Imagine this moment: The worship team just finishes one of the most compelling songs of worship and the congregation is in sync and ready for the next song to lead them further into the presence of the Lord. All of a sudden something feels awkward and no one can quite place their finger on it. The anxious waiting of the congregation escalates to a silent roar and then it dawns on the people what is taking place. The next song in the set hasn't started and the members of the worship team are frantically trying to figure out what to do. The silence kills the atmosphere and no matter what happens next the moment is lost. The worship leader tries to pull words out of thin air to try and salvage the moment but it's too late. The dead air pours over the congregation like ice cold water and stifles any chance of moving deeper into worship. Oh sure, there are always those that can manage and get back into the swing of things but that sense of togetherness with the body is over. The unfortunate moment has crippled the worship setting.
Here's 3 things you can do to help make sure this doesn't happen in your worship sets.
1. The Carry Over
Many worship leaders like to keep things in the same keys for easy transitions between songs. If the next song in the set is in the same key as the previous carry your last chord over into the next song. You can set a new tempo if necessary but holding the chord will help gain a seamless transition to the next song. It's easy for a keyboard player with a synth or string patch to do this but just as easy for a guitar player to pick out a quarter note lead or picking pattern to accomplish the same effect.
2. Stop - Start
Sometimes the most effective tool in transition is keeping things simple. It's easy to over think the transition but often the best thing to do is to end the song you're on and quickly start the next one. Practice with the drummer on establishing the tempo of the next song. Also using a click track can help in this area. Don't worry about being abrupt, the congregation is expecting some kind of transition for the next song. Allowing the drummer to click the song off is a tried and true way of accomplishing this task. Just make sure it doesn't take more than a couple seconds to do this.
3. Prep Time
As a worship leader don't forget to prepare your team during practice for the transitions between songs. It's easy to forget about intros and outros while concentrating on all the meat of your set making sure everyone knows the music and vocal parts well. Take the time to creatively think about how you'll move through the set before you actually get to your practice and you'll find that your team will respond well to your leading. It will also help if you take about 10 minutes near the end of your practice to go over the ending and beginnings of each song making sure that everybody on your team understands what is expected of them.
There are certainly more things a team can do to help transitions go well in a worship set but these 3 will help any team focus on the basics and keep things as seamless as possible in a worship service.
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