Working With Transitions

[El Ben]

El Ben,
I need your input a little more. What is a great way of transitioning between songs. Give me the greatest way for us. We do three songs at the begining of ther service. Right now we say good morning. and wait for response. If I don't get one a yell it out again. Louder the second time.
then we play song one. then we read a psalm or say a short prayer that leads into the meaning of the next song. Then we pause and play song number three. sometimes we say something inbetween song two and three.
But I admire your input and look forward to hearing your great ideas for Gods worship sake.
peace and love
El Miquel aka Mike


I do a three song set at my church as well, Mike, so I kind of have a grip on the difficulty you face. In your situation, I have to say that your transitions really depend on the focus of your set. If you're doing a fast set (2 fast, 1 slow), then your transitions are gonna be moderately different than a slow set (1 fast, 2 slow). Here are my recommendations:

1.) If I'm doing a fast set, I'm usually focusing on getting the people to a place where they can celebrate who Jesus is and what he's done, so my transitions are usually pad/electric guitar/drums driven. Let's take for instance two songs that I do ALL the time: You are Good-Israel Houghton (in C) and To Deserve-Jonathan Stockstill (also in C). First of all, I picked songs that were in the same key because...well, they just make it easier to flow from one to the next. Now, traditionally, You Are Good is in E, but since Israel's voice is incredibly high, I bump it down two full keys. Never be afraid to change a song's key to suit your voice.

Now, when I end You Are Good and the song resolves back down to C (the root chord), I do an extended crash-out (where all the instruments really power out that last chord, then fade away). From there, the keyboard (playing a "pad" or layered-string-type sound) holds the C chord (or C2, because I almost never play a straight major chord) while lead electric guitar plays the very U2-ish intro to the song To Deserve (check it out at http://www.myspace.com/worshipandfirepraiseteam [it's a myspace artist page. just click on the song To Deserve in the media player app there]). From there, the transition pretty much takes care of itself. You're already into your next song and you don't even need to stop and introduce it.


2.) A slow set is the most transition-friendly. Some people are freaked out by slow songs. I love them. As far as transitions go, let's assume you're on your second song, doing something like Breathe-Marie Barnett (in G) and want to end the worship set in a nice, soft, very slow rendition of The Old Rugged Cross (in A) [which brings me to the brink of tears nearly every time, so I have to use it sparingly]. After you're through with the bridge or wherever it is that you end the song and you resolve back to G, have your piano/keyboard player (or if you play guitar and are skilled enough to finger the chord) play (from G) the chord D/E (which is the basic fourth chord over the fifth chord transitional chord that will take you to the key of A regardless of where you are). From there, just start at the chorus singing very softly with either a nice finger-picked acoustic or a soft piano/strings combo sound on a keyboard.


Transitions are all about atmosphere, my friend. Remember. Everything you do...EVERYTHING...creates an atmosphere. The key to creating an atmosphere favorable to worship is to put yourself in the shoes of the congregation that you are leading. What do they need? What "gets them there?" As a worship leader, it doesn't matter if I had a great time in worship. If the congregation is simply standing there with arms crossed looking at their watches, then what was the point? If they don't connect with God, what's the point?

Transitions are simply a tool of leadership. To quote Maxwell, "Everything rises or falls on leadership." The more tools you have in your pocket, the better equipped you are to lead. I hope this advice helped.

Just as a general help to others, I'm going to repost this reply as a new thread. You can reply there.

[jim_snedeker]

This is an interesting discussion. It sounds like you guys have really thought this out. That's good. But one thing to keep in mind is the flow of songs and spoken elements,etc.

Sometimes the most needed thing is just to pause. Talk about awkward, learning how to pause for the holy moments is not something one can always prepare for. But it is one of the great thrills of leadership - to learn how to sense the Holy Spirit's lead; when to move, when to wait, when to pray, when to bow.

Thanks for considering this as you work to improve what you do for the sake of others enjoying God.

Jim

[El Ben]

Great point, Jim. Of course, when it comes to transitions, the Holy Spirit is always the leader.

Just remember, though, that the Holy Spirit can be just as much in the preperation as he is in the execution.

[jim_snedeker]

woah - what an excellent place to take this - preparation.

Why is it that preparation is so much work? Could it be that some musicians are just beginners when it comes to practice, rehearsal and preparatory things?

I mean to be flexible in that moment you sense you should speak, or bow, or repeat a chorus acapella, all those things are practice points for your band and singers...

We have a few simple ways to communicate when this happens that we have worked out so that the band isn't lost. But all of them have come from having to take apart our worship time and ask the question what can we do better?

Then, slowly, so that everyone is on board, we step through how to be prepared next time. We want to enhance, not distract. It seems in my experience, it's much easier to just run through songs and not be intentional about framing the time to really serve your folks.

But I am learning we need more than just band rehearsal.

Thanks for considering.

[El Ben]

Dude, I don't know if it's too early in the morning or what, but I'm having trouble understanding what you're trying to say. Could you rephrase that, please? I'm sorry, I'm a dummy. I've let this post and came back to it twice, just so see if I could understand it. I don't. Sorry. :D

[russhutto]

I think, from what I get, is that preparation AHEAD OF TIME is the key.

To make transistions, even spontaneous departures from what was planned for that particular moment, you have to be not only "ready" to do that, but you also have to be ABLE to do that.

The entire team needs to know that if there's a possibility of a "change" in plans while being sensitive to the Holy Spirit in a time of worship leading, that they need to be ready to do it. I think he's saying that they've actually taken the time to "walk" through this and to lay out what each member should do when this occurs.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

[El Ben]

Whew. Okay. Looking back now, I can make a little more sense. I was a bit lambasted this morning by lack of sleep. Anywho, I see what he's saying and I thoroughly agree. The whole point, to me, is to prepare with such exhaustive effort that by the time it comes time to lead the congregation in worship, that everything is reflex.

We had a great practice Monday, but I was starting to annoy people because I kept wanting to go over and over and over the same part again and again. I finally sat them down and explained that the particular section of the song we were working on had always been a weak part for us and I wanted it snappy. They seemed to understand after that, and it picked up shortly.

[jim_snedeker]

wow - great sign! I can definitely relate.

Hey guys - sorry for the prattling on the last reply. :D Those of you who translated did a wonderful job. Thank you!

Exactly right - prepare to be spontaneous - sound confusing?

I remember playing at a conference years ago and the speaker ended his time with a hymn. Being a young believer I didn't know the hymn, but I was pretty good at playing by ear. I found the key he was singing. I got along ok, but then he was really getting into it and wanted to change keys - by half steps, several times.

Had I not KNOWN the guitar chord patterns in many different keys, it could have been a train wreck.

Hopefully this is easier to follow...;)

[worshiptrench]

as far as verbal transitions, I take Dr. Bruce Leafblad's approach:

give them only the leadership they need and no more...i tend to not talk that much b/c many in our congregation "get worship."

as far as musical transitions between different keyed songs....a few guidelines
if they are relative 5th apart...easy, end one and jump into new key.
if 4th, sometimes

i tend to not like long key changes....all of our keyboardists are capable of massivley complex chord change transitions but many of the times i nix them on it. one thing we do often is "ring" the ending of the last song and the primary lead instrument simply comes out from under the old ending in the new key....quick and to the point like....ends the awkward space (i am not against space if it is intentional, just sometimes that two songs are in two different keys doesn't imply the "holy moment" needs to be there).

capish?