An Indie Musician's Diary VOL. 1

Set Lists, the Renaissance Plugin & Gain Staging

It's January 4th and a bit of the 5th (I couldn't fit the dates in today's title.)

Practice: 1hr of original music - guitar and song training in my kitchen while slurping on tea. 

Set Lists

Sets: My thoughts go to Tom Jacksons Live Music Method book. (Tom Jackson is the guy who created and directed Taylor Swift's early concerts' choreography.)  I am beginning to think that I had better make it standard to practice in sets - one for a house concert and one for a worship night because that is what I want to do in the future. Doing each set every other day. 

Btw: Here's a little tip from Tom for you - why stepping aside is greater than stepping back away from the mike. 

A "set" makeup is a well thought through playlist with the order you intend to play your songs at a show where you take into consideration their energy levels. It is import to practice not only each song in the list, but also the transitions between those songs and the things you intend to say to introduce songs when needed. You have to be intentional in all this so that the audience gets pulled into your world and ignited with your passion for the music you are performing.You need to over practice everything. You can never excuse poor musicianship on stage. Work to eradicate it by practising regularly - not just each song but the whole show. 

Practicing according to song lists is something I want to develop even more - both house concert set lists and worship set lists.

Concert set list vs Worship set list: "Whoah! Wait a minute!", you say. "A Worship Night isn't a show." Correct! Leading a worship night is not like doing a normal gig, because you are being led by the Holy Spirit to bring praise to God together with others. You are not entertaining. There is a derogatory phrase for the style of leading worship songs that integrates an entertainment mindset and praise music - "praisetainment". It is, unfortunately, commonplace today which is truly disconcerting. In my opinion, music that is perfectly delivered but not bearing any spiritual fruit belongs in other venues than our churches/home groups.

It's much more complicated to be a worship leader than a musician only. As a worship leader you need to be overpracticed as any good musician would, and your character has to be pure and your Holy Spirit antenna needs to be in tune. You have to keep your heart pure and your mind free from the burdens of this world. You need character and proficiency. That is a big haul.  So you start of finding some great music, practice and do a set list but then He takes over. All of the sudden you have to play a song that the Holy Spirit brings to mind, (that is not on your setlist) or drag out an outro for longer periods of time than you'd planned and flow in the prophetic. That means you have to practice the songs within a set list, along with transitions, and practice being led by the Spirit in your music daily. I can't emphasise this enough. Being a great worship leader is tough work on a consistent basis and is always a matter of laying down your priorities for His. 

No one should lead a time of worship, a worship service or worship night simply on the basis of their musical ability or their credentials. Having a worship night and being good at it requires both being adept and flexible musically and being a laid down lover of the Lord, constantly worshiping in His presence. Worship is a lifestyle not a calling. Being a worship leader is something i get called out of people's needs to do. I don't see myself as a worship leader, just a worshiper. Still, I lead worship at a local home church because we need it.