Tag Archives: musicians

Three Ways to Avoid Musical “Drowning Zones”

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Cavell Samuels is back this week with another blog post for us. This time he’s addressing a somewhat touchy subject among musicians and members alike; the subject of playing too loud.  Take it away Cavell!

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When something is drowning, it is overwhelmed by a large amount of something. In the following paragraphs, I will list three ways to avoid drowning zones. The establishment of “No drowning zones” in our churches is key in the overall musical presentation of the church choir. What do I mean by “No drowning zones?” I am glad you asked! These “drowning zones “ are times in the worship service where musicians play so loudly that they drown out the message of what the choir is communicating though song.

These “drowning zones” are usually prevalent in churches with less seasoned musicians, or seasoned musicians who have placed the message, mandate and mission of Jesus Christ on the back-burner in exchange for them being the center of attention. It is critical that we as musicians not create drowning zones for our churches and ministries, but that we create atmospheres for freedom of worship and proper articulation of the gospel message though song.
As a musician, I know the pressure of wanting to execute the latest chop, latest fill, run, or chord progression you learned while attending the musical workshop earlier in the summer! However, we as musicians must realize that all we do must properly accompany the choir, praise and worship team or soloist, and secondly, we must realize that we as musicians are rendering our talents and skills “Unto the Lord.” Psalm 95:1 declares “O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.”

This making a joyful noise does not mean we as musicians are to drown out the choir, speaker, praise team leader, or anyone else in the service. This joyful noise is a calculated noise, this joyful noise is done in concert with everything else going on in the worship service! This joyful noise is not only to be joyful to the musicians, but this noise must by joyful to the Lord most importantly!

When our corporate sound as musicians glorifies the Lord, the people in our services will be edified and the Savior will be glorified. There have been many instances over the years where the message of the music has been drowned out and all together forgotten during worship service or worship services. As musicians, we must be mindful to not overpower, but to aid and assist our choirs and those who are rendering song selections and other services during worship. Here are a few suggestions on how to avoid drowning zones in our worship services:

1. If you have microphones on your instruments, coordinate with the sound technician to ensure you are not overpowering.

I have seen in smaller churches the Hammond B3 being piped through the house and this causes for the organ to be way too loud. The same applies for the drums as well. If these instruments are going to be loud, please work in concert with your sound team.

2. Keep in mind it’s not about you!

Humility is required in this because let’s be honest, if you are a somewhat skilled musician, people will take notice of your skill. However, this is no reason for you to be the center of attention. Remember, Satan was kicked out of heaven for this very thing! Pride is very destructive, and will cause you to create drowning zones more often than not.

3. Communication between directors, song leaders and musicians.

This is critical, especially if directors and song leaders have expressed concerns that the music has been loud previously. It is extremely critical for musicians to work with everyone to ensure there is the right blend of vocals and music. If this is achieved, the individuals who attend your worship services along with your choir directors and song leaders will be appreciative!

In closing, this was not an all-out assault on musicians in churches and ministries, just a friendly reminder not to create drowning zones in your respective worship services! Musicians, we are a vital part of the overall worship experience. Let us keep in mind that all we do is unto the Lord and what we do as musicians should complement the entire worship service. Remember, work toward achieving “No drowning zones” in our services, be blessed!

 

Cavell Samuels is a man of integrity, honesty and hard work, who has the passion and desire to see things done in the spirit of excellence, and a defender of absolute Bio Pictruth. Cavell’s main desire is that the will of the Lord be done in all areas of his life, and in the lives of others.

4 Ways To Bridge The Spiritual Gap Between Your Music Ministry And Your Pastor

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Today I’d like to welcome a guest blogger to The Music Ministry Coach.com . His name is Cavell Samuels. Cavell brings many years of experience working in music ministry to the table and I hope to have him as a regular contributor. In this blog post Cavell will be sharing with us 4 steps that will help us close that spiritual gap that sometimes exists between the music department and the Shepard of the house. Please make Cavell feel welcome by offering your comments. Also, be sure to visit Cavell’s website, which you can find in his bio at the bottom of the article. Take it away Cavell!
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This article is a new direction that Kingdom First will be branching off into, as this also deals with the administrative function of churches and  music ministries. The direction I am referring to is the relationship between pastors and musicians. We begin to take steps toward eliminating the gap between pastors musicians, and ministers of music which exists.

Ecclesiastes 4:12 states “And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not easily broken.” When the lines of communication, or the cords are broken between the pastor, musicians and ministers of music, this has the potential to cause chaos in a church or ministry and destroy relationships. This is why we that serve in these areas must make all efforts to eliminate all gaps!

If you are reading this post, the first question that comes to mind probably is where do I start in the addressing or preventing of this from taking place? I will provide a few tips to aid and assist in firstly, having this conversation, if the problem exists, and two, to place some parameters in place in an attempt to prevent this from taking place. We , as musicians, pastors, and ministers of music cannot afford to have division in our services, division in our ministries, and division in our churches!

1. Have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ

Why are you putting this as a part of this article? I thought that all who are musicians, pastors and ministers of music are already saved? Contrary to popular belief, this is not always the case. I have ran into many musicians, ministers of music and even some pastors who do not have a relationship with the Lord. I John 2:17 declares : “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”

The will of the Lord is found in His Word! His Word declares in Romans 10:9-10-“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Acts 4:12 puts it like this: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

I could give many other scriptures, but the bottom line is ALL that serve in ANY area of and in ministry should have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the #1 prerequisite, even above talent. Total commitment to Christ is essential for service to the Lord! If you are not serving the Lord, you are serving yourself! The key to relationship with the Lord is for you to be in second place, not the Lord! Relationship with the Lord involves placing Him first!

2. Proper, Biblical Conversation

Psalm 19:14 says“Let the words of my mouth and words of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.” This is not just a thing pastors and preachers pray before teaching or preaching, but something that we should live by. On many occasions people do not have a problem with what was said, but have a problem with how things are said! We, as units (musicians, ministers of music, and pastors) that are working in our churches must keep in mind that we are to talk to one another in a civil and appropriate manner. I have learned through many years of experience that talking to people the right way goes a long way in building strong relationships. Asking the Lord to frame our words, speech and presentation works wonders. So we must always keep this in mind and ask the Lord to frame our words when dealing with others.

3. Fellowship, fellowship, fellowship

This is key in eliminating the gap between pastors, musicians and ministers of music. Many times you can learn many things just by being in the same room and being connected with others. I would recommend for fellowships to take place outside of the church or ministry. For those of you who are on salary at your respective church or ministry, this is fellowship outside of work. Psalm 133:1 states “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” Fellowship fosters friendship and friendship foster unity! It is extremely vital for musicians, ministers of music and pastors to be united! Our worship services depend on this unity, our families depend on this unity, and our communities at large depend on this unity! Regular fellowship is essential for great relationships between the musicians, pastors and ministers of music.

4. Prayer

Luke 18:1 states “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men aught always to pray, and not faint.” Prayer is key in our respective walks with the Lord, and is no different in our functions as musicians, ministers of music and pastors. There is an old saying that states the family that prays together stays together. This is true for us in our service as musicians, ministers of music and pastors. Prayer with each other is key and should take place often. Prayer should always take place before any meeting, rehearsal sessions, and before any services you may be participating in.

Personally, I can tell the difference in my playing when I pray, verses when I do not pray. Prayer is essential in breaking down and spiritual walls, breaking down anything going on in the spiritual realm, and essential in our hearing from the Lord regarding the flow and direction of our lives and our worship services.

Keep in mind prayer is a dialogue (The Lord speaking to us and our speaking to the Lord) and not a monologue (Just us speaking). When we are praying, we must allow time for listening in our prayer time. If we are to be ready at all times, we should pray at all times. This will help in our service to the Lord!

Again, these are just a few tips to aid and assist in the eliminating of the gap which may be evident with musicians, ministers of music and pastors. In these days and times, we cannot afford for any gaps to take place in our ministries and in our churches! Our churches and ministries need for us to be strong! The only way we are going to be strong and eliminate any gaps is only through the Lord’s help!

 

Bio PicCavell Samuels is a man of integrity, honesty and hard work, who has the passion and desire to see things done in the spirit of excellence, and a defender of absolute truth. Cavell’s main desire is that the will of the Lord be done in all areas of his life, and in the lives of others. Visit Cavell’s website at KingdomFirstConsulting.com

The Truth About Hard Keys (And What They Can Teach You About Life)

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Like a lot of Gospel musicians, there are keys I’m not too fond of. They’re usually “white keys” like A, B, D E and G. Many Gospel singers feel the same way about these keys in particular. What makes these keys so unpopular with many Gospel singers? Well, most musicians, myself included, would tell you these keys are harder to play in. But I was watching a training video one day that kinda changed my whole perspective. Not just about “hard keys”, but about anything I find difficult to do.

So anyway, I was logged into the Gospel Musician Training Center (aff. link) looking at one of the many song teaching videos they have there. It’s an amazing membership site where you can go to watch instructional videos of instructors teaching you some of the most popular songs in Gospel music, step-by-step and chord by chord. Amazing resource for learning to play real songs real fast. Check it out here.

Anyway this particular song happened to be in one of those keys I really find hard. And because the instructor himself is a Gospel musician he already knew there would be many watching that video would would cringe when he told us what key it was in. So he mentioned it right up front. But what he said was so simple yet so profound that I never forgot it.

What he said basically is that the particular key in question wasn’t really harder than any other key. That, he said, goes for all the keys musicians find difficult to play in. We only find them difficult, he said, because we’re not used to playing in them. Spend some time playing in these keys and getting used to them, and you’ll eventually find them as easy as any other key.

These keys are perceived as harder to play in simply because we don’t encounter them very often in Gospel music-even less in our local churches. So it’s not that they’re any harder, it’s simply that we haven’t developed the muscle memory in those keys because we don’t play in them often. In fact if we’re honest many of us will actually change the key of a song if it happens to be in one of those “hard” keys. So they continue to be hard keys for us because we never really spend as much time deliberately playing in those keys as the ones we like.

I kept thinking about that and God kept revealing to me how that works in so many other areas of my life. How many things have we labeled “too hard’ simply because it was awkward the first time we tried it? How many things could we learn to do if we simply spent some time practicing it?

Pretty-much everything in life we find challenging can be mastered by developing the same “muscle memory” that enables a musician’s fingers to automatically go where they need to go in any of 12 different keys and hundreds of songs. Think of all the things we do now on auto-pilot, without even thinking.

When I get in my car, for example, I unlock it, get in, adjust mirrors, the seat, put on my seat belt, put my foot on the brake, put it in gear, put my foot on the gas and take off….all simultaneously, in seconds and without thinking about a single step. challengesRemember how hard and complicated and cumbersome that process was when you were first learning it though? So what if you thought about every difficult or unfamiliar task that way?

What are the “hard keys” in your life? In your ministry? Identify them and you’ll probably realize that just like the hard keys on the piano, they really aren’t harder than anything else you’ve learned to do.

Why Gospel Musicians Don’t Share Playing Tips

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So I put out a challenge on my fan page the other day asking all my musicians to do a “1 minute lesson” with someone. The next time someone asked for help or tips, take them aside and just show them one simple thing they could take with them and practice. The idea was to break some of the negative images Gospel musicians have as selfish arrogant people who never give back.

Now, usually if I send a shout-out to the musicians on my fan page they show up in droves, chatting and posting comments, participating in the conversation and really hanging out with me. This time though, all I got in response was the finely tuned sound of crickets chirping. This is not something most musicians care to discuss.

Someone posted and asked me the question “So what is the reason most musicians don’t want to share tips?” I thought about it a while, trying to determine the best way to explain it to her without making the post too long. Well that didn’t work. My answer went on for several paragraphs, lol! But it got the attention of at least one musician who had an “OMG” moment, leaving me a kudos-filled comment generously sprinkled with lots of exclamation points.

So suffice it to say that I thought the answer seemed too important to leave it there on the page to be pushed down until it’s eventually out of sight. So I decided to post my answer as a blog for all my readers here. I hope this offers a different perspective for you to think about the next time this comes up for whatever reason. Or the next time you’re headed toward that organ after the benediction.

“So what is the reason must musicians don’t want to share tips?”

I have to qualify my answer by first saying I’m not at the level of many of the musicians who frequent the page. But while there could be any number of reasons, I think a lot of it has to do with the way people approach musicians about showing them things.

Highly skilled musicians don’t get that way by accident. Their skill represents years of dedicated practicing for sometimes hours at a time. People often approach musicians wanting to bypass that work and just go straight to the cool chords or the great run.

For example someone might hear a great chord and want the musician to show it to him note by note. But the musician knows the chord because he has painstakingly studied theory and learned how to build these amazing chords.

He also knows that most people who ask for the chords wouldn’t really know how to use it anyway. Then of course there is the proprietary aspect of such things as chords and runs, and how they tend to define the signature sound of one musician vs. another one. Musicians often create these chords and runs from scratch. 

They work very hard developing such things, and I think it’s just a matter of wanting to see that kind of initiative in someone else, rather than simply asking for the notes.

One other example just to really illustrate it. Often skilled musicians will do these amazing runs. People hear them do it and then want the musician to just give them the run note by note. But the musician has studied and learned several different types of scales and their application, carefully worked the run out note by note and created it from scratch, then spent hours developing the muscle memory and speed..

So you can imagine he or she might be reluctant when someone walks up and just wants him to give it to them note by note. I think if people were asking musicians questions about practice tips and good resources to learn theory, etc. they’d get much less evasive answers. 

I think you see musicians more willingly sharing with other musicians who have also achieved the same level or similar level. Simply because they know that person is at least as serious and as dedicated as he is.

People say that musicians don’t share because they’re selfish or worried about someone taking their spot, but seldom does a skilled musician have that to worry about, because so few people are willing to put the same amount of work in. 

So this one-minute lesson challenge doesn’t ask musicians to do that. That’s why I called it a “one minute lesson” challenge. One minute or so is enough time to show that guy asking for the notes to the run you did the pentatonic scale, and explain to him that the scale is often used in many runs you hear in church. Then challenge him to learn the scale in all 12 keys.

If you’re trying to really take your playing to the next level you won’t get there asking for quick tips after church. You need some training. Specifically, training designed specifically for Gospel Musicians. The source I use and highly recommend is The Gospel Music Training Center, from Hear And Play. I’ve been a customer for years and they’ve helped me tremendously. Check it out here.

The Best Place To Find Your Next Church Musician

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One of the biggest challenges churches and music ministries face is finding a gospel musician. Gifted church musicians who can handle all the different challenges, changes and musical styles of the average Gospel church service are in very high demand and many are already committed to a church that keeps them very busy. Some are dividing their time between more than one church.

When you’re trying to find a musician who can be there for all of your important services, rehearsals and engagements you’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who has the time to commit. In short, you need someone who can come to your church, join as a member and be a dedicated musician to your church, your music department and all of the rehearsals and performances that come with it.

Yet even churches who are offering paid positions have a very difficult time finding a musician, despite resorting to even paid advertising to fill the position. But what if I told you that the absolute best place to find your next musician is probably the last, and yet the most obvious place to look? It’s true. Because the absolute hands-down best place to find your next musician is your own congregation. Yes, your own church. In fact every single member of the band at my church has been a member there since childhood. We are all musicians born and bred right there at the church we serve at.

Think about it. Who is going to be more dedicated, involved, faithful and available than someone who is already a member of your church? Someone who’s heart is already there? Consider all of the most talented church musicians at your average church. Aren’t they usually related to the pastor or someone else there? Aren’t they usually someone that has been there since they were a child and grew up there? Yup, many times they are. Ever try getting musicians like that to leave their church and play for someone else, even for good money? Exactly.

But you may be thinking “well that’s great Ron but we don’t have ANYBODY right now. We need someone that kinda knows how to play. Someone that can at least play songs for the praise team or the choir. We don’t have the luxury of waiting years for someone to learn.”

I get that. But remember we’re living in the age of information now. There is so much information and training out there now that someone who knows nothing about playing can  be playing for your church in a very, very short time. One such resource I use and recommend exclusively is The Gospel Music Training Center. (aff. link)

This is without a doubt the fastest way I know of to get a person up to speed as a Gospel musician, to the point where he can play for not only the choir and praise team, but the entire service. And this site has awesome training for all levels, not just beginners. Even intermediate to advanced players can take their craft to the next level here.

I’ve been a member myself and have seen some pretty dramatic improvements in my own playing. This is nothing short of having some of the best Gospel musicians in the world sit down and show you the chords to some of the hottest gospel songs out there, calling them out note by note. I love it because it really helps you understand the theory behind what makes music work while also giving you the tools you need to start playing songs NOW.

Make no mistake though, it will still take lots of practice and dedication. A brand new person can sit down with these videos and learn to play a song- especially praise and worship songs- by simply practicing it over and over until the muscle memory kicks in. But in the process that person will also be learning some very fundamental principals that will help them with other songs in the future. Because GMTC doesn’t just give the notes and chords. They’re also teaching you the number system, and how those chords can be used in several other songs. Then they shoot another video that includes a more advanced version, and in some cases even a third video that explains all the theory. Honestly I haven’t seen anything like it available for Gospel Musicians or people who would like to be.

At this writing they’re offering a $1 trial for the first month. Plus they even have several free examples on the page to view. Check it out and let me know what you think! 
Gospel Music Training Center .