Recently, someone contacted me out of the blue about worship singing. She wasn’t sure where to start, or what to do, but she felt led to do this, hence this post.
So what is the very first step? And the one after that??
The first thing to do… Actually, the first thing to do is always Pray! The next, is to develop your talents, so you are ready and prepared with something to offer. If you are at the very beginning of this, that means making sure you can sing and play your chosen instrument to a good standard and have a basic understanding of music theory. So, practice practice practice, educate yourself and maybe even take lessons (youtube is chock full of free ones). But why music theory? So you can understand other musicians, for example when someone says what key a piece of music is in, or what interval they want the harmony, you will be able to act on their instruction. If you already have some music knowledge, it doesn’t do any harm to refresh your knowledge and the BBC website has some amazing learning resources too, both for those learning from scratch, and the more advanced – http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/subjects/music.shtml
Now that you have prepared yourself, what is it you want to achieve? Sometimes it’s fairly obvious. You may be a very gifted guitarist, in which case, start there, God gave you a talent to use for His glory. Other times, we don’t really know straight away, (again pray). In the latter case, take a step in faith – here’s a story for you:
I frequently work with a lady who loves singing, (let’s call her Pat). I don’t know if she ever danced in front of the mirror singing into a hairbrush, or just along to the radio, but at some point, someone took her to a karaoke bar and she absolutely loved it. Or thought she did. Then she tried open mic nights, and found she liked that more. Word got around that she could sing and she was roped into a charity gig with a friend’s band. She enjoyed this so much, the karaoke began to lose it’s shine a little bit. And then we did some recording with her.
At each different stage, Pat discovered more about music and more about her capabilities, what she was, and wasn’t good at. What she could learn to be good at, and what she couldn’t handle. Through going out and exploring different things, Pat found that certain doors opened for her and certain ones didn’t. If you dedicate your walk to God, the same will happen for you. God will give you the tools you need for his work, and open the doors where he wants you to go.
OK, great story, but does that mean you too should start with Karaoke? No. Starting out in worship music, has a very easy first step. Find a suitable church.
What do I mean by suitable?
If you go to a church where the worship “band” is 3 old women warbling around the piano, then that tells you something. If you’re an old lady who likes to warble along to piano tunes, then this could be the place for you. If you’re a teenager with an electric guitar, maybe not, although it could be an opportunity if there are many younger people in the congregation who might prefer something a bit livelier every now and again. Basically, what I am saying is visit a few churches until you find one (or two!) with worship that you think you could be a part of, and talk to the person who organises the music. Or simply talk to the worship leader at your own church. Churches are frequently short of musicians because they often need people to fill in, when others are away.
Once you’ve got to know a few musicians at a church, ask, and you’ll find that some of them play at other churches too, and also know other christian musicians and creative people elsewhere. Networking is a great way to find other local christian musicians to collaborate with, and helpful christian resources. There are other ways to find like minded people as well, like online forums, facebook groups and church networks. Facebook groups are particularly good because those pages often link to other related pages so you can quickly connect with many people.
If you want do more than just perform songs on a Sunday morning, you will also find that many christians like to write, record and perform their own compositions outside the church. Sometimes it’s just secular songs about their personal experiences, and sometimes it’s used as a way of introducing people to the Gospel. Either way, it’s good fellowship and God can use you, so get yourself out there and start meeting people.
Further Resources:
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