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Extras
1. Songs that cause trouble:
[1. Difficult or very syncopated songs]
» 2. Upbeat songs
» 3. Old hymns…when you want to play them on guitar
» 2. The Musicians' Questionnaire
» 3. The Church Song Survey
Difficult or very syncopated songs
Syncopation is the stressing of a normally unstressed beat in a bar. Although it’s all through mainstream music, many people find syncopation intuitively difficult because they have a classical music background or they grew up with church music dominated by hymns (which aren’t syncopated).
It’s not imperative that congregations sing exactly the way songs sound on the CD, as long as everyone’s singing more or less what the person next to them is singing. The problem is usually when the melody is just so hard that everyone mumbles their way through until the part they recognise.
Start by teaching new song to the song leaders. If you’re worried it might be too hard, give them a week with the CD and if they still can’t confidently sing something that resembles the melody, don’t try to teach it to the congregation.
If keyboard players are struggling with syncopated piano parts, straighten the rhythms out, or given them more time to practice.
Whenever you teach a new song to the congregation play the CD over the sound system before and after the service to get them used to it.