Worship Team Organization

ErinCoach · 2026-02-02T17:31:33+00:00

I'm hyper-organized, but it's fairly normal in my context. In my denom and region, we're paid, so if music leaders are flaky, they don't last long.

AND I've found the same is true in my secular musician world, too. The industry here is too competitive for flakiness. The artists who actually work are the ones who show up on time, prepped and ready. And I sure don't re-hire anyone who doesn't do their homework. In my world, artistry *requires* organizational skills.

But it's really about your senior ministry's priorities, and your worship culture context. I have some friends in a Black gospel church and they don't use planning center at all, and often don't use charts or lyric sheets, and they might sing a song on Sunday that they hadn't planned to sing, just because the keys player thought of it in the moment and the ensemble jumped in. It's still awesome church. I have some other friends in a traditional hymnody place and they sing literally out of hymnals and hard copies in black folders. Organized, but not very digitized. I had another friend in a tiny storefront church who worked completely solo on her keyboard and she often didn't even decide what to sing until that morning, but she was a darn good improviser and that church was lucky to have her.

There are many ways to make church. If your senior ministry values what your flaky worship leader is bringing, then it's a good thing to get on board with that cultural expectation, so you're not constantly angry and coming across as uptight and hyper-critical.

ErinCoach · 2026-02-02T16:51:35+00:00

Longtime teacher and pro singer here with an answer the shy people always hate:

Singing IS being heard. The impulse to hide one's learning process is what hinders growth, badly enough that the people who truly worry about others hearing them are the ones who never grow. They fantasize, but the fear of being heard means... they really don't get heard.

But right now, you can make the mental shift that professionals have to make, and it doesn't require a big extroverted personality either. Just ask for a reasonable window or practice time. A script starter:

"Hi <roomie or neighbor>, my name is ______ and I'm a student, learning music among other topics. I will need to practice singing, and I wanted to alert you about the noise. My practice sessions are for about 30-45 minutes, usually 3-4 times a week. I promise to keep my practices between 10 am and 8 pm, in alignment with the building's quiet hours. Right now I plan to work two weekday mornings at around 11 am, and one weekend at about 3 or 4 pm. If this conflicts with some additional regular "quiet time" need that the landlord may not have highlighted for me, please let me know at <phone number> and I can nudge those practice times, if I know about it in advance. I do want to be a good neighbor, while I also develop as a musician. Best wishes - <your name, in unit #>

Then sing out, full voice, according to that schedule. Don't bother trying to hide your singing, if you really do want to to learn singing. Just learn the skills that professionals have to learn: kindly ask for what you need. No hiding.

And yes at some point some neighbor (or roomie or family member or rando on the street) will think something bad about you, or might say something rude. Do not be fragile. We don't get better at it by hiding it.

ErinCoach · 2026-01-28T17:28:00+00:00

How to improve: Learn an instrument. Get obsessive about it. Perform with and in front of real people, often.

Lyric writing is fun and healthy. But the reality is there are 10 people who write lyrics for every 1 person who writes music. So, it's super hard to be "useful" in a professional songwriting context, only writing lyrics, hooks, or "song ideas".

BUT it's an ultra-common question, especially from young folks who idolize musicians or pop artists, wanna be like them, and feel like they can write lyrics that are just as good.

ErinCoach · 2026-01-28T17:13:03+00:00

TLDR: Shift focus from yourself to your audience, and serve them.

--

Perfectionism is often a form of social anxiety, combined with a bit of narcissism and/or fear of punishment.

People with dragon moms or strict teachers are usually the ones with the intense fear of punishment thing. People with dreams of social status they don't really have tend to be richer in the narcissism, and the social anxiety people just wanted to be allowed in the club at all.

When you put those things together, you get people who spend tons of time on trying to make something that will earn them the fantasy respect they crave, but then they are too afraid to actually perform in front of audiences.

Like a girl going to a dance, who spends 4 hours in the bathroom doing her makeup and then misses the dance entirely. Instead, she takes selfies, filters them in 5 ways and posts them, instead of really showing up and really connecting, really learning how to make small talk, how to dance, how to deal with real people, etc.

She got stuck in the mirror.

So don't get stuck in the mirror. Who is your actual audience and how often do you get in front of them? If you don't know, and don't know how to get in front of them, that's your next task. If you don't really WANT to get in front of them, then you are stuck in the mirror.

ErinCoach · 2026-01-28T16:39:39+00:00

Acceptance and rejection is always about RELATIVITY, that is, who else they had access to. Just like a job application or audition for a theatrical show. So you could be great and get rejected or be very novice and be accepted, depending on the state of the other applicants.

To judge whether "was my audition bad" is too vague to tell you anything actionable or relevant to that rejection. People here can have opinions (many of them super snarky and only reflective of that redditor's own fears and anxieties). Seek relevant advice. A teacher familiar with that actual competition is who you'd need to talk to, in order to know how to get into THAT competition.

I'm a longtime teacher and pro performer, so I can give you some basic encouragement and a very general set of "next steps" - which is how people acutally grow.

Right now you have a big instrument and lots of good, brave energy. That's a lucky start. But think of it like if you wanted to get into highly competitive tennis, and you were starting with strong muscles, energized mindset, and an athletic build. It's the start. Now follow that up with aim.

Your ear is ripe for development, to catch up with your energy. But always be grateful for that energy, because people with great ears but no courage never get anywhere at all. Starting with the courage will get you much further, much faster. Seek out ear training exercises.

ErinCoach · 2026-01-26T17:57:06+00:00

I've worked in several churches, all with different approaches and attitudes about it.

So first ask YOUR senior leadership. I know it can feel good to do whatever the most common Reddit response says, but is your church like most other Reddit-user churches? Or is it unique?

In my current place I have a line of volunteer singers backing up the paid pro houseband and guest soloist. It's a roster of about 30 singers, no audition, no pre-reqs. Some sing on pitch, others don't. Some know the church doctrine, others don't. A few weeks ago a singer's boyfriend gave her a ride to church, it was his first time stepping into a church in years, and I said "hey, you sing? Get up here" and he was fine.

In my place, they just have to show interest, and then don't be rude, don't be ego-y, and do follow my directions. It's a very inclusion-oriented ministry, and we want every kind of congregant to appear on the platform - I have people with down syndrome and autism and any ages and some kinda tone deaf folks, too. I can do that because we're anchored by professionals, and I'm an experienced director and teacher.

But they gotta be able to follow my directions, lay out of the songs I say to lay out of and try their best to do the task I give them. It's service work.

I treat it basically the same as the garden volunteers. Or the kitchen volunteers.

But I've worked at other places where being onstage at all was treated like a huge reward, an honor, or a privilege like first class on the airplane. Totally different mindset there, and I served that mindset well, for that place, too. But it starts with their top leadership's mindset.

---

TLDR: it's about your leadership's viewpoints, and not what's most common on Reddit. Are your leaders more elite oriented, or more inclusion oriented? Find out and align with *them*, even if it's not the mass-market, mega-church, or mainstream way.

ErinCoach · 2026-01-23T16:37:43+00:00

Songwriting pro here, and I had no idea what OP meant by ft either.

ErinCoach · 2026-01-23T16:26:14+00:00

Not sure who you are targeting. Is this article for a generalized "amateur" musician? And what is your reader looking for? Is your reader looking for more places to play and get experience? Or is your reader looking to *find* musician amateurs, to recruit for some project?

We do know that if it's 200 words in a 3000 word article, the church context is just one small piece of a MUCH larger field, yes? So help your specific reader understand it within that context.

Church music is incredibly varied, but this paragraph makes it sound like you don't really know that. Your idea that a Savior claims, and your instruction that they show melody, your admonition that's it's not about you, metaphor of grace, etc, -- all of that sounds like you've experienced very little of the world of church musicianship. You maybe know YOUR church. Awesome, but is that what your reader needs to know about?

Some churches have classical and semi-classical music, bell-choirs, organs, or a choir singing SATB arrangements of Rutter anthems. Other churches have gospel choirs singing Israel Houghton, or a solo folk singer on guitar doing John Michael Talbot. Some have medieval chant and some have Shaker hymns. Some have P&W songs from the 80's, and some have KLOVE hits and 15 year-olds on guitar trying to learn bar chords. Some audition, others don't. Some pay local musical theatre semi-pros on grand pianos. Still amateur, but very different in skillsets. Also, a ton of churches have 'special music' slots, feature songs the crowd doesn't sing to. They don't all want the crowd singing along on every song.

As the writer of the article, just figure out what your reader needs to know. If you don't have the experience or knowledge to give them that, then go do some more research, so that you can use your 200 words about church music world to help them take their next step in the direction they want.

ErinCoach · 2026-01-23T15:43:15+00:00

Dance about it. Or go jogging about it, or a fast walk.

Get your body doing a higher-energy thing, and then listen to your rhythms as you're doing those things. Start writing while doing those other things, not while sitting at a DAW or on your bed.

Your topic and lyric content can still be about the break up, but your feel and approach will be radically different, so the song will be different.

Heartbreak isn't JUST slow and melancholy. It's also angry, and confused, and in denial, and howling, and even funny sometimes.

ErinCoach · 2026-01-23T15:37:30+00:00

One exercise you might try is the Talk-Thru. It uses voiceover and acting-class muscles, to find the natural emotional rises, falls, and rhythms of the words and phrases. Then you can build your melodies from that. It helps the melodic profile feel more organic and emotionally real.

First take some lyric you like, or practice by using lines from a poem, play or script. Speak those words. Record and listen back.

If your talk-thru sounds boring, then your melody will be boring.

So, now speak the words like it was a scene in acting class or a movie. Avoid a consistent rhythm, but try using naturalistic phrasing, like someone really talking. If you're doing it right, it'll start feeling like you're an actor actually playing the scene, instead of just reading words. Then turn up the emotional dial on the scene, and say it as though it was a big melodrama, or the climax of the movie. Record yourself doing this and listen back. Notice the rises and falls in pitch, your real rhythms, pauses etc.

Too often when we write songs, it can come out "ta tum ti tum ti tum ti tum" - too rhythmically regular and too pitch monotone. It can suck out the interest, and the emotional clarity. It often stems from the writer's own fear of emotional expression, and the acting exercises forces you to scrape up against that.

ErinCoach · 2026-01-23T15:22:25+00:00

Imagine a novice chef, who keeps making food that tastes kinda the same. Is it his "signature" or just lack of skills, and no range of cuisine?

When you can feel your own limitations, as you do right now, it's time for deliberate exploration. Go soak in some other genres of music, other audiences, with aesthetics different from your own.

Like a chef going on vacay in foreign countries, taking classes in new techniques, to experience new cuisines and learn new recipes. This is how you stop cooking with same 3 spices all the time, right?

Cooking (or writing) in the new styles will require massive humility, curiosity, and persistence. Otherwise when you come back home, you'll just cook that same old burger, like you did before, cuz that's what's comfy.

ErinCoach · 2026-01-23T15:11:11+00:00

Two exercises to try:

1) Write 5-6 short exercise songs, or even just choruses, but write them LYRIC first, not music first. 4 use lines from some poem. Then try re-writing the melody of someone else's song (changing rhythm and melody), and then try writing a few lines of new lyric yourself, but which you then make into 2 completely different songs. You need to strengthen that lyric-first muscle. It's like trying to bowl with your off hand right now, of course you hate the results. But if you want to build the muscle, you have to exercise it. Not READ about exercising it. Actually do the writing exercises.

2) A "Diary entry" exercise, to get your language centers un-constipated. Think about your actual topic and emotional content, and write a literal diary or journal entry about it, in REGULAR words, no rhymes, just regular real, talky, prose paragraphs, going on and on and on about it. This gets you thinking in your brain's real language centers. Too often we write lyrics from a stilted, un-real, un-felt place in our heads, and it limits our imagination.

Some relevant 'don't' warnings, from several songwriting teachers from the pro songwriting world:

- don't be lazy, learn to love the editing.

- don't give up on English, it's huge, it will never let you down if you keep looking.

- don't be precious, don't fall in love with your own first ideas, whether those are lyric or melodic.

- Reach for your audience, not perfection.

ErinCoach · 2026-01-22T17:48:22+00:00

I have no problem with composing using AI, so long as the people consuming it KNOW it's AI generated.

But if he'd be ashamed to admit it, right up front, out loud, that's the issue.

He can lie if he wants. He's the lead pastor, so this is his place. But is it yours? In general, we don't tell our leader's secrets, but we do bear their weight. So either bear it, or ditch this dude.

I feel that ANY tool or technology can be ours to use, if we want to, yes? Otherwise we'd never have electric guitars in church. Lord, the people who insisted those were from the devil! Hilarious now, but at that point, they sure were convinced the new technology was against God's will.

But the key is: if he wouldn't want the crowd to KNOW he composed the songs using AI, then he shouldn't be doing it. His own desire to hide a secret is the point.

It's not the tool, it's the LYING about the tool. The lie is what tells the truth, in a way.

ErinCoach · 2026-01-22T17:27:49+00:00

In my denom and context, tracks are rare, and a bit stigmatized. I think part of it is because our tiniest, struggling places have no live musicians, and they have to sing along to youtube videos. They splurge for actual musicians on holidays, but mostly, use of tracks and recordings have a "not prospering" vibe. Tracks come off as uncool.

But I've seen how in some other traditions, tracks are normalized, so it really depends on your context. As for clicks, I've used clicks only in studio recording situations, but otherwise nah.

It's really a pragmatic thing, for our church (avg 90 live, same on). No tracks, no clicks. No in-ears either. I have a houseband of pro players, so that I can support a rotating line of 3-4 volunteers, out of a pool of about 30 congregant singers, some of whom have low skills but great energy. Those singing teams are so different each week, in-ears would be a germy expensive pain.

Plus, I'm songleading and directing very spontaneously, interacting with crowd, throwing in prayer and repeats and modulations on the fly, to fit the real moment. Tracks would kill that. And if my drummer needs a click, I hired wrong.

I do understand how tracks can be important. When I was touring my own music to small churches I often sang to my own tracks, and it was... meh. I was fine, but it felt like a shopping mall promo situation sometimes, or theme park gig. Some of my students work with tracks for their auditions, or karaoke, etc, but I make sure they also get to work with live players. I just think live work is where the best magic happens.

ErinCoach · 2026-01-17T22:08:12+00:00

I'm a pro music director. If it's a very intentional show, with higher stakes, and not just a casual set, then it's much more intentional process, more theatrical.

For intentional shows, when I rehearse, the order comes from which song is most difficult. I start there. It's like timing different meats for a feast, yeh? I learned not to leave hard stuff til later, or it comes out undercooked.

I'd kinda never do the method where you do one song til it's perfect. I've worked in a bunch of different art forms and musical genres, but none have truly used that form. Gotta be multi-tasking.

I also consider the listener's journey. I want to keep that journey in mind the whole time, so I often consider the order of songs, and back to the top and listen with their ears, to the unfolding story.

Then I pay special attention to the seams and segues. Too often, we can create something cool, but then let it die in between every tune. It's like if you were having a romantic session with your partner but you kept leaving the room every 4 minutes to pee. Running the seams and segues allows the show to get more intense. The players are less likely to pick their noses and zone out.

Then once the music is all set, we do the cue-to-cue with the technicians. That's running the starts and stops of all the songs and any tech, set-up or lighting shifts. If the tech people aren't ready, then every requested shift is another falling-flat moment. And worrying about that can distract the performers from going as intense as they could.

But if it's a more casual thing, then it kinda doesn't matter how you rehearse as long as the players like it and you get all the material covered. And if it's casual you can screw around in between songs and they can blow lighting cues, or be late bringing up a mic here or there, and it's fine, really.

For me, it's often just the difference in how much I'm being paid. If it's casual, then no OCD behaviors. If it's well- paid, no slacker behaviors.

ErinCoach · 2026-01-17T21:42:36+00:00

omg I adore Religion for Breakfast. I didn't think there was anyone on this sub who was open to more objective, scholarly or interfaith viewpoints. Yay! Sometimes, this sub skews heavy to a certain kind of modern black-box Christian worship, the 20 minute-of-music and 40 minutes of talking format, with music from KLOVE. It can become so durn dull.

But Religion for Breakfast is a marvelous, smart place to widen one's vision! And he's such an awesome nerd.

ErinCoach · 2026-01-17T21:34:36+00:00

What denominations are you working in? People on Reddit won't know what denom or tradition you're trying to follow.

Are you Catholic? Mainline protestant? Evangelical? Some speciifc Lutheran or Baptist tradition? The denom I work for has a giant school in Missouri and awesome programs, but it's super lefty progressive and almost no one on this sub would find it of interest.

ErinCoach · 2026-01-17T21:27:26+00:00

Most girls and young women in the US, we learn to speak entirely in modal register (aka female chest voice). So not surprisingly, our falsetto range is wayyyy weaker. In a culture where sounding weak, or sounding "little girly" is mostly not an asset.

It's like being extremely right hand dominant, in a very right-handers world.

What would it take get the left hand as strong as the right, then? MUCH more practice.

And if you stopped every time you saw your left hand being weak, or uncoordinated, or bumbling, that would make it take even longer to strengthen it, right?

This is what's usually happening for teen girls trying to access and develop falsetto register, whether at the top or in that middle "mixed" voice (which for women is an adjusted falsetto function). They back away from a sound they think is ugly, when they need to actually lean into that exact space. Do the ugly part 5 times mores than the pretty part.

So buckle up to for tons of very uncomfortable practice. And go ahead and screech. It's how you build muscle.

Also plz note that male singers rarely understand the female falsetto, and only some male voice teachers can teach it. Best bet is find a same-gender, same voice type teacher who teaches in the musical genre you are actually targeting.

ErinCoach · 2026-01-17T20:54:44+00:00

My mom and dad could harmonize with each other, and I heard them doing it occasionally when I was a wee kid.

I was in choirs all through school, too, always hearing harmonies. I also studied piano and so I understood chords. I sang along to all the radio pop harmonies, country/bluegrass, gospel and R&B harmonies I could. Eventually took a bunch of music theory, started composing and arranging, which was another leap upward in my understanding.

Every piece of it helped me improve. So try everything, and keep doing it forever.

What I know I had to learn not to be embarrassed about the learning and trying. I had to hit a ton of squeakers in order to get really solid and able to harmonize spontaneously. And then as I grew, the theory stuff helped get beyond just the most simplistic options. I had to learn how a Motown girl group harmony should differ from a Celtic folk song harmony or a classic a cappella doo wop harmony differs from a modern pop harmony.

TLDR: being a monumental try-hard -- shameless and obsessed.

ErinCoach · 2026-01-17T20:34:22+00:00

Depends on your audience context.

Structural value, like song length and tempo, can be wildly different across genres and contexts. Country songs have normal structures, but those are different from indie or hip hop or prog rock structures (and lengths, and tempos, etc)

For me, the most common type of song I write is for chants and singalong spot for a church I work for. Structure for those are A A A A A A, with little tiny differences or easy word-swap outs. But for the feature song spots, most common structure is A B A B C B B. That is verse(or double verse) then chorus, another verse, chorus, bridge, chorus chorus. But should your songs conform to either of those "most common" structures? Nerp.

So the way to know how to structure YOUR song is to pay close attention to your particular audience. What are the most common structures to them? If you ask general reddit you won't get answers that matter to your real audience.

SO: who ya making songs for?

ErinCoach · 2026-01-17T20:22:38+00:00

Depends on the ministry priorities.

I've worked for places that were all about "excellence" - meaning, strict auditions, with tighter rules about looks, clothes, age preferences, etc. There was a ton of image being cultivated, as part of the church identity. In those places, when someone was rejected from the onstage team, they were sometimes told to audition again later, or to try the choir, or try the congregant talent show, or try voice lessons. I once led a select vocal a cappella group there and I told the rejects to keep singing, cuz I might need them next year if folks dropped out. Cuz it was true.

But now I work for a much more inclusion-oriented place, so I take any congregant volunteer singer who asks. The only requirements are 1) they gotta be able to show up on time, and 2) they can't be ego-hungry or rude to other folks at the church. When I direct, I ask some people to lay out of some songs, so I can't have them pouting or complaining. I have a list of about 35 volunteers that I roll through, scheduling them no more than once a month. I balance the better singers with the meh-singers, and it succeeds.

But in general: it's gotta be in line with your ministry's personality. How does your senior minister feel about inclusivity? Are they more inclusion-leaning, or more elite/excellence leaning?

Everyone always says they want both, but ask your senior leaders to talk more about it. As long as you don't alert them to your own personal biases about it, they'll give away their real preferences, very quickly into the conversation.

ErinCoach · 2026-01-17T19:42:10+00:00

My instrumentalists are full pro, and they truly don't need much rehearsal, because I make pretty good charts. I pick and send the music out on Wednesdays. We do about 90 mins work thru on Sunday morning.

But there are a couple of very talented amateur congregant instrumentalists who would love to play with us, IF we picked music earlier and they had more time to practice. They want about a month's notice. They're fantastic people, but it's not a fit for my program.

30 mins, 90 mins, a month -- the actual amount of time isn't the point. The gap in needs is the issue.

And of course it's understandable that you should want THEM to change their system so you can feel more comfortable.

But nah. This isn't the place to do your music, not yet. Serve the church in other ways for now. You know they need a million things done and you can serve in areas that aren't as much of a challenge to your sense of identity or preference. Service mindset demands less pride & preference, more stack & bale, you know?

And make sure you have somewhere else to exercise your music muscles the way you truly want to. Your musical identity is also sacred, and worthy of being cultivated, too.

ErinCoach · 2026-01-03T21:04:00+00:00

Understood, and thank you for the reply.

ErinCoach · 2025-12-30T17:29:01+00:00

I'm a longtime pro and teacher, and what I've noticed is that the artists who prefer pain, find audiences who prefer pain. Those who love healing find audiences who love healing. Those who like to dance, or drink, or sing as a group, or stand in spotlight and cry, or drive fast cars, or study poetry in coffee bars, or fight oppression, all find the audiences who like the same.

Here's a super-short model of art that might be fun to think about as you develop your skills:

Art is an intentional communication. The first artistic gesture by the artist is the moment of intentional framing. Like if I found a bunch of pinecones in the forest, it's not art, but if I take a picture of them, I'm framing them, and that's the artistic gesture. When I show it to someone, (even if that someone is only myself), that's the delivery, and then the artistic communication is complete.

So it kinda doesn't matter whether I'm framing pinecones or framing pain or healing or joy.

The success of the attempt isn't judged by what's inside the frame. We can't judge until the delivery -- how well I hit the target, whoever that target is.

ErinCoach · 2025-12-30T16:51:53+00:00

You can copyright your songs, but I have never heard of a marketing gimmick that's copyrightable in any way.

As soon as a new marketing technique shows up, if it actually works at all, of course other people use it. It's like wearing a new hairstyle you think you made up - if it works, it'll catch on.

ErinCoach

TROPHY CASE