Sometimes worship leaders make mistakes. There. I said it. And sometimes, they don't just make mistakes, they make them over and over again. And the worst part is that, often times, you don't even know that you're making them.
I think back to when I first started leading worship (which is where this list came from). I made so many mistakes that I look back on now and realize that I had no idea I was even making them.
Here are 3 mistakes worship leaders frequently make:
1 | Putting songs in unsingable keys
If part of our job is to lead people in musical worship, shouldn't we be giving them every opportunity to sing possible?
One of those barriers that people have to overcome is the range of the melody in a song. If they can't sing the high notes that you're singing, often times they'll stop. And sure, you might sound good, but that's not really the purpose of leading worship.
So, how do you put songs in a singable key? A good rule of thumb is to keep the melody between a low Bb (1st fret of the A string on a guitar) and a high Eb (8th fret of the G string on a guitar). Those notes are the very lower and upper ends of the range. Try to keep the majority of the song conservatively between those limits.
2 | Not doing a song because you and your team are "tired of it"
How often have you said to yourself "I'm tired of this song?" Oceans, How Great Is Our God, Mighty To Save, Reckless Love (are we tired of that yet?). In reality, most of the time when you are starting to feel tired of a song your church is just starting to embrace it. They don't listen to the song as much as you have. They haven't sat down and spent time practicing to learn it. They haven't run through the song a million times at rehearsal. They probably haven't even come to church every week and heard it. Don't be too quick to dismiss a song simply because you're tired of it.
3 | Letting personal worship usurp corporate worship
In relation to mistakes 1 and 2, your responsibility in worship leading is first and foremost to your church and not to yourself. Make decisions with your church in mind FIRST before you consider what you prefer.
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