How do you pick worship music

[scooteraz]

This is a question that has been bouncing around in my head since another discussion about the U2 music. Just what do you have to do at your church to get music approved, and what hurdles must it clear to be considered worship music.

For us, the pastor gives us his sermon themes and readings about 4 to 12 weeks in advance. We then try to find songs that match, and fit in their liturgical spaces. That is, we find an appropriate confessional song for the the confession, something properly introspective and imploring for the Kyrie (the Lord Have Mercy part of the liturgy for those of you who haven't had the "pleasure" of learning the Latin phrases for each part of the liturgy). In addition, we do a theology check to make sure the lyrics don't break any theological boundaries.

In addition, we try to make sure the music is not too "out there". No hard rap, or hip hop, no heavy metal rock (though some hard rock is allowed), no really out there jazz (using all 12 tones all the time with 256 measure breaks is not really condusive to worship), etc.

This does not go to a committee, we just do it as the praise band. Occasionally, when we get out of bounds, the pastor will inform us, and a song will get taken off our list. A couple of songs are marginal, but are tolerated on occasion (e.g. "Can't Keep a Good Man Down" is considered marginal due to the flippant nature of the "Na-nas" at the beginning; still we are doing that this Easter).

I know some here say they just play for the Lord; something I have flippantly described as the "kill them all and let God sort it out school of church music". Really, it is meant as a joke, not as a value statement as to your personal commitment to your worship or your music. Others seem to have a more specific way of picking music.

This is really just for my interest and edification, and just to compare and contrast our process and requirements of picking songs for our worships.

[mrSlush50]

depends.

I play for three very different services at one church. the main Sunday service, I suggest songs, my suggestions are ignored (generally because they are typically way to out there) and then we play what ever the worship leader and the pastor have decided on. (This doesn't bother me by the way. I have no responsibilities on the Sunday worship team other than to play guitar and I am totally ok with that.)

For the Wednesday night youth service, usually the youth worship leader decides what to play and picks new songs but suggestions are welcomed and often changes will be made on the fly.

For our Tuesday night services which are geared at young adults (18-30) I pick and lead the songs. The only thing that really governs what I do here is that currently it's just me and my tele which means that from a musical standpoint the songs have to be do-able with just vocal and guitar. For the most part in each of these services we will try to relate at least one of the songs (usually the last one) to the message. But if that doesn't happen it's a huge deal. More consideration is given to how all the songs flow together with each other, both musically and lyrically, than to whether or not they reiterate what is contained in the message.

I'm going to have to look up "liturgy" on wikipedia before I can really get a handle on all the work that must go in to trying to set up a worship service at your church.

[gitlvr]

Our church is not that structured. We don't get advance notice of sermon titles/subjects, and we don't choose songs to direct the service in any way, other than to try to set a mood of worship, thankfulness or praise to God. Congregational singing is confined to a hymnal with piano, guitar(electric and/or acoustic),bass, and on occassion mandolin. Then there are usually a couple of "specials". Pretty much any member of the congregation is welcome to sing at this time, and we are blessed in that many of our members are blessed with musical ability. Everything from hymns to Southern Gospel, Quartets, Bluegrass Gospel, Old Timey, Contemporary Christian and a few originals. Secular music of any type (U2 or anybody else) is not allowed, nor would any of our congregation deem it appropriate. "Hard" music of any type is generally frowned upon. The church is not a performance venue or a concert hall, but a place of worship. Understand this is not a criticism of other folks take on things, but this is our congregation's take on things, and it works. Other things may work for other congregations, and that's fine. Whatever works.
I generally lead singing for the congregation, and choose hymns that are well known by the congregation and easy for them to sing. This is done in cooperation with the piano player, and after seeking guidance in prayer beforehand. How do I know what to choose? I choose the ones that
"feel right" for that service. That's the best way to explain it. I also sing solo at many of the services. There, I pick songs that minister to me personally, hoping they will do the same for someone else. I have a set list of about 30-35 to choose from, from Bluegrass/Southern Gospel to CCM and a few originals, as well as a few old favorite hymns. From the feedback and requests of the congregation, this seems to work well. There are many ways to do this, but this is what works for our church.

[jarrodmichael]

Interesting question. Our approach mirrors yours; in our case, the worship director works with the pastor to choose music that reinforces each week's message.

We don't get overly concerned with the style of the music - it could be a hymn, a contemporary piece, even blues - but it seems that we like doing contemporary stuff more than any other single style because we hear it ourselves on the radio and at concerts, etc.

We are also interested in keeping the service 'relevant' to the next generation, so that we reach them on their level and get them interested. That also influences our music. We're fortunate that our approach doesn't upset the older members of our congregation, or our leaders; they seem to support our pastor's choice to lead worship this way.

-jm

[Parma_TeleMon]

In our case, each of our worship leaders is free to pick out their set every week. Like JM, we try to be "relevant" - right now that's fairly easy as our oldest worship leader is around 25. We also have a strong youth ministry with their own worship teams, kind of like a baseball team farm system.

FWIW, when I pick songs I want something that I consider valid as worship, whether it was written in the 13th century or last Wednesday. I grew up singing hymns and still love them. I guess the bottom line is a matter of integrity - if what you sing reflects or releases the worship in your heart then the Lord will respond. Otherwise, it's just a nice song.

[T Prior]

Well at the risk of this being called secular, worship service songs, although they should be structured somewhat towards the service, are about the Congregations participation, if they can't sing along and worship with the praise team then there isn't much point . Kinda like a band at a gig playing songs that the patrons don't care for or know.

I did 6 years on JBass with a full pentecostal praise team, Sunday Am, Sunday PM , Wed. Pm and sometimes some outreach in between. Every Mon night was rehearsal where we experimented and stretched. This is when we brought a few tunes to see if they worked. I was not a leader, rather a player that was called on to do charts and maybe arrangements now and then. Fortunately our praise leader was really hip and she was a great singer with spot on harmony. She choose songs that were current and was also open, but if songs did not spark the congregation they were considered "gone". We often added a current radio song "chorus" into the lineup which made it quite fun.

Sunday AM was more reserved with the song choices, Sunday PM started out structured but like any full pentecostal church the evening kinda went it's own way, there were numerous services where we started with praise music and never got to a sermon, it was praise music for 2 hours ! Song choice opened up and we leaned towards a more assertive style of music, Wed nights again reserved and short.

I think it's hard to say what songs are best but I can tell you that the more songs the praise leader has under his/her belt and the more rehearsed the band is , you will be able to respond in the moment.

Although I have not played music in church in years, playing JBass behind a Grand Piano and alongside 7 or 8 other fine players really brought me to a new place musically. Playing a 4 string Bass where everything is in Eb or Ab is very interesting to say the least !

t

[scooteraz]

Originally Posted by T Prior

...Although I have not played music in church in years, playing JBass behind a Grand Piano and alongside 7 or 8 other fine players really brought me to a new place musically. Playing a 4 string Bass where everything is in Eb or Ab is very interesting to say the least !

t

LOL, I have considered tuning down a half step just so I can get all the music in Eb, Ab and Bb easier.

[T Prior]

scooteraz, I put an E extender on the Bass and tuned the extender drop to Eb. So, I have no idea how I did this but when we played in Eb , the E was dropped to Eb but A,D and G stayed natural ! I had to use all three halves of may brain at the same time , now that was interesting !

I still have the extender on the Bass but thank god I'm not doing that Eb , A,D G thing anymore !

t

[mattyj]

My wife and I run the sunday night church band at my church, and we've got the freedom to choose the songs.

My criteria:
1. Is it playable? (ie: will it sound terrible if our band attempts to play it? we're not that bad but we certainly aren't professional muso's.)
2. Is it easy to sing along to? (melody, register, phrasing of words. If it's too high or low, is it easy to change the key? We avoid songs that are more 'listen to me' and prefer 'sing with us' songs.)
3. Are the lyrics truthful? - a song that sounds great, is easy to play, is really catchy and singalongable might not necessarily be correct. We don't want to be singing heresy!

This has meant that we've turned away some songs that sound fantastic, simply because the words are misleading, or wrong. It also means that we've turned away some songs with fantastic words, but are terrible to play and hard for people to sing along to.

In Sydney (where I'm from) it tends to be that the Pentecostals write songs that sound great, but are iffy on the lyrics, whereas the conservative evangelicals write songs with great lyrics but sound lame. If anything the evangelicals try to cram too much theological correct-ness into songs which makes them hard to sing.

The encouraging thing for me as a conservative evangelical (you might have heard about us sydney anglicans) is that a group called Garage Hymnal are trying to write catchy, singalongable songs that have good lyrics that aren't too heavy, aren't too light.

[Parma_TeleMon]

Originally Posted by scooteraz

LOL, I have considered tuning down a half step just so I can get all the music in Eb, Ab and Bb easier.

I once teased one of our keyboard players who lives in Bb and F that I was going to bring both my Tele and Strat and tune the Strat to Eb. Playing on a team with her acquainted me with parts of the guitar neck I had been neglecting, however.

[scooteraz]

Originally Posted by Parma_TeleMon

I once teased one of our keyboard players who lives in Bb and F that I was going to bring both my Tele and Strat and tune the Strat to Eb. Playing on a team with her acquainted me with parts of the guitar neck I had been neglecting, however.

My music director was asked a couple of years ago to play for some larger church gathering (pastor's conference, I believe). So she went with one of our singers, and the pastors themselves provided a guitarist, bassist and drummer. When she came back she reported the bassist and the guitarist were telling her how guitar unfriendly the keys she picked were. Apparently they went on about it. Apparently he asked how her guitarist dealt with it, and she and the singer replied "I don't know, he just gets it done."

I think I shot up a notch in her estimation after that because I wasn't whining near so much.

[scooteraz]

Originally Posted by Parma_TeleMon

I once teased one of our keyboard players who lives in Bb and F that I was going to bring both my Tele and Strat and tune the Strat to Eb. Playing on a team with her acquainted me with parts of the guitar neck I had been neglecting, however.

My music director was asked a couple of years ago to play for some larger church gathering (pastor's conference, I believe). So she went with one of our singers, and the pastors themselves provided a guitarist, bassist and drummer. When she came back she reported the bassist and the guitarist were telling her how guitar unfriendly the keys she picked were. Apparently they went on about it. Apparently he asked how her guitarist dealt with it, and she and the singer replied "I don't know, he just gets it done."

I think I shot up a notch in her estimation after that because I wasn't whining near so much.

[Parma_TeleMon]

Well done!

[scooteraz]

Getting back on topic...
How closely do you look at the lyrics? Most of you have discussed mechanics, but not content per se. Do you ever get in trouble for lyrical content?

Our youth did once for singing "Big House". I can't remember the specific objection, but something in the lyrics were interpreted as being outside our dogma. I personally didn't see the issue, but...no more "big House" during services.

[jarrodmichael]

Originally Posted by scooteraz

Getting back on topic...
How closely do you look at the lyrics? Most of you have discussed mechanics, but not content per se. Do you ever get in trouble for lyrical content?

We do look at lyrics that way. Our emphasis is really on 'reinforcing the message' and that does include the lyrics - if a part of the song's message seems to be at odds with either the pastor's message or the overall vision of our church, we'll choose another song. So we don't get in trouble because we do what we can to avoid it in the first place

Like mattyj's post, we want our lyrics to be 'truthful' too

-jm

[teleftcaster]

Great thread. I think you also need to look at the make-up and flow of your services. In other words, when are prayer, message, greeting times, etc. Most churches do have a particular flow to their services. With that in mind, we like to choose upbeat songs (maybe two or three) to begin with, next maybe a hymn that solidifies the overall theme of the set list we've come up with, and then we like to move into deeper, more worshipful songs to really get people into the prayer portion of our service. We also try to pay attention to what the congregation really seems to respond to and try to repeat those songs more often.

[mrSlush50]

As long as a song doesn't contradict the Bible we're free to sing it. There is no church dogma or theological standard to be held to, other than the Word.

(Big House is an awesome song. They really got in trouble for that?)

[scooteraz]

Originally Posted by mrSlush50

...(Big House is an awesome song. They really got in trouble for that?)

Yes. But now I can't remember if someone (I believe one of our pastors) took the lyrics to be against our interpretation of the Bible's view of Heaven, or if it was just deemed too flip. I will have to ask our music director.

I had always looked at the song not so literally. More of an expression of the joy of being in Heaven than actual description of playing football in God's back yard. But...sometimes you have to bow to others sensibilities.

[mrSlush50]

Why wouldn't there be football in heaven?

[scooteraz]

Originally Posted by mrSlush50

Why wouldn't there be football in heaven?

As I recall, specifics of theology not related to music are VERBOTEN on this forum; so I could say at the risk of being kicked off...

[mrSlush50]

ok.

[GoldieLocks]

This is a very useful thread. Some good responses.

I don't ever follow a theme. THats easy to do when you only use a hymnal (but we don't). Every Church I've visited that followed a theme musically strikes me as being pointless. Some pastors think this is impressive...I don't think it affects people the way they hoped.

My first priority is getting songs that people can actually play. beginner musicians limit the choices. As well as drummers who can't play in 6/8 timing (which is most church drummers it seems).

Next is to go for moods. You don't want a loud fun song after a very emotional sermon. Something reflective is usually nice. I always start with a fun song that people can walk in to - usually room to jam on this one...takes a while to get everyone in the door.

I like to have at least 2 slow songs that people can really reflect and sing to God with. If the audience ain't singing...then I'm a failure as a worship leader.

Its great to hear how others pick music. I might try some different ideas soon. Keep em' coming.

[scooteraz]

Originally Posted by GoldieLocks

This is a very useful thread. Some good responses.

I don't ever follow a theme. THats easy to do when you only use a hymnal (but we don't). Every Church I've visited that followed a theme musically strikes me as being pointless. Some pastors think this is impressive...I don't think it affects people the way they hoped.

My first priority is getting songs that people can actually play. beginner musicians limit the choices. As well as drummers who can't play in 6/8 timing (which is most church drummers it seems).

Next is to go for moods. You don't want a loud fun song after a very emotional sermon. Something reflective is usually nice. I always start with a fun song that people can walk in to - usually room to jam on this one...takes a while to get everyone in the door.

I like to have at least 2 slow songs that people can really reflect and sing to God with. If the audience ain't singing...then I'm a failure as a worship leader.

Its great to hear how others pick music. I might try some different ideas soon. Keep em' coming.

I agree that most of the time, I don't think that musical themes affect the folks the way the Pastors would like, but to be fair, the same could be said of the readings as well. However, I do believe a well done, easily understood song that is not exactly on theme is better than some obscure song that is on theme.

We too usually rock at the beginning and end. Certain times of the year (Lent is one) we deviate from that rule. Particularly if we do any of the weekly services during Holy Week.

6/8, that's funny. Mostly because we have had spotty luck with drummers in that time signature. We have a song that we do occasionally that every other measure switches between 4/4 and 3/4. When one of our drummers (who could keep that song going) quit, we stopped singing that song. Need to find another drummer that can keep odd time signatures.

[Parma_TeleMon]

One of my best friends got in trouble for re-writing "Simple Man", I guess the pastor used to honky tonk a bit.