Question:
Do you allow your teams to use music or do you want everything memorized?
Answer:
I always used music when we played. Then again, we didn't have like a set of 40 songs that we rotated. We probably had a set about 3 times that size.
Answer:
We use music stands all across the band (instruments and vocals).
I've personally tried to breakaway from having to use chord sheets and what not, but I honestly have not been able to wrap my brain around the memorization required. For some reason I have trouble remembering songs.
Answer:
I always memorize the songs, and use a music stand anyway. When I get in front of a bunch of people, I have a tendancy to forget the songs, quickly.
I normally put my music stand as low as it will go, and way off to the side. I HATE having a stand blocking me at all.
Answer:
Yes I want everything memorized.
Yes I allow the team to use music stands.
I discourage the use of stands for several reasons. First, by the time you get to a service you should have played the songs enough to know them from memory. Second, the form of any song is subject to change (via hand signals) by the worship leader at any time as they feel led. If you have your nose in a chart, you can’t see hand signals. Third, not having the charts forces you to learn the songs well enough to be able to concentrate on worship. And that’s what it’s all about. As a Lead Worshiper, you should be able to show your congregation the way to the Throne by example.

However, there are some band members that simply have to have charts to function. Usually they are the keyboard players for some reason. Also newer band members that might not be comfortable with the music yet. So, while I’d like to be a purist and ban charts from worship, I’m not going to tell someone they can’t use their gift just because they need that crutch. But I do often stress the importance of memorization for the above reasons, and encourage reluctant band mates to get to the point where they don’t need charts.
Answer:
Originally Posted by BassicLee Third, not having the charts forces you to learn the songs well enough to be able to concentrate on worship. And that’s what it’s all about. As a Lead Worshiper, you should be able to show your congregation the way to the Throne by example. For me, I've found that not having the chart just leads me to constant second guessing where I am in the song and diminishes my concentration on what the song is actually saying and what I'm doing because I'm overly focused on my playing. I literally need to play a song hundreds of times before I have it memorized, and even then I'm guessing at sections without the chart.
Also, I'm not quite sure what having music sheets has to do with being an example in worship.
Answer:
Originally Posted by trpullen Do you allow your teams to use music
Yes.
Originally Posted by trpullen or do you want everything memorized?
Yes.
What I want and what I allow due to a gazillion different reasons are two different things.
Frankly, I need to set the example if I ever expect something similar of them and, musically speaking, this is no problem for me as I can memorize most any song in short order but it's the lyric memorization that I fail at BUT I am improving.
The issue that I believe people have with the presence of stands and music is similar to the issue that people seem to have with the hymnal of old and the feeling that if one is standing there with their nose in a page then they're at-best giving a half-hearted attempt at worship and the page is possibly acting as a distraction more than a help. That if the time is put into learning the song well enough to commit it to memory that "genuine" worship will flow from them as their attention will be on the One who is worthy of worship and not on a piece of paper.
I will admit that it'd sure be nice to have a team full of musical memorization experts and I've no doubt that it can and does happen depending on the people/circumstances but I also live in a real world where many musicians are simple layperson servants and may never have pro chops and may also lead extremely busy lives that can hinder their available practice-at-home time and, really, who am I to judge their heart of worship?
Bottom line: I'm honored to have them on stage with me.
If they need a stand and music, they'll get it as that can be my act of service to them.
Answer:
Dave you have a heart for the people.
One of the most frustrating times of being a guitarist/bassist I've had in recent times was a few months ago. My church had an interim worship leader that had practically all of his music memorized, and whatever he didn't have memorized he could figure out and remember on the spot. I'm not the type of person that can watch another person play a song a couple times and have it down, but my own sheets and notes were useless because he didn't always play the songs in the "traditional" manner (hymns and modern songs like) but fit them to his own style!
either that or he'd spring songs on us that I'd never even heard of before that i'd have to learn between sunday and wednesday.
Answer:
Yes and Yes. We use stands, but I much prefer memorization. We have team members who, no matter how many times they have played it before, cannot play the song with the chord sheet. I can see having them for lyrics, but for chords, phoey. Everyone should know the songs well enough to be able to play them from memory, whether they keep the music in front of them or no. I personally do not use sheets. I have them, in case other people need them, but the only things I use is one page on the floor with the list of songs.
Answer:
We all use stands. I, generally, memorize but certainly need the music as a crutch. We rotate around 100 songs and that is just too many to memorize chords/words, etc. well. We are trying to have the members that only sing try to memorize the words a bit better.
Wendi
Answer:
We use stands. We also have over a hundred songs in various stages of rotation from light to heavy now, not counting the hymns. Some of them only come around every few months or longer. It is also not unusual for the Pastor to call me on a Saturday night and say that he thinks a specific opening or closing hymn would be a perfect fit for his sermon topic. This may be a hymn that we haven't done in long while, or at all. As the leader, I have a stand in front of me down flat at about waist level to keep me straight mostly on the lyrics for songs that have 3 or more verses. For the contemporary worship songs sandwitched between the opening and closing hymns, I rarely look down at the charts as these songs are mostly repetetive common chord progressions that I can figure out on my own once I determine what key they are in. For example, no one should need a chord chart for songs like "How Great is our God" or "My Savior My God" after playing them through once or twice. My band members are all volunteers however, who have full time jobs and lives outside of the music ministry. If it makes it easier for them to have a stand at all times, it is fine by me. We all have bibles to keep us straight on scripture too. No one has complained about either yet.
Answer:
I don't think God is impressed by our memories.
Answer:
I don't need the music for most of the songs. I've memorized most of our songs, but I still have the music there.
We also do a LOT of hymns. Growing up in the same church I'm in now, I am very familiar with all the hymns. We have this thing called the 'guitar hymnal' but most of the songs are in flat keys. I am not good at barring chords, so I use a capo. I've been playing during the service for around 4 years. 2 of those, I was the 'leader'. For a long time, I would make copies, and transpose everything, and write it down. Over time, I developed the ability to look at a song in a variety of keys, and slap a capo on the 1st or 3rd fret and transpose in my head (not needing to write every note down).
I noticed the last few months, that most hymns follow pretty standard chord progressions. At practice, I challenged myself to not use music on the hymns. I guess this is where the familiarity came in, because I could feel where the next chord was going to be, based on the melody. I've even done it with 'new' hymns to our congregation...I'm not always right, but close enough for church work ( JUST KIDDING)
Answer:
OK, now for the rest of the information.
We use a laptop with PowerPoint with a pair of 26" LCD Flat Panel TVs for lyrics. One of the vocalists has a remote mouse to change slides. These slides are 100% dedicated to the band. They are not seen by the congregation. I maintain that the vocalists should only rely on these as a last resort if they forget something. Otherwise, they need to be ushering the congregation into worship and that requires making "contact" with them.
Now, the band. I have all the stuff memorized....of course, the drummer does as does the keyboard player (go figure...a twist). I am a volunteer too. I happen to lead the band but....am not paid for my time. On brand new-really hard songs, I will put a large print cheat sheet on the floor by my song list. The songlist, BTW, has title, KEY, Transition Key, and who starts it. But I digress. I believe that if you are on the platform, you are a worship leader. Not just the lead vocalist. We have just moved from a 200 seat room to a 455 seat room and are building a 600 seat auditorium. If anything, things are going to be less intimate as we are physically moving away from the congregation. The stage in the 455 seat room is very large and we are doing a good job of using it. I just want to see us be very cognizant of that.
Answer:
Also, I think that taking the time to learn the song is very freeing once it comes time to actually play it in front of people.