Practical Tips For Selecting Your Music - Part 3
"Never allow yourself to get to the point where your worship song selection is only ever based around your favorite songs."
As we come to the final part of this series on Practical Tips for Selecting Your Music, we'll be looking at how style, genre, key, and incidental music factor into this selection process.
So let's look at the fifth component then, which is...
Style & genre
This basically relates to whether you are using older hymns and psalms, music from the more recent decades of church history, or music that has only been written in the last few years. Some churches will use different styles exclusively whereas others will use a blend off styles; again, it all depends on how your church functions.
This is something you do need to be sensitive to as you want to do what is expected and agreed upon, and not just use your role to push your own preferences.
Also, on that subject, let me just say something that should be a golden rule for all worship leaders and church piano players who have the responsibility for choosing the songs, and that is this...
... “never allow yourself to get to the point where your worship song selection is only ever based around your favorite songs.”
Why do I say this? Well if we’re doing that then it means we’ve developed a very self-serving attitude, thinking about what we like best, rather than having a servant-hearted attitude, thinking what is best for the church as a whole. I think it's important to mention this as it can happen at times.
So back to the style and genre of the music we use, let me give you a few pointers if you are in a situation where you have complete freedom to choose the songs.
I would definitely recommend trying to match the songs well, which may limit your choices in some ways, but then also, as much as you can, try to use a variation of music that includes traditional hymns and psalms, and also more modern hymns and worship music. This is a great way to represent both past church history and also what the Lord has done and is doing in His church in our day and age.
We don’t want to be stuck in a time warp, and yet we also don’t want to only sing songs that have been written in the past 6 months. Most likely, your church has some people who have been Christians for decades and some who are less than a year in Christ. What a blessing it is when we can cater for both groups, and encourage each to appreciate aspects of both older and newer music.
Having said this, it's important that we don't just think that age determines the type of music people will like, because that’s not true. Of course, there are certain styles that may be more preferable to different generations, but ultimately, as mentioned earlier, both the young and old should desire to sing biblically sound music.
The truth is you can have songs that are biblical and God-honoring in both traditional and contemporary styles and genres, as long as they are congregationally friendly, meaning they are not really difficult to sing, and as long as they are theologically sound.
Also, in relation to the style of songs, it’s good that we can balance songs in relation to who is being sung to. Some worship songs are directed to God, and are about Him, His character, His works and nature, and then there are some songs that are directed to God, or Christ, or the Holy Spirit, but in a more personal way. Then there are also songs that we sing that are directed at one another as we proclaim God’s truth, or even songs that, surprisingly, we sing to ourselves. For example, when we sing “Bless the Lord, O My Soul”, we're encouraging ourselves in God’s truth. It's actually biblical to speak and sing to yourself and it doesn’t mean you’re going mad! So it’s good to bear this in mind when selecting our music.
Lastly, on this topic of style and genre, I think the modern church has made a lot of mistakes in making the worship music into more of a band performance, with lights, smoke machines and laser shows, at the expense of God-honoring worship. And just to clarify, that doesn’t have to only be hymns played on an organ. Whatever instruments are used, and whatever style is chosen, it should lend itself to that which is edifying, and is easily sung, with minimum distraction so that we can have maximum (potential) worship; worship that is offered in both spirit and in truth.
While some music styles just aren't suitable for church, it's important to not develop a western-mindset only, turning our nose up at the way different cultures worship around the world, because at is essence, worship is a response of the heart. So we need to be careful not to make our own preferences the gold standard.
So, on to the next point...
Key
This is a component of music selection that is so often neglected. It's just a reality that much of the time it’s the men that have a hard time singing as the songs are often in keys that are easier for women to sing.
If you are singing and playing piano, then obviously you have to pick songs in keys that you can comfortably sing. However, if you have some range to play with, be considerate of whether you could take the song down a key or two to make it more congregationally friendly.
This might be something that you get better at over time as you seek feedback from people in your church and make adjustments as you can, but it really is something that we should pay attention to.
The next component we’re going to look at is number 7…
Incidental music
This is the music that is used in the service when the congregation is not singing. Not all churches have incidental music, but most do. This covers things like: when people are coming into the building, when they are leaving, during communion, the offering, or just as the service finishes while people quietly reflect for a few moments.
In these times, the music will be instrumental, and it’s good to choose pieces ahead of time so you’re not put on the spot. This kind of music doesn’t really have to be matched in theme quite the same way, unless it’s a very well known tune that is very obviously unmatched with the moment. However, when we play for a time of communion, I think this does matter more as often people will have the words in their mind or be quietly singing to themselves, so we do need to be sensitive to that.
While incidental music is usually music we play in a quieter, more reflective manner, it can also be played in an uplifting way, if not done too loudly. When I do this music, I usually play from the chords of various songs, alternating between playing melody and improvising around the chords - you can choose what you prefer!
If you don't really know how to improvise, and it's something you're wanting to learn, I have designed a course, The 20 Day Church Piano Player, which includes everything you need to learn how to improvise.
One last thing I’ll mention, is it never does any harm to have 1 or 2 backup songs that you can play if you need to. You know the dynamics of your church, but if the “unexpected” does happen, at least you will be prepared.
So there you have it - 7 components of the music selection process that we would all, as church piano players, do well to think through.
I’ll just summarize them again for you...
Style & genre
Key
Incidental music
I hope these pointers have been helpful in giving some guidance on the music selection process.
Next week, we're starting a new series looking at how to effectively organize our music.
[Return to The Church Piano Player Website]
This blog post was written by pastor and pianist Kris Baines, from The Church Piano Player. Kris lives in the UK with his family, having recently moved back from New Zealand where he worked as a pastor for the past 26 years (also leading worship/worship teams). Kris has also spent over 35 years writing, recording, and performing music and is now bringing all that combined experience together to help equip church piano/keyboard players.
Check out the church piano player website for more information on online courses by Kris Baines.
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