"How often do you have the praise team sing together vs a soloist during congregational worship? In other words, for a given song, would you direct your praise team to have perhaps one singer sing portions of the song, while others join in (either unison or harmonies) for other parts? Or does this risk the praise team from singing like backup singers."
Greg, I don't see anything wrong with varying whether one singer is leading alone, or whether they are singing in unison or harmony, i.e., during congregational worship. It doesn't harm, and it might help at times. My big complaint is over-ornamentation of the melodic line by a worship leader, or freely varying the melody or rhythm. That is a worship killer during congregational time. Sure, during anthem time the lead singer is free to do whatever he or she pleases as far as rhythm, melodic line and ornamentation. NOT DURING CONGREGATIONAL WORSHIP! You'd think that would be obvious, yet I see this done very very often in churches. The more the lead singer does these things, the less the congregation participates, until it stops participating at all.
I suspect the reason is that the singers are taking their style from recordings by soloists, and then imposing it upon congregational worship that the style was never intended for. It's up to the music minister to take them aside and explain to them that it's inappropriate for congregational singing. Unfortunately, either the music ministers don't understand this distinction or they're too gutless to confront the singers for fear of offending them.
In sayting these things I'm assuming that the church actually wants the congregation to participate in congregational worship time. Nowadays there are lots of churches where this isn't true. The leader says "now everybody stand up and let's worship the Lord", and they stand up but don't do anything but watch because the music is unsingable. Apparently those churches have made a conscious decision that this is how they want it to be.
You make some very good points about congregational worship, although the subject you are discussing is an entirely different one than what Greg was asking about. But, I agree with what you say. I have worked with a lot of worship leaders, and they rarely think much about making a song conducive or easy or palatable for the congregation to sing. The focus is on making the team sound good. I am not a worship leader myself, but I have filled in occasionally in a pinch when they hit the bottom of the barrel and were desperate for someone to lead. I gave a lot of thought to making the songs easy to sing (perhaps because that made my job easier, too). You’re right, if things get too complex then the congregation will just bail out. A worship team is supposed to facilitate worship, not stifle it.Bob MarshallCool, CAFrom: Gerald MontagnaSent: Wednesday, August 01, 2012 6:17 AMSubject: Praise team sing together vs a soloist during congregational worship
"How often do you have the praise team sing together vs a soloist during congregational worship? In other words, for a given song, would you direct your praise team to have perhaps one singer sing portions of the song, while others join in (either unison or harmonies) for other parts? Or does this risk the praise team from singing like backup singers."Greg, I don't see anything wrong with varying whether one singer is leading alone, or whether they are singing in unison or harmony, i.e., during congregational worship. It doesn't harm, and it might help at times. My big complaint is over-ornamentation of the melodic line by a worship leader, or freely varying the melody or rhythm. That is a worship killer during congregational time. Sure, during anthem time the lead singer is free to do whatever he or she pleases as far as rhythm, melodic line and ornamentation. NOT DURING CONGREGATIONAL WORSHIP! You'd think that would be obvious, yet I see this done very very often in churches. The more the lead singer does these things, the less the congregation participates, until it stops participating at all.
I suspect the reason is that the singers are taking their style from recordings by soloists, and then imposing it upon congregational worship that the style was never intended for. It's up to the music minister to take them aside and explain to them that it's inappropriate for congregational singing. Unfortunately, either the music ministers don't understand this distinction or they're too gutless to confront the singers for fear of offending them.
In sayting these things I'm assuming that the church actually wants the congregation to participate in congregational worship time. Nowadays there are lots of churches where this isn't true. The leader says "now everybody stand up and let's worship the Lord", and they stand up but don't do anything but watch because the music is unsingable. Apparently those churches have made a conscious decision that this is how they want it to be.
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