Solve Your Recruitment Woes by Adding Band & Orchestra Musicians

Adding new worship team members has long challenged team directors and pastors. Many churches find recruiting more difficult now than ever before, especially finding trained musicians. At a recent worship festival, my workshop attendees consistently rated this struggle as a top-tier concern! However, there’s an often-untapped group of experienced musicians hiding in almost every congregation. Nearly 24% of your congregants probably performed in their school band, choir, or orchestra programs. That’s a huge pool of untapped volunteers!

While worship musicians commonly begin their musical journey in school programs, many school musicians simply pack away their instrument case in a closet. Yes, some cellists and double bassists make the jump to bass guitar, but it seems that school performers often assume there is no place for flutes, violas, French horns, or timpani on a modern worship team.

The gap runs both ways. Other than playing in the foyer for Christmas, worship pastors may not know how to incorporate traditional musicians into weekly participation. Equipping musicians who rely on sheet music may be just as bewildering to music directors as playing without sheet music may be to those who are classically trained. There’s a legitimate concern about whether equipping them would demand unreasonable amounts of time. Plus, it may be a mental stretch to realize that band and orchestra instruments can fit quite well into the modern guitar, keys, bass, and drums worship-band structure.

It may seem there’s no room at the worship-team inn.

The great news is that you can overcome all these challenges. Modern technology can bridge the gap between preparation and sheet music. Churches are modifying the prevalent church-band approach and embracing a more congregationally focused sense of participation and authenticity. Besides, with the popularity of band and orchestra instruments in soundtracks, commercial music, and multitrack loops, the lines between musical styles have blurred.

Perhaps it’s time for traditional musicians to dust off their instrument cases, refresh their chops, and begin filling the gaps in your worship program.

Why B&O Musicians?

Leader: Equip for Success

The Elephant in the Room: Playing Without Written Music

Onboarding

Musician Strategies for Success

Furthering Skill

Why B&O Musicians?

Adding trained musicians expands your volunteer base and enhances your band’s sound. More instruments improve musical expression, encourage relationships and teamwork, and strengthen musicianship. For example, adding a cello forces the bass guitar and left-hand-heavy pianist to talk about playing well together without creating low-frequency mud. A diverse team onstage also makes worship more engaging and celebrates the unique gifts of your congregation.

Leader: Equip for Success

You want your musicians to be successful, and they want to be equipped for success. A good plan allows the musician gene to kick in and let nature take its course.

Impact on the Stage

In addition to requiring more space on the platform, adding acoustic instruments can increase stage volume and introduce microphone bleed.

There’s no such thing as a truly silent stage, and for a balanced mix, front-of-house (FOH) speakers should be three to six decibels louder than stage volume at the congregation’s ears. Churches average between 85 and 95 decibels in the FOH speakers. Brass and woodwinds can reach 100dB–115dB, and strings 90dB–95dB. (Compare that to a piano’s 60dB–70dB!) It’s crucial during rehearsals to guide musicians — especially louder instruments — to play at appropriate levels. Thankfully, band and orchestra musicians are usually trained to blend well. Sound shields can help manage volume, too.

Even if you don’t blend acoustic instruments into your FOH speakers, you’ll need to mic them if you stream your services. Microphones with a cardioid polar pattern help reject unwanted sound and minimize potential feedback. Check out the DPA 4099 series or other instrument mics such as these violin mics and these brass mics. For more information about instrument-specific mic options, read “Miking Individual Orchestral Instruments.” Call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer at (800) 222-4700 for recommendations on specific instrument microphones.

You Can’t Capo a Clarinet

Some musical keys are challenging for orchestral instruments, depending on both the musician and the instrument. Keys outside an instrument’s comfort range can limit available notes or force the musician to sit out entirely. Avoid issues by checking your songs’ keys with band and orchestra players in advance.

String instruments often use the keys of C, D, A, and G (and their relative minors: A minor, B minor, F-sharp minor, and E minor). These keys often utilize open strings and are easier to play.

Brass instruments favor B-flat especially but are also comfortable in E-flat and A-flat (and their relative minors: G minor, C minor, and F minor) due to their natural range and resonance. French horns like the keys of F and D minor.

Flat keys are typically easier to play on woodwind instruments due to their fingering patterns. Clarinets and saxophones often play in B-flat.

The Elephant in the Room: Playing Without Written Music

Many band and orchestra musicians feel overwhelmed by the idea of playing without sheet music. It’s one of the main reasons they hesitate to play regularly at church. Help them bridge this gap, and they’ll love you forever!

Clarify the Role

Set clear expectations up front for the role you want them to play. There’s a huge difference between supporting dynamics with color notes and improvising a jazz solo. Be specific. For example, “Play your version of the recording’s guitar solo after the bridge. It doesn’t need to be exact, and it’s posted in the Planning Center Online arrangement files.” Or, “Double the keyboard hook before the last chorus and during the outro.” See “The Eight Musical Roles in a Worship Band” for more detail.

Start Small

If your band and orchestra musicians are less experienced, then have them start by simply playing diamonds (sustained notes lasting the duration of a chord) on root notes or chord tones when each section is repeated. As the musician develops, begin to include arpeggios and melodic passing tones.

Add Some Dots

Creating sheet music that matches your song arrangement may be easier and faster than you realize. All you need is a keyboard or a microphone. A DAW such as PreSonus Studio One can convert an audio recording you play or a MIDI part you create into sheet music in the correct clef. Treat the sheet music as a starting road map to develop. (To learn more, check out this helpful video from our friends at PreSonus.)

Adjust the Focus

Like professional guitarists joining a worship team, band and orchestra musicians may need to shift their mindset. They’re used to performing, but the intent in worship is to help the congregation engage — not showcasing the song or musicians. The band’s role is to support worship, not become the focus of it. This freeing perspective means they enhance the experience without carrying the full weight of it. Often, simple is better, and while melody is important, it’s typically carried by the congregation and lead vocalist.

Onboarding

Concert- and worship-music cultures differ in how they prepare, rehearse, set goals, and use gear. Discuss these differences early to help potential band and orchestra musicians know what to expect and how to work together smoothly:

The specific musical role they’re asked to consider

How parts are created

Whether it’s a paid gig (band and orchestra musicians are often paid to perform at public events, and they may assume that’s how it works)

What gear you provide (charts, PCO assets, music stand, chair, in-ear monitor [IEM] system, house mic) and what you expect musicians to provide (instrument, instrument stand, tuner, IEMs/headphones)

Practical details including what to wear; when to set up, strike, and leave; where to go between sets; when to be on the platform; and how scheduling and rehearsals work

Identifying Potential Candidates

Even qualified people hesitate to step up unless asked to consider the possibility.

Help those currently on the platform to succeed. Nothing is as welcoming as a group of growing, thriving, and connected people who embrace others and invite new ideas.

Infuse conversations and announcements with brief comments about seeking new musicians to widen the church’s expressive palette.

Ask! Have short-term, easy-to-say-yes opportunities for people to check things out before being asked to make a commitment.

Your current team members are your champion ambassadors.

Highlight current members’ success to make participation appealing.

Consider how you can leverage key growth and transition moments when people are often looking for ways to step up (baptism, joining the church, completing a program or graduating, and so on)

Add a fun involvement video to the church website that highlights the connection and growth participation brings.

Talk with your youth directors to identify students who are potential band members. They may be fully qualified to play well, plus music students often have parents who were music students.

Engage with local teachers/band directors to build professional relationships and possibly recruit student musicians who may be interested in more playing opportunities.

Attend local productions and follow up with congregants who perform.

Allow your team to communicate when there are opportunities and room for people to get involved. People seldom volunteer when they assume there’s no need.

Include orchestral and band instruments in your music loops. Potential volunteers may hear it and say, “I could play that.”

Have a test for entry. Low standards will not attract quality musicians. But have entry points for less experienced musicians to participate and succeed. Be willing to say, “I’m not ready to have you perform on the platform yet, but here’s how we can move toward that.”

Consider that a rotating scheduling system lends itself better to adding new musicians than a set-team structure.

What people regularly see on the church platform tends to direct future growth. Once a vibrant, instrument-inclusive culture has been established, recruiting is easier. Still, even a thriving volunteer culture must be continually maintained and encouraged.

What people regularly see on the church platform tends to direct future growth. Once a vibrant, instrument-inclusive culture has been established, recruiting is easier. Still, even a thriving volunteer culture must be continually maintained and encouraged.

A Smooth Start

A clear onboarding procedure helps a musician prepare to become a vital part of the team. Enhance your process by incorporating these tried-and-true elements that are successfully used with musicians at churches of all sizes.

Application/interview/audition to evaluate the initial fit and skill set and to communicate clear expectations that everyone can agree to and embrace

Observe/play at rehearsals and shadow for a specified time to learn team culture and procedures while beginning to build relationships

Start playing with the band (incrementally, if helpful) for a trial period with periodic reviews

Officially join the team with ongoing mentoring, evaluation, and encouragement

Consider communicating an offboarding procedure during the onboarding process to smooth that transition, as well.

Pro Tip: Allow new or less-experienced musicians to play at rehearsal without the expectation of playing on Sunday. This is a “getting used to” time. When they begin playing during services, rather than being responsible for an entire set, involve them incrementally by initially playing only on a song part or two on a single song. Add as they’re comfortable.

Musician Strategies for Success

Rather than thinking of a band and orchestra instrument part as a solo or focus of the song, imagine it either like a synth-type pad adding lushness to enhance the song’s foundation or like a strategic fill cutting through the wall of sound to emphasize the emotion of the moment — without covering up the lead vocal.

To better explain specific ways to shine as a worship musician, read “The Eight Musical Roles in a Worship Band.”

What About the Melody?

A key responsibility of a worship musician is to support the song’s message — both its lyrics and emotional tone — without interfering with the melody or distracting the congregation. Since the melody is usually carried by the worship leader and congregation, musicians should avoid doubling it unnecessarily. Instead, they can enhance the song by supporting the melody and helping it stand out.

When introducing the melody in a song — especially an unfamiliar song — simplify other parts to thin out the mix and let the melody shine. When that section is repeated, such as verse two or the second chorus, that’s the time to consider adding impact by doubling the melody in unison or in a different register. Encourage your band and orchestra musicians to highlight key lyrics with a harmony or counterpoint that keeps the melody clear and uncluttered.

While your musicians are not playing the melody itself, they can still borrow phrases from it for crafting hooks, foreshadowing, or echoes.

What’s My Line Anyway?

Encourage your band and orchestra musicians to enhance their musical role in ways that suit their instrument’s natural tone, or timbre. Darker, warmer-sounding instruments are ideal for filling in space and adding rich color, such as during song intros, under a hook, or behind an a cappella section. Brighter instruments, which cut through more easily, are best used for hooks, short riffs, and lead lines — especially during breaks in the melody or in dynamic, high-energy moments. (Be cautious about longer notes that can become harsh or overpowering.)

To streamline performance and reduce clutter, musicians can use an iPad for reading sheet music — whether handwritten or created with notation software — paired with a hands-free Bluetooth footswitch controller to turn pages smoothly and avoid dealing with paper.

Playing with Other Instruments

An exciting part of playing in a worship band is how the combined sound often becomes greater than the sum of its parts. As you assign musical roles — adding color, tone, texture, or emphasis — encourage your musicians to think about how their parts weave into the overall tonal fabric. They should know which instruments or vocals they’re primarily supporting and fill in gaps without crowding the mix.

Musicians should complement, not compete with, one another. Have your band and orchestra musicians identify other instruments playing in a similar frequency range or role and collaborate to avoid overlap. Working together helps ensure that everyone’s parts have their own space.

For example, the cello, bass guitar, and keyboard can all access the low register, which can easily become muddy. Instead, split responsibilities: divide or layer the parts, take turns playing the hook, or develop separate parts or rhythms that work together. Ask the audio engineer how everyone is blending together. You’ll create something special.

Mastering the Silence

One of my college jazz professors often reminded us that rests are notes, too. Silence makes the notes you do play more meaningful. Knowing when not to play is at least as important as knowing when to jump in. One quick way to spot a mature musician is to see who isn’t always playing — they understand the value of restraint.

Think Dynamically

Teach your band and orchestra musicians to use contrast to make key moments hit harder. For example, pulling back or sitting out for a phrase or section right before a big entrance can heighten the dramatic effect and make the music more dynamic and engaging. Likewise, a big wall-of-sound crescendo can heighten the break to a soft, quiet phrase.

Pro Tip: Avoid playing the highest part of an instrument’s range (altissimo for woodwind instruments) unless specifically called for.

A Practical Approach to Part Development

Playing simply is usually best. Overplaying can overwhelm the music and distract from the message. Musicians playing the whole song without variation are probably playing too much. Everyone should find their piece of the pie — their unique role in the arrangement. Check out the pie arrangement example from “How to Play Compatibly in a Worship Band.”

Save arranging time and create a flexible set of options with this part development formula:

Divide the song into sections: intro, verse, chorus, bridge, etc.

Create one part per section for your instrument. This could be a lead, echo, fill, rhythmic stab, arpeggiation, or something inspired by online examples. Design it for the section’s biggest or most energetic repeat.

Simplify that part by cutting out half the notes. This gives you a medium-intensity version.

Simplify again to just root notes or chord tones. Now you have a minimal version.

Sit out the first time a new part is sung. (Silence is a valid musical choice that builds contrast.)

Now, with less effort, you have a palette of four variations to draw from — full, medium, minimal, and silent — with dynamic contrast automatically built in. By creating just one main part for each song section, you unlock multiple variations that let you shape the entire song with natural flow and dynamics.

For example, if a song has two verses, sit out the first half of the first verse, play the minimal variation for the second half, then use the medium variation for the first half of the second verse and the full version for the remainder. If there’s a breakdown, then play the minimal variation an octave lower. If there’s an extra full section, play the full variation an octave higher.

That’s just one starting point for creating balanced, musical arrangements.

Outside Arrangement Sources

If you use a resource such as MultiTracks.com Playback Live, then your musicians can find inspiration by listening to individual rehearsal tracks, especially parts not being covered by your team. For example, there are often three to six electric guitar parts and multiple keyboard parts.

A quick word of caution: Parts that sound great on YouTube or other online sources may need to be adjusted to fit your team’s style and arrangement. That’s where creativity, experimentation, and musical judgment come in.

Furthering Skill

Here are a few final tips for blending band and orchestra instruments into a modern worship band.

Practice at home with a metronome. Orchestras may be more used to following a conductor rather than to a strict clock.

Encourage your concert musicians to become comfortable with guitar-friendly keys: G, D, A, E, and B. Knowing basic chord tones (e.g., C, E, G in C major) helps protect players from choosing bad notes and allows for easily adding arpeggios.

Stay in tune! Out-of-tune instruments can be very distracting.

Change strings and upgrade mouthpieces to improve the tone and playability.

Experiment with effects that enhance your instrument’s part in the song.

Adding band and orchestra instruments to your worship band will bring additional flexibility and richness to your congregation’s worship experience.

You may be able to facilitate your expanded team with your current equipment, but to navigate your options and present your team at its best, call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer at (800) 222-4700. Our experts will answer your questions and provide you with personalized recommendations about band and orchestra instruments, rentals, support, maintenance, repairs, and upgrades to enhance your team.
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