Tag Archives: choir director

The top 5 most used choir director hand signals

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When you’re learning how to be a good choir director, job one is learning how to give clear directions to your choir. To be effective though, you need to do two things. You need to learn how to give them early enough so your choir has time to understand what you want and be prepared to execute it. Secondly, you need to use gestures and/or hand signals that they can clearly understand. While every choir director develops his own style of giving direction over time, there are certain basic commands you need to learn right away to move your choir through a song. In Gospel music these commands have over time developed hand signals that are almost universally used in black churches.

Today I’ll reveal the top five Gospel choir hand signals:

1. Go back to the top!

This tells your choir to go back to the beginning of the song.
The hand signal: Place one hand over the top of your head, palm facing down

2. Sing that again!

This tells your choir to repeat something that was just sang. It’s most commonly used when you first take the choir into the vamp, but it can be used anywhere you want something repeated.
The hand signal:  Repeatedly make a circular motion with one arm, index finger extended.

3. Sing the verse here!  

Use this to let your choir know a verse is about to happen; whether it’s your leader or the choir that has it.
The hand signal:  Hold up the” Peace” sign nice and high so everyone can see it.

4. Let’s go to the vamp!

This tells your choir it’s time to” take it home”, as they say.
The hand signal:  With your thumb, do the hitch-hiking move over your shoulder.

5. Let’s end the song now! 

This tells the choir we’re about to do the big finale and end the song.

The hand signal:  Hold up one or both hands, arm(s) straight up. You can use clinched fists or open hands.

 

There ya go! Now, this is no means an all inclusive list of everything you’ll ever need. For example, you’ll need to learn how and when to ask them to clap, move from side to side, etc. For more reading on the subject you may also like 4 Things Every Good Choir Director Must Do.

 

 

Music ministry auto-pilot: 6 signs you may be losing your passion

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Music ministry auto-pilot: 6 signs you may be losing your passion

Routine:

a:  regular course of procedure

b: Habitual or mechanical performance of an established procedure

 

All of us have these, don’t we? It’s only natural, after all. Any one thing or group of things that you do on such a regular basis that you don’t have to really think about the process anymore will eventually become your “routine”. If I asked you to describe a typical day, you could certainly do it without hesitation. In fact most of us can include specific days and times that  events happen on a daily basis, like clock work. This is not a bad thing, really. A routine gives our lives order and helps us be productive. It helps us carry out the list of daily things we all need to get accomplished, and do so in a productive way. So, a routine in this sense is a good thing.

So, when is a routine a bad thing? When you remove that little “a” in front of it. Then the word takes on a different meaning, doesn’t it?  When something goes from being considered a routine to just being “routine”, something important has been lost emotionally. Many of us can easily find ourselves in this place with our service in the music ministry. After all, the process of rehearsing and then performing songs for the Sunday service week after week is very repetitive. Often without realizing it you can find yourself simply going through the motions.
Many of us find ourselves having slipped into this state of music ministry auto-pilot, if you will. It’s a place where you may still enjoy being a part of the ministry, but it doesn’t mean quite what it did to you before. Now you just do it because it’s a part of you routine. You go to rehearsal on (insert rehearsal night here), you sing on Sunday. That’s what you do. Because that’s what you’ve always done. Only now, what was once part of your routine has somehow slipped into becoming “routine”; meaning mundane, lacking any real passion or enthusiasm.  Sadly, for some of us it even deteriorates to the level of becoming a “chore” . It’s something that happens so gradually that it can and often does sneak up on us before we’re aware it’s even happening.
Here then, are 6 simple “warning signs” that you may be losing your passion for the music ministry. Signs that what used to be an exciting, passionate way to serve God is slowly becoming more like definition “b” above: A “habitual or mechanical performance of an established procedure”.  

(that becomes more powerful to me every time I read it. There’s definitely something for me personally in that definition).

1. You see your service in the music department as your “job”.

It’s one thing to see your service in music ministry as something you owe to God for blessing you with the gift of music. It’s another thing though, to be in a place where you see it as your job in a natural sense.  Those who do actually receive monetary compensation for their services must be particularly careful to guard against this. This mentality will keep you dedicated and faithful to your position, but it will rob you of your passion and spiritual connection to the music ministry. Whether you’re getting paid or not, when you see your ministry as your job you will start to treat it as your job mentally and emotionally. Which brings us to the second sign:

2. You find that you don’t think about the music ministry except when you’re headed to rehearsal or Sunday morning services.

Most of us try to keep our personal lives separate from things that we “have” to do. Like work. When you start feeling like that about singing or playing in the music department, your feelings are starting to change.

3. You seldom feel the Holy Spirit when you’re singing or playing, except maybe during the performance of new material.

You sing or play every week, and you do enjoy it. But you find yourself just carrying out the mission of the day. Your service in the music department is more about providing an atmosphere for others to praise God and much less about you praising Him.

4. You find that you no longer like older songs that you used to love when they were first introduced.

A song that spoke to your heart and ignited your spirit when it was first introduced should on some level still do so. After all, songs may get old, but the message doesn’t change. If you find yourself becoming frustrated when the music department does older songs, you may be headed towards “definition B” above.

5. You don’t tend to express a lot of enthusiasm or excitement during performances, even when being coaxed to do so by the director or worship leader. And you feel like others who do are being excessive or “over-the-top”.

You find yourself being more and more reserved during song performances than you used to. You often kinda resent it when leaders are pushing and encouraging you to show more excitement and enthusiasm while singing/playing. This is often a sign you’re gradually slipping into music-ministry auto-pilot

6. You resist or find irritating, any kind of changes to the way things are normally done in your music department

We’re all creatures of habit, that’s a fact. But because music ministry is in fact a very repetitive thing that’s easy to get “comfortable” with, leaders are often seeking ways to bring new excitement and fun to the department by making changes. People who never want to see or participate in any kind of change outside of the norm are often in a very comfortable state of  “complacency” about their music ministry service.
The gift of music is a very special one. One that God doesn’t give to many people. It’s a honor and a privileged to serve Him with the gifts He gave us. But the reality is, like everything else we do week in and week out, it can become “routine”. We can get to a place where we sing the songs without really thinking about and paying attention to the message. A place where you’re there every Sunday because that’s part of your Sunday routine.
Take a good look at the list above. Do any of them fit you personally? What can you do personally to break free?  Have you been in this place before? If so, how did you get your joy and passion back? Leave a comment below and let me know.


Mixed signals: getting musicians and song teachers on the same page

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If you’re a regular reader you know I’ve been in rehearsal for the last 2 weeks for our annual Family & Friends musical. As such my last couple of blogs have been about subjects along the those lines. Last week I wrote about how to survive a mass choir rehearsal. One of my readers, Tracey, wrote me to say she enjoyed it, but then she brought up a situation I had never thought of. ” Do you have any tips for musicians?”, she asked me. She went on to explain that she has been in mass rehearsals where the instructor taught the song completely wrong musically. Tracey also shared with me that when she tried to tactfully get the instructor back on track there was animosity.
I have to confess, I haven’t had much experience with such situations. I’ve been really blessed to work with the same group of musicians for many years now, and we’re very much in sync. So while I can’t give you much information on what to do in such situations, Tracey, I can tell you how we avoid it at my church. The short answer is we communicate. And we do so often. We do it to insure just such a thing doesn’t happen. We do it to make sure that we’ll all be on the same page at rehearsal.

When we have a rehearsal coming up, my Minister Of Music informs all of us what we’ll be learning. She provides us with the music, lets us know exactly which songs to be ready for and confirms that we’re all learning it in the same key. We all have a copy of the same version of the song also.

Musician’s rehearsal is also something we always, always do before a major event like a big musical. On the night of rehearsal we ask that the director be there along with the key song leaders. We go over all of our songs with these people. This helps us insure that we’re all in sync.

I think though, that Tracey may be dealing with a problem that I’m afraid tips like these won’t help much. The sad truth is, some people simply aren’t very good at teaching songs. To do this and do it well, you really need to have a pretty deep understanding of music, harmony and song structure. There are, unfortunately some people who teach who don’t know much about it. Early meetings and communications whenever possible can go a long way towards at least figuring this out in advance.

If talked about before rehearsals you as a musician might be able to catch potential problems before the actual rehearsal. Express your interest in meeting with the clinician/instructor to insure that you both will be on the same page. If he or she is open to it, you might even listen to the music together and talk about the particulars. All of this assumes, of course, that you’re going to be working with someone you’re not familiar with already.

It’s a touch situation to be sure. But when you find yourself in a situation like this, where the person(s) you’re working with simply doesn’t have the necessary skills, it’s important you maintain a level of professionalism and dignity as much as possible. If there’s nothing you can do to help, simply roll with things as much as possible and help as much as you’re allowed.

Communicate with other personnel as much as you can, get on the same page as much as possible, talk about teaching styles and any other policies that may help you do your part more efficiently. After that all one can do is pray and remain professional.