The Little Details That Make a Difference
Playing guitar in this band, when I sensed the uncertainty, I began looking at the worship leader and rhythm section so that we could read each other’s body language to figure out when the change of chord progression and dynamic change was going to take place but no one was looking at each other. Just the simple idea of learning to look at each other, especially in the midst of musical uncertainties, could be a game changer for any worship band.
Did this hinder corporate worship? No. It just limited the potential impact of the worship team. But in another song, a bass player came in to the chords for the instrumental section about 2 bars too late and almost caused a train wreck if I hadn’t been paying close attention and ‘reading the band’.
Sometimes I wonder if we drop the ball with the details because they can overwhelm us in the same way that Chinese water torture does so with a constant bombardment of small water droplets. Details can be like that. And we certainly have to pick our anthills to climb.
So here is a small list of details (not meant to be comprehensive). Each of these is simple to understand, easily missed but can make the biggest difference. These are the things that separate the ‘professionals’ from the ‘amateurs’:
- Most everything musical comes in 2’s & 4’s. 2 measures here, 4 repeats of this chord progression, 2 repeats of that chorus.
- Most popular music in the form is V Ch V Ch (optional Bridge and/or instr section) and then 2 more choruses. This is usually preceded by an intro and sometimes there is an outro or tag at the end.
- Look at the worship leader/band director and each other for transitions, segues and when there are musical ‘forks in the road’!
- Bass players should be in sync with the drummer. Usually that means if the drummer is laying back dynamically, the bassist should do the same.
So lest we succumb to the temptation of making the excuse that we are not professionals (and some of you ARE pros), maybe we should first ask ourselves if we are really making ‘mountains out of molehills’. In doing so, we may discover that being asked to play like a professional isn’t such a big deal. After all, that the difference between the pros & the amateurs is paying attention to the small stuff. Didn’t Jesus teach us that the last shall be first, if you want to lead you must serve, if you want to be exalted you humble yourself? How would the Kingdom of God within us, explode if we focused on the small, whether it is in our music or in the larger borders of our lives?
Posts
No comments