Throughout my career and life I’ve had opportunities to be hired in on worship teams for various events, services, etc. It’s always an honor and I don’t take the opportunity lightly.
I grew up in the COGIC church, and then transitioned to Non Denominational Full Gospel as a young adult. Over the years, I have experienced many different types of worship services, and I always try to be gracious and humbly do what I’ve been hired to do… no matter what goes on behind the scenes, Amen? Amen.
With that being said, I have worked with a lot of people in ministry. I’ve experienced things that have made me want to walk out mid-service, remove a mic from someone’s hand, I could go on. Thankfully I have not done that, (yet,lol).
I had an experience singing bgvs with someone, that was less than stellar. A couple things tipped me off that I’d be in for an interesting time.
The worship team and I met before service to go over material and make sure everyone was on the same page. There were 3 of us singing bgvs, and one leader. This was the first time we all met, there wasn’t a rehearsal before this service.
So I greeted everyone, including the person in question. The first thing that tipped me off was this person did not have a very nice disposition. No smile, no friendliness or openness. Yes it was a bit early but not THAT early, and besides, we were on a job.
I usually sing soprano, but on this particular gig I was told I’d be alto. The second thing that tipped me off is that as we began singing the first song, I sang alto… but the other vocalist was singing alto as well. And we got almost to the vamp of the song and she was still singing my note.
As a professional vocalist singing bgvs, when you hear someone on your note, you switch to another and fill in the one that’s missing. No one has to tell you that, it’s just an unspoken thing, especially when there’s only 3 parts, you’re pressed for time, you just kind of do what needs to be done to get through it. You fix what you can and keep it moving.
Uh, keyword, PROFESSIONAL. Professional vocalists will know exactly what I mean.
Well in this case, halfway through the song, she never moved to the soprano note! So finally I stopped the song ans asked,
“Are you singing alto?”
She says, “Yes.”
I say, “Oh okay because I was told I was singing alto.”
She says, “No I sing alto.”
And she says it like sooo super-ly dry too, lol!
I’m like ooookay, so you weren’t gonna say anything, you were just gonna keep singing my note??? lol!
Bgv friends, please don’t waste time like this! We would’ve saved precious minutes of time had she just moved to the missing note so we could get through the song, smh.
Anyhoo, we move to the sanctuary and go right into praise and worship. Immediately this congregation is extremely spirited, it’s impossible to ignore it, and you stick out like a sore thumb if you try to sit/stand there like a bump on a log.
My co-laborer however did not care how spirited the congregation was, she was not feeling it, lol. It was so completely obvious. She hardly moved, never smiled and never lifted a hand! And believe me I completely get it, everyone is not used to being in a spirited service where they are very boisterous, emotional and loud! So yes, I do empathize, how everrrrr….
I’m not gonna go into Worship Leading 101 or your role when you are a part of a praise team, I’m just gonna say what happened and save that for another blog. But I was kinda let down that this person didn’t even TRY to look interested in what we were there to accomplish. Not to mention, this was a paid gig!
So here’s what I wanna say.
1 BE PRESENT
Be in the moment. Experience the experience. Speak to the folks around you. You don’t know if you’ll ever see them again in life, be interested in folks. You never know who you could meet on a job. A new friend, invitations to other events you may be interested in, or maybe even more work.
2 LOOK ALIVE
Smile! Be polite and friendly. I used to be the queen of resting b#%#% face (sorry I don’t cuss but the saying fits what I’m trying to address). I promise it wasn’t on purpose, I couldn’t help it! But I had to train myself to smile and look friendly.
3 BE PROFESSIONAL – ON AND OFF STAGE
No matter how you may feel about a situation, how clueless you may be about what’s going on behind the scenes at a gig, you are hired to be a support! Put on your poker face. Use every singing skill you can contribute that would be useful to a situation. Do what you came to do. Sing. And if it’s a worship setting, worship! Lift your hands, smile, look like every fiber of your being loves what you’re doing.
If something that you’ve witnessed is really bothering you, I’m not saying don’t say anything about it. I’m just saying there is a time to do that, but it’s usually not while you’re on the job.
Let me add this disclaimer: if you’re going through a tough time in life and you’re having a hard time masking it, that’s not what I’m talking about here. I know things happen in life. Sometimes we just want to push through and keep doing things… just be mindful of your countenance if this is the case. All I’m saying is sometimes you gotta put on your acting skills. 😉
