Practical Music Ministry

Serving God Through Sight, Sound, and Song

Tag: listening

Striving to Grow: Overcoming Obstacles in Music Ministry (part 7 – listening)

In this our final post in our seven-part series, Striving to Grow, we’re going to address one of the major issues I think face praise teams from a musical standpoint. While we’ve already dealt with the problem of stagnant musicianship in part one of the series, our efforts are in vain if band members don’t learn to listen to one another.

Listening is key. A praise team that doesn’t listen to its other members is nothing more than a stage full of soloists. Often, younger musicians will come up with cool parts that don’t necessarily fit within the context of the music, or worse, conflict with other parts. People become partial to their “creations” and don’t want to change their parts so as to fit. This situation is a simple result of members not listening to each other, which is a very ignorant and selfish way to be a member of a group.

There are several situations that arise as a result of non-listening. Parts compete or conflict. Music doesn’t sound full because several instruments are playing in the same range. Sound techs have difficulty mixing effectively because of lack of blend. Instrumental fills or solos overlap vocals. Vocals don’t blend or harmonize appropriately and end up doubling each other’s parts. Instrument “tone” doesn’t fit in with other instruments. The list goes on. However, above all, a general sense of “sloppiness” is created.

Whether or not we like to admit it, the production quality of the music we hear on the radio and on CDs is so high that we can tell the difference between a good sounding band and a bad–even mediocre–one. While most listeners can’t pinpoint why, they are able to discern that there is a difference in quality. Most churchgoers excuse this because we’re “making a joyful noise” or “using our gifts for the Lord”, but that does not mean that we shouldn’t make a concerted effort to bring our best offering to God.

Here are elements to listen for to improve the musicality of your praise team:

Kick drum and bass relationship: Perhaps nothing slops up a band quicker than a bassist who doesn’t work with the drummer. There is a distinct relationship between the kick drum and bass in music. In fact, the two should really act like one instrument (one to push air, and one to supply pitch). They should strive to be tightly “locked together”, playing the same pattern (or, at the very least, a complementary one). They should not, however, be playing wildly different patterns.
Vocal blend: I’m sure all would agree that proper pitch control and harmonization skills are a must for vocalists, but vocal blend is also very important. Vocals, too, should sound like one instrument. Singers should listen to each other, so that their vowel sounds are consistent and that their consonant sounds occur together.
Octave ranges: When it comes to working with a band, the band leader, as well as the musicians themselves, have to think like a producer. Each instrument must be placed in its own octave range. For instance, if a guitarist is playing big chords down in the open position, then a keyboardist should play in a higher octave. This placement ensures that instruments don’t “mask” each other and allows each instrument to be heard more easily. Therefore, it makes your mixing engineer’s job easier, because he doesn’t have to struggle to make sure each competing instrument is heard. It also makes better use of the frequency spectrum, making the sound more pleasing and interesting to the listener. To get a feel for how this process is done, critically listen to any mainstream music and take note of how the instruments are placed within the various octave ranges.
Dynamics and contrast: Dynamics refers to the variation of intensities within a song. All sections of a song should not have the same level of intensity. A chorus is typically a step up on the itensity ladder from a verse. The song should get stronger feeling, or “open up” more during a chorus. Bridges are typically the most intense sections of a song, Although, they don’t have to be. They can be the quietest sections, but they provide the most significant contrast. Dynamic intensity can be achieved with volume, intensity of playing, range, and density (how many instruments are playing at once).
Density: Perhaps one of the hardest aspects of younger musicians to grasp is that of density. Not every instrument has to be playing all of the time. Sometimes, it’s prudent for certain instruments to not play during certain sections of a song. For example, you wouldn’t necessarily need a heavily distorted guitar during a quiet, intimate moment of a song. You could also look at density as the number of notes being played together. An acoustic guitarist who is strumming has a different sound than if he was playing arpeggios. Each sound has its own place. Again, it’s the contrast that helps to make music interesting.

Learning to listen to each other removes a world of obstacles and enhances the overall musicality of your praise team. If you’d like more information, many of these principles can be found in our ebook Recording Basics: A Beginner’s Guide to Producing Music in the chapter “Thinking Like a Producer”. You can also see the article “Taking your Worship Band to the Next Level” on MusicIsMyBiz.com.

See other posts in the series Striving to Grow: Overcoming Obstacles in Music Ministry