Worship

Music Directing

We choose our Music Directors according to skill and capability to guide/lead an entire band alongside our worship leaders. This requires more responsibility for the chosen individual to learn each song thoroughly and correct any mistakes in a respectful manner. These tasks are vital to the team’s success every weekend!

As a Music Director, we help support the worship leader with the more technical aspects of worship like calling chords out using the Nashville Number System (See next section), reminding the band of certain specific parts within each song (like hits, runs, breaks, pauses, etc), and supporting the worship leader if they feel the Holy Spirit is leading us somewhere we have not necessarily rehearsed (like spontaneous tags of another song). This requires us to take extra time to learn the songs well enough so that the weight of the musical elements of the service fall on us (and the band) and not wholly onto the worship leader. This allows for the worship leader to be fully attentive and to focus on what the Holy Spirit is doing in the room. There will usually be a guide included with the tracks to help lead us through the arrangement of each song but it is always extremely helpful to have the MD back the guide as well to add another layer of support. In addition, the MD also helps walk the team through rehearsal and be aware of run-through times. The worship leader will also be aware of these, but it is important to work together so the we can efficiently get through the schedule on time.

Music Directing will require training with the Lead Music Director in order to be fully prepared for a Sunday service. DON’T WORRY! We will not throw you on as an MD until you are ready!

Nashville Number System

The Nashville Number System (also just called the number system) is a way of writing the chords to a song in a “universal” or neutral key using numbers instead of chord names. This way the song can be played in any key at any time with out rewriting it. For example, in the case of a last minute key change, you will be able to play that song quickly without having to re-learn all the chords. The Lead Music Director and Head of Worship Development will be available to help learn this system. There are also many videos available on Youtube that will be a huge help in visualizing the system. But, here is short summary of it!

The majority of every worship song will be in a Major key. Every Major key has a scale that consist of 7 notes (8 including the octave). What the number system does is attach a number to each of those notes so that they now have a universal name.

For example: In the key of C (all the white keys on a piano) The major scale is as follows| C D E F G A B

So, all we do now is attach the number to those notes like this| C = 1, D = 2, E = 3, F = 4, G = 5, A = 6, B = 7

And that’s it! There’s a couple of other things like knowing which chord is major, which is minor, and knowing the major scale for each key. These you will find in many Youtube videos that help explain the system. However, that is the general idea!

Guitar and Bass Orientation

Playing guitar in worship is more than just playing the instrument. Our purpose is to lead people to Jesus. Music is our medium to do that. As far as style, our big ask is to take time to learn the style of music that we do. When it comes to your part, it’s all about the song. We believe in excellence and hope you constantly seek to grow in your skill. That doesn’t mean you’ll have a solo every week! There will be times that we take advantage of your particular area of skill. We love to see people do amazing things to lift up Jesus. In our worship sets, it’s all about the team and creating an atmosphere together where people can connect to Jesus and worship Him.

Acoustic Guitar

To play with the team, your acoustic will need a pickup or some kind of electronics to plug into the house system. We typically are looking for a 6 string with steel strings to fit the type of music we play.

Important Notes

1. TUNE! – Do it early and often.
2. Bring cables and other accessories like strings for back up 3. Bring a capo
4. Learn good strumming as well as fingerpicking patterns

Electric Guitar

We don’t try to control a person’s style and allow most electric guitars. There are some tones that work better with the worship music we do. Good places to start are: Telecasters, Stratocasters, Gretsch hollow and semi hollow instruments, Gibson semi hollow and many solid body guitars as well. Some humbucker guitars work better than others. Typically, we want a full range to bright sound and not too dark. These are guides and not hard rules! We love individuality too! Please be open to feedback and be willing to work with your MD and worship leader.

Effects

You know them, you love them. Some are better for worship than others. Again, we don’t want to discourage creativity, but we want to shoot for the sounds on the recordings we are covering first. We can get creative and try different things from there.

NEEDED
Good overdrive/boost [ex. Morning Glory, 1981 DRV, Timmy, RC Booster, Tube Screamer]

Delay Pedal [ex. Strymon Timeline, T.C. Flashback, Boss DD-7, Strymon El Capistan] Reverb [ex. Strymon BigSky, Neunaber Immerse, Boss RV-6]
Tuner [ex. Sonic Research Turbo Tuner, T.C. Electronic Polytune, Boss Tu-3]

ENCOURAGED

Compressor [ex. Wampler Ego Comp, Walrus Deep Six, Keeley Comp+] Volume Pedal

AMPS

The right amp is extremely important to your overall sound. We have been using modelers for a little while now. Strymon Iridium, Walrus ACS1, and many others are good offerings. Of course we love the good old tube amp too!

Multi-Effects

Many players are using all in one systems like the Line 6 Helix, Kemper, Quad Cortex, and more. These are also very much welcomed.

STRINGS

Everyone has their own preference with strings, so this can vary from person to person. 10’s are a good base to start from. Also, typically nickel plated or stainless steel strings are the norm.

Important Notes

1. Be in tune.
2. Bring instrument and extra patch cables.
3. Know your instrument. Not only how to play it, but what sounds it can make. 4. Make sure your rig works before you show up for a service.
5. Have fun!!!

Bass Guitar

It’s a great time to be a bassist! There are so many options out there. Modelers, great DI’s, and tons of effects processors. A good clean bass tone is a good place to start. We typically prefer some of the classic tones like Jazz, Precision, Stingray, etc. But again, we’re open to anything that gives a solid, clear tone. From there, we are looking to cover the tones that are on the recordings we cover.

Lots of current worship styles also use pedals on bass for Overdrive, octave, and fuzz effects. Listening to the context they are used will be essential. As with any effects, they can be great or terrible!

Important Notes

1. Tune!
2. Bring cables.
3. It’s all about the pocket! Feel is most important above all. Licks and tricks are fun but notnecessary. Remember, it’s about the song and leading people to Jesus. Victor Wooten would tell you the same!

Keys Orientation

It’s more than just playing the instrument. Our purpose is to lead people to Jesus. Music is our medium to do that. It’s important to STAY ENGAGED during worship and be aware of the team around you and the worship leader. We want you to focus on your instrument but not so much that you are distracted to what the Holy Spirit is doing in the room.

As far as style, our big ask is to take time to learn the style of music that we do. When it comes to your part, it’s all about the song. We believe in excellence and hope you constantly seek to grow in your skill. As a keys player at Ocean Church, there are a couple other things that fall into or scope like Music Directing and triggering backing tracks. We will cover these in the sections below!

GEAR
Our primary keyboards are the Arturia Keylab 88 and Nord Stage 3.

– The Arturia acts as a controller to communicate with Ableton Live, which is the software we use to trigger tracks and control all of our keys patches/sounds. The most common sounds are, Piano, Rhodes, Organ, Pads, and Synths (Poly, Lead, Arpeggio, and other textures). The keyboard is labeled in order to help navigate and visualize what each button controls.

– The Nord Stage 3 is mainly used in our youth auditorium, for acoustic sets, and Auxiliary keys sounds like (but not limited to), Organ, Strings and Pads. There is a Live mode where all of our presets are stored in order to help find the right sounds for each song.

PLAYING

Keys generally play a part in a couple important areas: melodic, lead, and dynamic support.

Melodic = Creating melodies in moments of spontaneous worship to help guide and/or direct the moment. Always allow for the moment to breathe before engaging in this and be aware of what the worship leader is trying to lead. Always support the worship leader first!

Lead = Re-creating the lead lines you hear in the original track. This will include matching the sound to that lead line. Sometimes it can be an arpeggio or a melody created using octaves on your right hand.

Dynamic Support = Keys are a huge support in our softer moments. There will be several moments in the set and throughout the service that are keys lead like, spontaneous moments, communion, baby dedications, at the beginning and ending of

sermons. The key here is to always keep it simple and be tasteful! Playing chords with a nice pad behind will go a long way. Sometimes playing a pad alone will really help let things breath.

Tracks & Music Directing

As a keyboardist here at Ocean Church, there are a couple other tasks that will come along with that.

1. Controlling multitracks through Ableton

All of our supporting tracks are coming through the same laptop we use to create sounds on the keyboard. Therefore, as part of our role, we are responsible for starting, stopping, or fading tracks. You are not required to upload tracks or set anything within Ableton. That will be ready to go each Sunday morning. The only thing required here is to start/stop tracks using your midi keyboard’s drum pads and/or fading out tracks using the designated fader on the midi keyboard. This will be demonstrated to you on the day of your eval and the Lead Music Director will help guide you on the day of the service as well.

2. Music Directing (This will depend on the capability of the keyboardist)

We choose our Music Directors according to skill and capability to guide/lead an entire band alongside our worship leaders. This requires more responsibility for the chosen individual to learn each song thoroughly and correct any mistakes in a respectful manner. These tasks are vital to the team’s success every weekend!

As a Music Director, we help support the worship leader with the more technical aspects of worship like calling chords out using the Nashville Number System (See next section), reminding the band of certain specific parts within each song (like hits, runs, breaks, pauses, etc), and supporting the worship leader if they feel the Holy Spirit is leading us somewhere we have not necessarily rehearsed (like spontaneous tags of another song). This requires us to take extra time to learn the songs well enough so that the weight of the musical elements of the service fall on us (and the band) and not wholly onto the worship leader. This allows for the worship leader to be fully attentive and to focus on what the Holy Spirit is doing in the room. There will usually be a guide included with the tracks to help lead us through the arrangement of each song but it is always extremely helpful to have the MD back the guide as well to add another layer of support. In addition, the MD also helps walk the team through rehearsal and be aware of run-through times. The worship leader will also be aware of these, but it is important to work together so the we can efficiently get through the schedule on time.

Music Directing will require training with the Lead Music Director in order to be fully prepared for a Sunday service. DON’T WORRY! We will not throw you on as an MD until you are ready! There will still be opportunities to play keys alone while another MD is present.

Nashville Number System

The Nashville Number System (also just called the number system) is a way of writing the chords to a song in a “universal” or neutral key using numbers instead of chord names. This way the song can be played in any key at any time with out rewriting it. For example, in the case of a last minute key change, you will be able to play that song quickly without having to re-learn all the chords. The Lead Music Director and Head of Worship Development will be available to help learn this system. There are also many videos available on Youtube that will be a huge help in visualizing the system. But, here is short summary of it!

The majority of every worship song will be in a Major key. Every Major key has a scale that consist of 7 notes (8 including the octave). What the number system does is attach a number to each of those notes so that they now have a universal name.

For example: In the key of C (all the white keys on a piano) The major scale is as follows| C D E F G A B

So, all we do now is attach the number to those notes like this| C = 1, D = 2, E = 3, F = 4, G = 5, A = 6, B = 7

And that’s it! There’s a couple of other things like knowing which chord is major, which is minor, and knowing the major scale for each key. These you will find in many Youtube videos that help explain the system. However, that is the general idea!

Drum orientation

You are a worship leader too! Drums are the medium that you use to worship and lead others to worship Jesus. We love to see people do amazing things to lift up Jesus. That doesn’t mean you’ll be asked to do a drum solo every week! In our worship sets, it’s all about the team and creating an atmosphere together where people can connect to Jesus and worship Him. As far as style, our big ask is to take time to learn the style of music that we do. When it comes to your part, it’s all about the song. We believe in excellence and hope you constantly seek to grow in your skill.

Expectations

Metronome: We play to a click with various tracks depending on the song. Being able to play with a click is very important. If this is new to you, playing with a click or track with a click will help you get used to how it feels.

Parts: Learn the parts that are supplied for you on PCO. We do encourage creativity, but we always start with the original parts. For the most part we will stick with them, but there will be times that we adjust them to fit the set and transitions between songs.

Fills: Be creative, have fun, & be tasteful. Fills should lead the song somewhere and have a purpose in the song.

Technique: Dynamics are huge for worship music and playing in a church setting. Playing lighter on the cymbals than the shells is very helpful for the mix in the house.

Drum Machine: There is a drum machine in the cage. We will make sure you learn how to use it. It can be a useful tool to add different textures to songs.

Drum Cage: Please keep the area clean. Pick up any trash or broken sticks you see.