How do you begin a song? Perhaps like this: "Oh, this one again. I know this. Off we go!"
I have recently joined a local concert band as a drummer, and have had to dust of some rusty brain cells to try and remember how to sight-read drum notation. But I can't just launch into the song. I've got to look at the music first, recognise the patterns that the arranger has written so I know what to play, make sure I know where in the stave the snare is, or the bass, looking at any dynamic and tempo markers so I know how to approach the song, and of course, watching the conductor so I know when to start and how fast. All of this happens long before I whack a skin.
Whether you're rehearsing or leading worship in a Sunday, time spent just asking a few simple questions before putting hands to keys or mic to mouth can make the world of difference to how that song comes off.
- What are the lyrics of the song saying?
- How does that affect the mood of the song?
- How fast should the song be?
- What should the feel of the song be?
- Where does each instrument come in?
- How loud should we start?
- What key is the song in?
- Do I know all the chords/can I substitute other chords?
- Does everyone know the song?
- Is anyone playing the same part (e.g. guitars) and should perhaps try something different?
- Who are we following for this song?
Of course, many of these questions by nature should be asked together as a team. This ensures that everyone is on exactly the same page, and has the same point of departure for a song.
Many teams try and rely on 'how we did this last time'. Even if last time was great, the more time that goes by between your 'great performance' and your present one will have an increasingly negative effect on the quality. People forget things at different rates, but everyone forgets (or fools themselves into remembering the way they wanted it to be).
So think before you play. Let your brain take a mental breath every time you approach a song, no matter how long you've been doing it. It will make the difference between okay and excellent.
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