Hey everyone! So here’s an idea i’ve been mulling over for a while… At a lot of our gigs, worship leaders and musicians come up to us after the evening is over to ask us questions about our gear, our line up, and also pastoral questions about leading worship and leading worship teams. In response I’ve wondered about letting this little blog page serve as a little post gig cafe where the boys and I can answer questions any of you might have on music and leading groups of people in sung worship.
Instead of just launching into our tips on worship leading, I thought we could try and answer a worship question a week – maybe more questions if we’re feeing particularly industrious. So if you have a question you’d like us to discuss, and hopefully something as a casual cyber community we might discuss together, file it below. We will try to answer every question, but may choose the easy ones first!! We may also ask people with bigger brains than our own to answer too. At some point the boys from Skörinc will probably work out a clever filing system so we can access previous answers easily and you can post your questions easily too. Alright…. start your engines….
I would like to quote excerpts from Brenton's blog on the word "Hosanna" for my book The Words We Sing that will be published by Beacon Hill Press/Lillenas Music. How do I get permission to do so?
You just did. Enjoy! b
I'm getting married in January. I want songs sung that not only convey the love of two people, but are religious and truly honor God. Basically- I want the best of both worlds. :) Any ideas?
How do you balance a worship set between keeping to the theme of the day's message and keeping a good musical "flow?"
BTW, let me back up and say thanks for creating this forum for questions, Brenton!
Hey i'm from a vineyard in the uk and just have a quick little question. When you lead worship is the structure of each song set or is it open? for example, does the band know how many choruses there will be or is it open ended? man i totally fluctuate from one extreme to the other and fall somewhere in the middle most of the time!
A second question that came up while listening to this year's Group VBS CD (congrats on getting "Everlasting God" on!). This one's from a song-writer's perspective. As a song-writer of frequently played worship tunes, you must end up hearing several versions of songs you wrote. Do you ever find yourself picking things up from someone else's arrangement of a song of yours that you end up using in future performances? And no I don't mean having Levi Brewster read the Bible. ;-)
Kristina. Hey, I have done quite a few weddings! Here are some songs i have done. Respond on this blog if you want more. I Will Be Here-(Steven Curtis Chapman) If You Could See What I See-(geoff Moore) Listen To Our Hearts-(Steven Curtis Chapman and Geoff Moore) When God Made You-(Newsong) You've Got Me-(Steven Curtis Chapman). I hope this helps!! Let me know if i can help. Andy<
Excellent work Andy. I will be here was at the top of our list too. Falling is a song baloche and I wrote a while back. Sometimes people like to do that too. Video responses coming soon...
Falling is wonderful Brenton! Just beautiful!
Dear Brenton - thanks for all you do, you're a blessing, brother! I have a guitar arrangement question for you. Put yourself in the position of being given sheet music to a song you've never played before, and you're going to go play with a small worship team (piano, bass, vocals), and you have a very limited amount of time to practice the song before you meet with the group, and the practice with the group is tight on time. How would/do you approach how you play the guitar for that song? I know this is a really complex question, but since you opened this up for questions, I thought at least one should be tough. :-) (jk) Pick a song like, He's Calling Out Your Name (Somma, Krtstianson, Batstone) - this group has never played the song before, so you do not know how they will play it stylistically. I am thinking generally in terms of instrument voicing. We know the bass will be on the low-end, so the guitar and piano have a range to work within. How do you approach this? Or more specifically, do you have a formula that works for you for guessing a good path for your playing? I am struggling to make the most of a tough situation with the worship team I am on. Many songs I am not familiar with. We have a (too)-short practice on a week night, and a (too)-short practice on Sunday morning. More practice is not an option right now, again, trying to make the best of a tough situation. I want to be able to hit the proverbial ground running on the weeknight practice, without playing everything on the paper. Likewise, how do you practice leading up to that? Try going through it with multiple chord phrasings to understand the boundaries, and work on some melodic arpeggios? Thanks for your time and consideration. -- Brian in Ohio, USA
How do you go about choosing a key for singing a song with a congregation?
hey everyone. Answers are coming soon! along with our new layout. quite excited. keep those questions coming! b
Hey Brenton, I realise this is a bit off topic but I would really appreciate knowing how you cope with your ME and worship leading? I'm a wannabe singer and was diagnosed with ME in 1995 so I worry that I wouldn't be able to cope with the pace or would be constantly letting people down. Hope you don't mind me asking - I know it's kind of personal.
How do you organize your work when you are writing songs? For example, do you use a computer program to link the lyrics you write with recordings of the melody/chord changes? Do you just use pencil and paper? What is your song writing process? Thanks!
I want to travel the world and make rock worship like you. How do I get enough money to do it. Also I am not married yet. Do you think that if I do this it will help? Thanks, Jimmi
Hi from the UK I'm planning to feature your song 'We Need You (No Other God)' on my blog. We've introduced it recently at Grace Church Nottingham and it's really caught light with the congregation and the worship team. here are my questions - 1) What drew you to the Annie Hawks hymn and where did you first come across it? 2) How long did the song take to write, from initial idea to final draft? (I mean your idea, not "started 1872 finished 136 years later!") 3) How much rewriting did you have to do, and what was the hardest part to get right? (If the song was dashed off in an afternoon, please lie and say it took you 5 years and 26 rewrites just so I don't feel so bad about my own snail like efforts ;-) Also I just wanted to say thank you for all the great songs you've written, they are such a blessing to our church and me personally, right from Hallelujah to Amazing God. You are such a strong example of someone really writing FOR congregations. Often when we do new songs we have to change keys, fix weird quirks in the melody, simplify fussy chord progressions, but yours are often congregation ready - straight out the box. (In fact when we first played through Amazing God a few of us who aspire to write for the congregation were blessed and demoralised at the same time by how beautiful and effortless and 'right' the melody seemed - but that's our problem!) So thank you so much.
Forgive me for writing more on your blog than you have! Mark - great questions - please do these too, Brenton. Jimmi Do you mean will travelling the world help get you a wife or will getting a wife help you travel the world? Either way, I would love to hear you take a shot at this one too Brenton! I dare you!
haaaaa!! i've been holding my breath just thinking about what to say... I will try and get some coherent down soon! b