was the worst day by far (I’m better now…). During the sound-check, it became obvious to me that I could sing about 2 songs and then my voice was gone. Good thing we don’t need perfect pitch to worship!
