Same Ole' Same Ole'

Wow! I apologize for my tardy post and lack of posting last month.
I know I was supposed to post about this last month, but it is actually relevant to me right now. As a music minister, it's my responsibility to oversee all things music at my church. And in an attempt to relieve myself of a little bit of the responsibility, I allow the song leaders to choose their own songs. While this benefits me on any other day, it seems to make my mind have to work overtime on Sunday because I still have to filter through their songs. Sometimes when someone is only leading songs once a month, he/she can be tempted to pick the same songs each month. It may not seem that noticeable to them, but everybody else notices.

I recently received an email suggesting that I have the song leaders keep a notebook with a lists of the songs sang every service. This person noticed that a couple of the songs selected had already been sung within the last two weeks. Now, one would think that using different people would automatically increase the variety of songs sang. This is not quite as simple as it sounds. one has to factor in the fact that the rest of your praise team needs to know the songs and your musicians need to know the songs as well. Contrary to popular belief, it's not always a great idea to decide to sing a song no one else knows right before church. I know we're Apostolic, and we should be instant in season and out of season, but music is not something that can just be thrown together. You're not just depending on one person, but several others. And even though everybody should be at a certain level, everybody's NOT at a certain level. Sometimes you just have to use common sense.

So, how do you get out of the rut of doing the same songs all the time? The answer seems to be simple... Learn more songs, buddy. But it's more than that. You have to learn more songs, and just more songs, but also a variety of styles. Sometimes I have to force myself to listen to artists that I would not normally listen to. Doing this helps me try to find something I like about different styles. Once I find something I like, I try to find ways to incorporate it in my playing.

I also like to sit down and just play without any CDs or anything else. Just being creative on my own; using the things I've learned from listening to different styles, helps me to be able to change things up. Now, if I want to play something with a different rhythm, that's not a problem. If I want to try I'll fly away with a Reggae twist... might not sound so great, but it's not killing me to try it out.

One may ask, "what does this have to do with song leaders picking the same songs?" Well, just like I (as a musician) have to listen to styles that I don't care for and use them, my song leaders will have to begin expanding their horizons and trying new styles. It's almost like going to a restaurant and getting the same thing every time you go. You'll never know how much you like something until you try it.