this week, we had jem presenting a session on how to prepare for a p&w session! :DD
here are the notes i took during the session! haha!
alright. here's the secret: 3PL!
Prayer,
Planning,
Practice &
Logistics!
in chronological order, too! tadah! :DD
Prayer
P&W is 90% prayer, 10% everything else!
it is absolutely possible for a p&w session to be successful without anything but PRAYER.
do approach jem for his individual testimony if you didn't turn up for this session. haha! ^^
hmm. so what should we pray for, really?
not just ourselves - the musicians, the worship leaders, those helping out with the logistics and so on.
we should also pray for the people we're reaching out to to be responsive!
it would be fantabulous if we could go to the venue where worship is to be held earlier and pray for the Lord's shroud to cover the place and bless everyone who enters, too. ^^
it is essential for everyone to be in the right frame of mind during p&w!
Planning
1. Themes - are they vital?
no, they're not!
a general theme would suffice, actually - e.g. for an exam p&w, we generally give thanks.
thanksgiving would be the general theme running through the worship session, then!
2. Musicians - does skill matter?
it's not wrong to be mediocre, but we cannot escape the fact that mediocre musicians affect how effectively people worship!
by reaching near perfection, we enable others to worship more effectively. fewer distractions!
but then again...
what if a super-skilled musician wants to join the worship band to show off? what should we do in such a case?
--> test the water!
we will have to see if his intentions are purified.
it's the heart that matters! ^^
3. Songs - based on the theme, please ^^
In general, the flow of worship should go like this:
when we talk about mood, it's more of how quiet and reflective it is, not happiness vs sadness.
in p&w, we try not to make drastic transitions from praise to worship and vice versa.
thus the black part of the curve! we want a smooth gradient.
to achieve this, we can utilise songs that start off fast and end off quiet/swell from reflective to jubilant! generally, slow praise songs can bring about such an effect.
for special cases where p&w leads up to a more serious event, we will not want to bring the mood up to praise again. it would be more apt to end off on a reflective note!
to cater to the restless congregation, we would start off fast - praise. bring it down gradually to reach the desired level of reflectivity!
why shouldn't we follow the trajectory given by the grey dotted lines? we wouldn't want to bring hopes up with one or two praise songs and then plunge down into worship! this is particularly true for short worship sessions, since it is less likely that we can make smooth transitions with such a short period of time allocated.
Practice
would a team who has played together before and chooses to play the songs they played the previous time require practice?
a resounding YES!
group dynamics change, and no two p&w sessions are identical.
Logistics
would it be possible to carry out p&w without instruments?
actually, yes!
it would be alright if we don't provide lyrics if everyone knew the songs, too.
however, we cannot discount the importance of logistics, especially in larger-scale events!
do not forget about transport, too. how we get from place to place should not be overlooked!
alright. more in the session handout! including an analogy which our foodie of a head came up with to emphasise his point :DD
here it is!
week 10 MM session handout - how to prepare for p&w!
please know who the real rock star is - it's God, not the band!
thanksss for visiting!! ;DD
jess
...making music for GOD!
