Providing Great Resources
Your volunteers won't prepare if you make it hard. Four resources to attach to every new song so your team shows up ready — and everybody wins.
It’s one thing to expect your team to practice and prepare. But if you don’t make it easy, most of your players won’t. They’re volunteers — with jobs, families, hobbies, and a hundred other things pulling at their time. You shouldn’t expect them to hunt down tutorial videos and track down the right chord charts on their own. That’s your job.
Four things for every new song
Every time you add a new song to your repertoire — to Planning Center or whatever software you use — get into the habit of providing these four resources:
- A clean, clear, correct chord chart. Once you’ve made the chart, play through it top to bottom to confirm the chords are actually right, so your team doesn’t learn the wrong chords and show up playing them at rehearsal. Then link it to the song.
- Good tutorial videos for the specific parts you want them to learn.
- Harmony parts. If you can sing harmony, record yourself singing the harmonies for the chorus, bridge, or any verse parts — just play the song on your computer, hold your phone to your mouth, and sing. Upload those files to the song’s resources page.
- An MP3 in the correct key. If the album is in B but you’re playing it in G, don’t make them learn it in B. Transpose the file and give it to them in your key.
The better you can resource them, the better they can perform.
When the key or structure changes
If you can’t transpose the file, there are free online tools that transpose song keys. At a minimum, record yourself playing the song acoustically in the key you’ll actually use.
And if you’re playing the song in an unusual structure — different from the album’s verse/chorus order — give them that too. Record an MP3 of yourself playing it in your structure, or if you run backing tracks (like Ableton Live), build your arrangement, bounce the file, and upload it so they can practice it exactly as you intend it for service.
Everybody wins
When you resource your team well, you’re really helping yourself. Well-prepared players come and better serve the team, better serve you, and better serve the church. So everybody wins.
If you want an excellent team, it’s up to you to help them be excellent by providing great resources for them.
Application
- Pick your next new song. Before rehearsal, attach all four resources — chart, tutorials, harmonies, and a correct-key MP3.
- Are any of your current charts unverified? Play through them top to bottom and fix wrong chords before they reach your players.
- If you play songs in altered keys or structures, build a simple workflow (transpose tool or phone recording) so your team always practices the version they’ll actually play.