Not all those who wander are lost ~ J.R.R. Tolkein
… except when you’re playing. Whether you’re playing or singing, you need to do so with an intentionally. And you get that intentionality when you know both where you are and where you are going.
We’re talking here about the emotional content of a song. You may be in a verse, or a chorus, or a bridge – you need to know what you trying to do or to say, and know what is happening next. Are you trying to build things up? Is the bottom going to drop out in the next section?
Typically, the verse will build tension, and the chorus release it. The bridge might take a turn and do a reset and start to build tension again in a different way before dropping back into the chorus and looping it on the way out into an anthemic finish.
This emotional aspect needs to be considered by the band and the worship leader when building the song’s road map. And of course it can be improvised. But it needs to be intentional.
There are lots of ways to build, but the secret to a crescendo, the secret to building a song up, is starting quietly. If you start with everything in, you can’t turn up the volume any more.
And if as a band you realize that everyone is in, and has been in, and nothing is changing (you’ve gained as much altitude as you can), YOU need to be the one to drop out and create some movement.
Ideally a producer will talk his band through the road map so that things don’t have to get into such a tight space. There are so many options, so many ways to break a song down and build it back up. Some of my favorite ways to break things down are to:
- Drop to acoustic piano
- Drop to acoustic guitar
- Go a capella with kick on 2 & 4
- Go to bass and full drum kit (rhythm section) and full vocals
- Drop to a big lush keyboard pad and listen to the congregation sing
- Looping a bridge that builds
- Combinations of these
There are so many possibilities.
The main thing is to be aware of where you are, and where you want things to go. Don’t get lost!