The Exceptional Worship Podcast

Outline: Intro - What Happens If We Don’t Arrange? The Blob of Sound

• Arranging Defined
• The Sonic Spectrum
• The Rhythmic Spectrum

1. Groove The idea of groove is like the tracks that we ride on. Groove is made up by two elements: the Foundation and the Rhythm.

• - Typical ways bands create the groove
• - Small band ideas for creating the groove
• - Rookie Mistakes when it comes to the groove

2. Glue The glue is the “middle stuff” that holds the song together. There are two elements that make up the glue:

• - The Pad or Constant
• - The Lead

• - Typical ways bands create the glue
• - Small band ideas for creating the glue
• - Rookie Mistakes when it comes to the glue

3. Grace Grace is the extra stuff that adds beauty, tension or other enhancements. It’s not structurally integral to the song, but it’s musically and emotionally important.

• - Typical ways bands create the grace
• - Small band ideas for creating the grace
• - Rookie Mistakes when it comes to the grace

Links: Download slide graphics for this training Pad Loops http://padloops.com/

Don’t miss any episodes. Subscribe on iTunes! GOT A TOPIC YOU WANT TO SEE INCLUDED IN THE PODCAST? Write it in the comment below.

5 Tips To Handle Late Team Members

Introduction

Why lateness is killing your team:

• Wasted Rehearsal Time
• Disrespect of Other Team Members
• Weak Way To Start Rehearsal
• Diminishes Promptness in Other Team Members
• Erodes Other Essential Team Habits

5 Techniques To Change The Culture of Lateness:

1. Leader: Be Early & Leave Margin

2. Start On Time…No Matter What

3. Change Your Language

4. Confront, But Assume the Best

5. Apply Social Pressure

Two Bonus Issues:

1. What do we do with people who have to be late because of a job, family situation, etc.?

2. What do we do with people who really are chronically late for everything?

Related Articles:

How To Handle a Slacker On Your Team

http://www.worshipteamcoach.com/blog/2014/09/18/how-to-handle-a-slacker-on-your-worship-team

Here’s a two-part article about how to start to move your whole church towards being on time.

http://www.worshipteamcoach.com/blog/2013/08/14/how-to-start-on-time-and-get-people-to-show-up-on-time-part-1-

http://www.worshipteamcoach.com/blog/2013/08/16/how-to-start-on-time-and-get-people-to-show-up-on-time-part-2

Subscribe on iTunes & Write a Review

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/exceptional-worship-podcast/id955460994?mt=2

Small churches are unique with their own set of worship challenges. Today we dive into the biggest traps that smaller church worship teams fall into. Here’s what we’ll be looking at:

Intro: 3 Truths About Small Churches

7 Big Traps For Small Church Worship Teams

1. Planning to Fail Trap

2. Systems that Stunt Growth Trap

3. No Real Expectation for Preparation Trap

4. Over-Compensating Trap

5. Us Four and No More Trap

6. One Size Fits all Trap

7. Comparison Trap

Additional Resources - links at www.worshipteamcoach.com/006

In today's podcast, I interview Jason Houtsma of WorshipArtistry.com. If you're not familiar with WorshipArtistry.com, you're about to find your most favorite Go-To place to train and develop your guitarists.

Here are some questions we dive into:

• What are some of the common mistakes and issues you see with worship team guitarists?

• What are some ways that you see WLs not leading their guitarists well? What can us worship leaders do better when it comes to leading our guitarists.

• Why learn the guitar parts from the recording? Why not just make up your own part?

• Any tricks or hacks that you can share with guitarists for learning songs quickly?

• How do you move from “knowing the notes” to "nailing it”?

• How can worship leaders encourage their electric guitarists to pursue and be students of good tone.

• And what are some ways guitarists can get that good tone without breaking the bank with boutique pedals and high ends amps?

• What are some ways to keep the stage volume down but still get the sound they need?

Rehearsals are crucial for the success of the worship team. We dive into these 10 tactics to help you run not only better rehearsals, but make your team better in the process. 1. Start on time 2. Be the most prepared person in the room 3. Plan out your rehearsal 4. Separate vocalists & instrumentalists for part of the rehearsal 5. Get Tech Support 6. Listen only to new songs 7. If you're the leader, lead. 8. Don't be afraid to NOT run the whole song 9. Institute a no-noodle policy 10. Get your team in the habit of marking up their cha At the end, we also dive into frequently asked questions about rehearsals. Those questions include:

• How do I get people to show up prepared?
• How do I deal with chronically late team members?
• What do I do when people won’t come to rehearsals?
• And the follow up question to this is: What do I do when people legitimately CAN’T come to rehearsals?

Ever get that deer-in-headlights look from your congregation when you’re leading a new song? You can pick a great song and it will still tank. We’ll talk about five big reasons your new song isn’t working and how to make it stick. Outline: 1. I didn’t select the right song. 2. I didn’t really sell it. 3. I didn’t really teach it. 4. I didn’t give it enough time & exposure. 5. I've introduced too many other new songs.

One of the questions I get asked all the time is "How do I get my team members to be more committed?” Believe it or not, the way you schedule plays a HUGE part in how committed your team members are. Here’s what we’re diving into:

• What are some wrong ways to try to build commitment.
• Why scheduling matters
• The six elements of a great schedule
• The benefits: better music planning, better preparation, and higher commitment level

Description: In this podcast, we look at seven "sins” of the average worship team. Call them barriers, challenges, issues, etc. Whatever you call them, they are holding back your team from being exceptional. Issues include: arranging the band, overplaying, practice and preparation issues, stage presence and expression, monitor mixes, and playing with a click. As we discuss each one, we also look at practical tips for overcoming these sins. Outline: 1. Blob of Sound 2. Stand Zombie Stare 3. Poor Sense of Time 4. More Me - failing to listen to each other 5. Playing the Chart, not the song 6. Set it and forget it - failing to use dynamics 7. Stale Bag of Tricks

If you’re brand new to The Exceptional Worship Podcast, welcome! This “about” episode is a great place to start. We take a few minutes to answer these questions:

• Who’s Jon Nicol & WorshipTeamCoach.com
• Why a podcast?
• Who is this podcast for?
• When does it come out? How often? How long are the episodes?
• What’s the content—what will I be getting?
• Why the name "Exceptional Worship"?
• How can I keep up-to-date with this podcast?