We’ve all been there before, right?
What do you do when rehearsal gets cancelled?
We as leaders don’t like to reschedule or cancel our practices do we? We are carrying a heavy weight on our shoulders that deserves our utmost attention and to be quite honest, I don’t like the pressure of pulling everything together on Sunday morning.
Here’s the scenario:
It’s an hour before rehearsal, you’ve done your work to prepare your band, and you’re ready to go. Then the phone rings and it’s your drummer. He apologetically and politely informs you that he cannot make it to practice for an emergency. Now, what do you do?
Do you cancel rehearsal?
Do you reschedule it on another night (if you have that luxury)?
Do you call in a replacement?
Having found myself in similar situations, where rehearsal just isn’t going to happen, I’ve had to think through other ways to bring it all together.
Here are a few ways that help me ‘pull’ it off:
- Communication is Key – At this point, communication is absolutely vital. You have to find a way to communicate all of the important information you were going to cover during rehearsal. And even more so. Use email, a short video, or a Facebook note to really lay out all the specifics like a break down of each element and song flow. Let everyone know what you are expecting from each part that they will be playing. You cannot be specific enough at this point.
- Encourage & Equip – Encourage the heck out of your people. Let them know that you believe in them and their God given abilities. Remind them that this wasn’t a surprise to the Sovereign King. Then equip them with all the necessary resources: scriptures, legal copies of your music, and the above mentioned notes.
- Prayer – Just like that kid who forgot to study for his chemistry test, you’ll be throwing up lots of prayers. And you should. Don’t underestimate the importance and power of prayer. I have found from personal experience that God loves showing up in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and full count.
- Early Arrival – Ask your team to arrive early. We usually get our sound-check and run through an hour before, but you might need to get there even earlier in cases like this. The extra time won’t be wasted and it gives you some breathing room to really work on any particular element, until it’s the way you want it.
You Need to Have a Back Up Plan
It would relieve some stress, if you took some time to consider having a back up plan. Think through some of the above suggestions and come up with a strategy that works for you and your team. Then communicate it to them. Get them on the same page, so when rehearsal gets cancelled, everyone knows how, where, and when to step up.
I am, for the most part, completely humbled and amazed at how often God shows up at just the right moment. In fact, some of our ‘best’ worship moments have been a result of a missed rehearsal. A combination of urgency and focus from our team and God’s goodness and grace can make for an unbelievable time of worship.
How do you handle your team when rehearsal gets cancelled?
What are some other ways that help pull it all together?
Marcus Williamson says
Got a few worship leader friends that need to read this. Thanks for the post
Rob Rash says
Glad to help Marcus!
Loren Pinilis says
I think it helps to breed a sense of mutual respect for each other’s time. In addition to encouraging people, you could specifically thank them for their time – and their respect of other people’s time. That will tend to eliminate a lot of “the emergencies” that come up. After that, life happens. People get sick, etc. – so have a back up plan 🙂
Dave Shrein says
Great Comment!
Rob Rash says
Loren, that’s right on the money. Covering band expectations with your team and emphasizing ‘respect of each other’s time’ is key.
Dave Shrein says
Great post. Speaking as someone who leads occasionally, but used to used weekly for 7 years…
One thing I would recommend is backing off some of the more elaborate plans you had for that week and deciding to use songs that everyone is familiar, both in the band and in the congregation. This is a good reason to have a wide range of songs and not overplay, How Great Is Our God, so that it isn’t old hat when you need it in a jam.
Also, I made sure that I was always the first to arrive and the last to leave. I would get there even before the tech crew. Always being there sends a strong message to your team that they won’t have to wait on you and encourages on time arrival.
Rob Rash says
Great suggestions Dave. Having some ‘go to’ songs will decrease the level’s of stress for sure and give the band confidence.
Zane says
Great post! I’ve been at several places where if the rehearsal is cancelled, it could become a complete disaster. Where I am now, we have the luxury of actually taking the month off from rehearsal to give our musicians some much deserved rest during the summer before we hit it hard again in the fall. During this month, or any cancelled rehearsal, I will send out detailed charts for every song that we will play, and keep planning center updated as far as notes, etc. We will actually have a short rehearsal for vocals, but have given the band the month off. It has helped them to recharge their batteries and it helps us to keep great musicians! We are able to pay our musicians here, so everyone is expected to show up sunday morning prepared to play. It helps to have dedicated team members who will practice on their own time at home in order to be at their best on sunday morning.
Alex Boxall says
At my church we don’t have specific rehearsals during the week. We arrive at church 2 hours before the service is due to start and run through the songs. We have no set bands, as different people are available in different weeks, so I must admit to being quite bemused by the question of what to do if a rehearsal gets cancelled. I don’t mean any disrespect as this is an excellent article and very helpful to many people. My only question would be this: if people are useful playing regularly on a Sunday surely one missed rehearsal is no big deal…
The important thing to remember is this: we have a God who transforms our worship. Nothing we can offer Him is genuinely good enough, but he takes our meager offerings and transforms them into something worthy of Him.
I would say that much more important than the musical quality/excellence is the quality and excellence of the hearts of those leading worship (and that to me includes the whole band!)
He hears our words but listens to our hearts.
Ramble over, keep up the great work, loved the article!
Alex